Timing belt Gates or OEM Volvo

So, a bit more longevity that actually holds up to the OE change interval with the conti belts is a plus.

Well guys.... Heres a little update. It was a bad water pump. Real bad. The car just rolled over on 145k. The original owner never had the original timing belt and water pump replaced. After taking everything apart, I realized how lucky I was that the pump was the only thing to go. The belt was severely cracking.

It is still a really great product that will last longer than an ordinary belt.

Never heard of them before, but I just installed a Gates Racing (blue) timing belt on my 2.8L Passat.

Well to clarify. I just bought a belt from the dealer and it is a gates. So if your belt looks pretty beat up then its stock. I would change it asap as others sugested. Its cheaper in the long run.

They haven't been out long enough to give concrete evidence. I will say that RAI's clearly reselling a belt made elsewhere so who knows what you're getting and Gates has a long track record for selling pretty tough belts.

All done! Timing belt, TB tensioner, idler, water pump and expansion tank are changed and coolant flushed. I forgot to do thermostat, but it was not necessity but rather preventive.

Mine goes naked, too. I got the fancy replacement kit from a vendor that supplied a pretty blue Gates belt. After I got it all together and running for a while I read of the horrors of Gates belts and the carnage that comes with failure. So, it goes naked and gets a look over each time the hood is open. That my reasoning.

So my gates racing belt snapped. This is the reason i bought gates so my t belt wouldnt break, 40 miles after valves were replaced t belt breaks. Fantastic. They have great QC. Just kidding. There had to have been a flaw, the way it broke

i'm running a gates kevlar timing belt on my car with integrated's mechanical tensioner kit and there's a section of the belt that seems to be shredded off about a quarter of the width of the teeth.. the belt seems to ride closer to the engine so maybe that is why this happened? should i replace the belt with a new one? it only has about 6k on it.. shredded teeth..