The timing belt is a Gates unit.........came in a kit with the tensioner, cam seal, and an intermediate shaft seal. I really like the answer that my belt is fine, and fuzzy is ok......I mean, it'll bug me still, but it's nice to know I didn't screw something up while doing a little maintenance.
Yes six years is the most I truly trust rubber (also for timing belts and tires ). I just had the timing belt on my Passat changed: it had about 75,000 miles, and just under six years (was changed once before after a water pump failure). It actually looks quite good until you bend it and see creases developing.
On my TT, I did it every 50K miles. Had heard of failures and it seemed like cheap insurance ...
I've slacked on some maintenance, but did the timing belt and oil changes and I have 131k and still running strong.
i originally changed my timing belt to a conti belt but not 10k miles later the bolt that holds on the timing belt cogged gear decided to break and i replaced the belt among the other repairs. since i had such great luck w/ the gatorback v belts, i grabbed one for my timing belt. it appeared to be quality, like the v belts i've had from them. Also i did notice the gator back t-belt seemed more 'plastic' like than natural rubber, unlike the conti belt. The gator back belt reminded me some, of the huge 3" wide cogged belts that run 1k+ HP superchargers on big blocks. so far no problems with any of the belts.
I bought a 83 528e in college with 168K miles on it, it lasted me thru college, a pizza delivery job, a paper delivery route for 2 years, and I still own it now over 10 years later with well over 300K miles on it. In that time period I honestly don't remember it ever needing repairing, I would say a total of less than $1500 for worn relays, timing belts, vacuum lines, coolant hoses, suspension bushings, and some other minor items.
Write your review about timing belt
Help others - share your experience with this part.
