Gates is fine. If you find the gates racing belt it's better. But they are super rare these days. Stay away from any Amazon or ebay crap.
Located in AZ. I called multiple places and the average was around $1,500 for both water pump and timing belt (dealership was over $3,000 which is insane).
I got lucky as one shop was doing a special for timing belt changes and I got both serviced for $950.
Gates, I've installed dozens of them and never had a problem, easily outlast the timing belt.
I used a gates (rpm) belt , its expensive ($80?) but i feel like thats a part you dont want to go cheap with !
We have a gates timing belt in our 04 Jetta that was placed Dec 2010 and 72k miles ago. Going to change it here soon with a new one this spring. Its accessory belt is gates too. My 06 Navigator has a gates drive belt. Brother in law’s BRZ had a gates belt.
Timing belts arnt as bad as people say. Just pay attention to detail. I’d just say, make sure you do all the tensioners and everything else that connects to it, there should be a full kit of all the parts.
Go with Gates, it’s the OEM and you won’t find anything better than that for those parts
When I checked my belt at 60k miles I found it was very loose. Loose enough that I checked the camshaft timing to be sure it hadn't jumped at all. The engine ran a lot better after I adjusted the belt tension.
My preference over the past 25 years is ALWAYS OEM/Genuine whenever possible:
BMW - Continental
Ford/Domestic - ACDelco, Continental
I have had repeated problems with GATES fitment, stiffness, and longevity. 7 of the last 10 snapped timing belts I've pulled from cars have been GATES.
I have a 2015 Jetta S 2.0 which has stripped about 10-15 teeth off the timing belt.
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