Are Detroit Axle car parts any good even though they’re so cheap?

Here’s why you’ll probably have a good experience with Detroit Axle car parts only if you follow these important guidelines.

website: www.detroitaxle.com

Shopping for a set of rear drums and shoes for our family’s 2006 Toyota Corolla and, probably like yourself, I came across a full brake rotor and shoe set on eBay from a company called Detroit Axle.

I’m also aware they sell a lot of car parts on Amazon.

Out the door, their rear drums and ceramic brake shoes set cost me $72.51, marginally cheaper than if I bought rotors and shoes piecemeal from Rock Auto and more than 2x cheaper than if I bought everything from AutoZone.

Here’s how much the same parts cost at Autozone.

As I write this blog post, the rear drums and brake shoes job on our family’s Corolla is complete, we used all the parts from Detroit Axle, and I’m ready to share my opinion on our experience using Detroit Axle.

Before I get into that, here’s a little bit about Detroit Axle, where they’re HQ’d in and where you can find more information about them.

Is Detroit Axle an actual company and where are they headquartered.

Buying parts online, especially from eBay and Amazon, most of us know why what we’re buying is so cheap, most aftermarket replacement parts are Made in China.

That fact is no secret.

The tricky part, as consumers, is weighing the pros and cons of going for the super cheap part knowing there’s a small chance you’ll have a horrible experience, or worse, the part just fails.

As the adage says, it’s the cheap man that spends the most.

For me, I know that Chinese car parts resellers in the United States have been in business for decades and “Made in China” doesn’t necessarily mean a bad product.

A company that’s been in business for a long time, has sold a lot of products, and has an actual, substantially sized operation in the United States are all good signs that these China car parts resellers have established relationships with their business partners overseas and know what are doing.

That’s Detroit Axle.

But yes, Detroit Axle is a real company.

Here’s a screenshot of their main HQ in Ferndale, MI.

And, according to their website, not only do they have two storefronts in Michigan, they’re expanding, opening up a 225,000 square foot distribution center in El Paso, TX.

And, here’s a screenshot of what they sell, pretty much anything related to suspension, steering, and braking between your cars wheels, Detroit Axle sells.

Is everything Detroit Axle sells Made in China?

According to Michigan Local Guide Jason James, “The axles and racks are refurbished in house there in Ferndale. All brand-new parts are from China.”

Corroborating this statement is a scroll through of Detroit Axle’s photos on Google, many of them photos from inside their Ferndale distribution center.

I can see evidence of workers (presumably) refurbishing CV joints and half-shafts.

In this photo, a worker is cleaning some half-shafts in what looks like a large industrial-sized parts washer.

I don’t see any photos of workers casting new rotors or working on any assembly lines assembling brake shoes so, as mentioned, those parts are re-packaged parts from a supplier in China.

My experience with Detroit Axle’s complete set of Rear drums and Ceramic shoes.

Update: Sept 25, 2023 – It’s been over a year since I installed a set of rear drums brake pads and I can confidently say they’re performing as good, if not better than the old ones. I’ve done a handful of long, 200+ mile drives including plenty of daily errand runs and the Detroit Axle brake pads brake well and are quiet. It’s been a 10/10 experience so, as far as their rear drums go, shop with confidence.

I only decided to blog about my experience after the fact, otherwise I would’ve taken more photos.

Anyway, this is what the box looked like delivered to my door and here’s all the boxes they used to package the rotors and shoes and all the included chemicals.

Note, this after the job, so those are the old shoes.

Unlike Rock Auto and Autozone, Detroit Axle was nice enough to include 50-state compliant brake parts cleaner and a bottle of Dot 3 brake fluid.

A rear drum rotor and brake shoe job is fairly simple and straightforward if you follow all the right steps and, that was the case in my experience.

Everything, the drums and shoes, all fit perfectly, no adjustments needed.

Even all the small OEM parts like the parking pall and the key that holds it in place, all meshed well with the supplied brake shoes.

I’ve only driven our Corolla around twice but, so far, I’m more than satisfied with the renewed braking performance and peace of mind knowing that there’s enough brake material that should, theoretically, last for more than a decade.

For reference, our Corolla has 170,000 miles that had, before this job, the original rotors and rear brake shoes.

I’ll of course update this blog post as the months go by.

Where can I find out more about Detroit Axle?

To give you an idea of the sheer volume Detroit Axle sells, according to their eBay page, since they’ve been an eBay seller, Detroit Axle has completed over 712,000 orders.

In the last 12 months, they’ve completed over 88,000 orders.

With that in mind, a good place to find about more about Detroit Axle (re reviews) is their eBay page (linked here.)

Another place you can find reviews for a specific Detroit Axle product is the specific product page of the item you’re trying to buy.

For example, here’s the page for a complete front brake kit for a 2011-2013 Kia Sorento and 2010-2012 Hyundai Santa Fe which has 59 ratings and three answered questions.

To find out more about customer experiences with the company, as a whole, their Google Reviews page (linked here) which, as of this writing, has close to 6,000 individual reviews.

Seeing so many negative reviews on Google might be a turn-off, and rightfully so, but keep in mind they have a 99.3 percent positive feedback rating on eBay, point being, unsatisfied customers are more likely to leave a review compared to a customer who has nothing to complain about.

How to have a good experience buying Detroit Axle parts?

A lot of frustration I’m seeing from negative reviews written about Detroit Axle is ordering the wrong part, and then having to go through a return process with customer service.

Before you complete your order, be sure you’ve selected the right part for your specific model and trim level.

And, even if Detroit Axle does makes a mistake, which is bound to happen when you’re dealing with over 100,000+ orders a year, reading their responses on Google, they will work with you to resolve your issue.

Listed on their Contact Us page is a contact form, email, and phone number where you can reach someone Monday-Saturday.

Conclusion

Yeah, Detroit Axle sells a lot of parts that are Made in China but, then again, they’ve been parts resellers for (according to their about us) 30 years, have an actual, physical presence in the United States, have some kind of customer service, and even have, at least, a 10 year warranty on their parts.

All that mitigates the risk you, the consumer, face, when buying overseas parts.

I feel confident recommending Detroit Axle parts to anyone looking to buy affordable parts that also deliver when it counts.