Last weekend I picked up an Immaculate 2006 r50 cooper with 59k on it. The cv joint on the drivers side is shot... so here's my question. I plan on flipping the car after driving it for awhile because i bought it for a great price. OEM mini cv joints will run 790 per side. I have a set ordered that were $100 per side. I am trying to keep the costs down as low as possible... should these work? I've read that some of the aftermarket ones break miles after being installed and are very weak metal.

any suggestions?

 

Threre's really no way to know other than if there is specific knowledge related to the brand that you bought. And there's more than one brand of aftermarket parts. You pays your money and takes your chances.

And those sound suspiciously cheap.

 

Good luck we've tried those $100 axles before and had several customers that have tried them too. All to fail, usually we see 2-4 weeks life from them. Save up and get the good OEM ones.

 

Of at the very least, some high quality aftermarket units.

 

yup...you answered your own question I think...
Since it is a NON-S, you might get a bit longer life out of them....
but WHY do BOTH sides?! Just do the FAILED side....keep the good one...

And one tip...the 2006 r50 cooper has a different tranny (a getreg 5 speed rather than a midlands 5 speed) than the pre2005 cars, so the axles are different...different number of splines if I remember correctly....Hope they fit.

http://www.motoringfile.com/mini-r50r53-buyers-guide/

 

If the CV failure is due to age and not an early failure of the rubber boot that would have allowed dirt and moisture inside, then both CV's should be replaced as if one is shot, the other is likely near shot.

However, if there was a premature failure of the CV boot, then it's conceivable that the other CV could be OK.

 

Thanks for all the responses, I am going to go ahead and give them a try. It made a good point to leave the right side. The sound that the car is making sounds similar to a card in the spoke of a bike rim so hopefully it should fix the problem. I bought the car with the intent to resell it and ultimately put the money towards another car and hopefully a mini so i am trying to keep the costs down.