Owner reviews for timing belt

I had about 205,000 miles on my avalon when i traded it in... that had the original timing belt.

I have a 2002 V6. I bought it new and didn't change the original timing belt until 2015 at 181,613 miles. I didn't have a particular REASON to change it then. I just decided I wanted peace of mine that I wouldn't get stranded somewhere. My old one was a little cracked, but who knows how much longer it would've lasted.

My gates belt looks identical to that and has ever since 5 miles after i changed it, and that was like 4 years ago....

I would highly recommend replacing the oem hydrolic tensioner and pulley with a conversion kit to the older style manual mk3 tensioner. The kit provides an idler pulley. Very nice kit from integrated engineering. This is a sure way to avoid another possible failure and i would also recommend going with a gates timing belt. I just did this job on my1.8t and am very happy with it and can sleep peacefully at night knowing i won't have a failure.

I just had my 80K-mile service at Niello VW in Sacramento, where three Phaeton-certified techs are on staff. The timing belt is included in the 80K service, which was a little over $1,200.

Here in Australia the timing belt interval for the FSI engine in the Golf R is 105,000km (which is around 60,000 miles).

My last car was an A4 with AMB engine and the recommended timing belt change interval according to maintenance booklet was at 110K, while at the local dealer they were trying to persuade everyone to change it at 80K. I did one myself at 104K and it was just the right time as I noticed it started to stretch.

I had to change timing belt two time at year (Continental Contitech) now I have S300SX FMW twinscroll turbo running at 42psi + 220hp nitrous shoot. I didn't test it at dyno, but it surely have 750hp or more. that is why I look for better timing belt.

Bumping this necro-thread to add my review for anyone searching the archives. Bought the ultimate plus with Gates belt kit. Car started rattling like a diesel last night. Quick inspection shows a loose timing belt, hydraulic fluid everywhere and a dead tensioner. Total mileage since install 28,225 and less than two years (21 months). I was lucky to have caught it before it jumped teeth and pistons met valve train. Just wanted to caution people to pay attention to the warning signs. If your car sounds like a diesel or a spray bomb being shaken, take a quick look under the timing belt cover and replace what you need to before driving any further...

Forget the kevlar belt, stick with the Continental belt. A search of these forums will reveal chronic problems with it.