Water pump Gates or OEM Audi

Had gates on my 06. PITA to replace but never failed, good gasket, ok bearing.

Currently own a ‘15 S3 with 130k+ miles. Nothing really major to report for me outside of some known common issues with this generation (water pump, PODS, etc). Car has been great and honestly easy to maintain if you can DIY oil changes, brakes, and DSG fluid changes.

I used a Gates kit which seemed good quality and included a water pump, tensioner and idler pulleys.

My b9 has had 0 problems except water pump, 110k

Carbon cleaning, water pump replacement, possibly turbo replacement, timing chain, and dsg service are large ones over 100k miles. Those are issues I've had with my a3 with the 2.0t with over 138k miles.

2019 Audi Q8 water pump failed around 80k miles. After looking into it, I found out Audi originally used a 4-bolt water pump and pulley design on these engines. The problem with the 4-bolt setup is that it didn’t distribute load evenly. Over time this caused premature wear on the shaft and bearings, which led to leaks and pump failures much earlier than expected. Audi must have known it was an issue because they stopped producing the 4-bolt pump and redesigned it with a 6-bolt system that spreads the load better and holds up longer. This wasn’t just normal wear—it was a weak design from the start.

Did a gates kit on mine. Water pump is leaking after 60k miles.

My Audi s5 back then had the v8, and around 43-45000 mi I had to swap mine out

Their water pump especially is garbage.

I use the aisin kit or oem honda. I’ve had the tensioners in the dayco kits fail, and the water pumps in the gates kits fail