Rear propshaft coupling

[bigman1976]

My Superb had it's 4th service yesterday and the independent garage identified that the rear propshaft coupling was failing. They've quoted £420 all in to get it replaced (quote suggests Febi Bilstein part used).

 

Firstly, should this part not last more than 35000 miles and secondly, what could have caused it to fail so soon? The car is standard and I don't drive it like I stole it very often.

 

Any thoughts?

[skomaz]

Mine went on our Octavia 4x4 at about double that mileage but started as a distinct droning noise under load in high gears.  Does yours exhibit that sort of noise? 

 

If not how have they determined it is failing as I've seen a number of people suggests that it can look in a bad way with the rubber showing some cracking but not actually be failing...   Just showing wear. 

[J.R.]

Not even wear, the seperation that they and I both mistook for disintegration is moulded in and an integral part of the design, the new one I bought is identical 😒

 

Every now and then I try to pull the outer ring sideways on the one on the car and compare it to the new unused one in the bench vice, no difference yet.

 

I was only out for €80 and the part will one day be used if the diff ever comes out or propshaft removed.

Edited 29 July, 2023 by J.R.

[ApertureS]

6 hours ago, bigman1976 said:

rear propshaft coupling was failing

Be interesting to see what they class as failing, photos would be the best!

 

If its light cracking, this is perfectly normal. I wouldnt consider changing it till the cracks begin to penetrate the width of the rubber by maybe 30-40%.

[J.R.]

There are moulded in "cracks" which pass through the whole width of the coupling and split it circumferentialy so that probably only about 45° out of 360° is attached, this is how the outside mass with the heavy annulus is decoupled from the drivetrain and how it absorbs the vibrations.

 

Even were it to detach whilst it would make a lot of clanging and no doubt alert any driver with a pulse well before it would not affect the couplings ability to transfer the drive torque.

[bigman1976]

To be honest, I have no idea in what condition it is in. I might try and take the wheel off and see if I can take a snap but I’ve not found this garage to be rip-off merchants in the past. 
 

However, I’ve not heard any noises (except for a slight transmission whine while off throttle at about 30mph). I’m not going to rush into replacing it as it’s a decent chunk of cash. 

[Micky 32]

My 4wd Passat coupling still ok after 182,000 miles.

[bigman1976]

Cannot think why mine is failing at such low mileage. I don’t drive excessively quickly nor require the 4wd to be operated often to my knowledge. 35000 miles seems very low. 

[J.R.]

It most likely isn't.

[Vidmor]

I had mine replaced about 30 000 miles after it was picked up during a Haldex service at a VAG independent. Same issue "cracked rubber" They laid it on thick about a possible MOT fail. I now think they were probably wrong and just after additional work. Luckily the warranty company picked it up. The mark up on the part was massive!