I have had nothing but good news out of Conti belts for 20 years, but the last one I put on was 4 years ago. I am about to spin up a Mitsuboshi on my 1.6 rebuild. Don't know how it will work but seems to be a lot stiffer that Conti. They are an OEM to a lot of Jap cars.
What about a good quality tensioner? Or are the chinese knock offs decent
I've never heard anything bad about Continental timing belts myself. Gates is fine though... my last T-belt on my 1.6 was a Continental, no problems. My current t-belt on my TDI is a Gates.
DO NOT USE CHINA KNOCKOFF TENSIONERS!!!! The belt itself rarely fails (unless it's a Rothenberger Engineering one), it's the tensioner that causes problems.
Litens is a common good quality manufacturer of timing belt tensioners.
Ya thats what I assumed about the tensioners
How bout swag tensioners or skf
SKF is fine. Haven't heard of Swag personally.
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If it is an authentic Gates belt that has been properly handled, as far as the belt goes, it doesn't matter where you get it. That said, your dollar is your most powerful vote. I prefer to vote for companies that actually support my vehicles rather than companies that get off on selling cheap crap to the sleeping masses. YMMV.
about the only thing I buy at wallymart is maybe rotella(break-in for me), a/c charge, washer fluid, or sea foam, id tend to stay away from anything else,, try napa for gates belts, better quality and handling of product. napa's v-belts & serpentine belts are gates, for a better price than other places(usually). although prices of rubber have gone up significantly in recent. napa filters are wix, I don't know yet if napa fuel filters are wix. pay somemore for a better product(if even the same name,,)