Timing belt Gates or OEM Volkswagen

Get a Gates belt. They are the best and timing belt is no place to cheap out.

Gates is the only aftermarket brand I'd trust; certainly don't go store-brand (autozone, etc).

The pump and belt are good. All else in the kit is chinese parts. Been working fine for a year plus for me. I upgraded to the race belt for extra longevity.

Even though the mileage had not been reached, I decided that an 8 year-old timing belt was due for replacement. While doing that, I thought that replacing all the 8 year-old hoses would be a good idea too. I didn't realize how many hoses there are on this engine and how difficult it is to get to them and replace. At least I won't have to do that again for another decade or more since I replaced the rubber hoses with silicone hoses.

I just completed this on my '13 a few weeks back at 68,000. Belt was still in good condition but as others noted, thats not the only point of failure and my roller bearings had some excessive play so I am glad I did it given the risk of letting it go.

On my daily R I just replaced the timing belt and water pump at 80,000 miles. It is my daily so I just did it to have piece of mind. The belt looked great as well as the water pump.

I used a Gates timing belt and some other parts from an ECC kit (new water pump, tensioner, etc.) The timing belt looks tight and normal still

I'm going to swap the Conti belt I installed for a Gates (OEM on this car). I'll let you know how it goes.

I've had some problems with Gates for timing belts. I've had 2 instances when the timing belt was making noise after installing it, hard noise to describe, basically the belt being very hard. Threw on an OEM belt and it was fine.

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...