1 year on new drive belts?

[Typhus]

Changed my drive belts on my 04 Pathy just over a year ago, and I was a little shocked the other day to discover that they already have cracks and need replacing again.

My other vehicle I had replaced a few years back with gatorbacks, and have well over 40k on them, and there is no visible wear on them at all.

I just picked up some gators for the Pathy and I will be putting them on over the weekend when I get a chance, but one thing is for sure. I will never use anything other than gators from here on out.

At the time when I first did the belts on the Pathy, I wanted to get the gators, but the auto parts store was out of them at the time. I knew the gators were better, but I had no idea that the supposedly OEM belts I bought instead were going to be that bad.

They werent even the lowest grade available, I remember paying a little more to get the best they had since they didnt have any gators in stock.

Anyone else have belts that wore that quickly?

I would have been just as shocked if I had put on the cheapest belts available, and only got that amount of time out of them.

[GhostPath]

What brand were these supposed OEM ones?

[Typhus]

What brand were these supposed OEM ones?

 

It was a year ago, so I couldnt even tell you specifically.

I do know that I got them at autozone, and they were the next best that they had since they didnt have the GBs'.

But like I said, I would expect atleast 20k out of even the cheapest,,, and I only got about 13k out of these.

Edited May 23, 2008 by Typhus

[GhostPath]

Oh. You got the supposedly OEM Kelly Springfield/Duralast belts.

 

 

1. Kelly-Springfield is Goodyear's "budget" line. They're now being repacked/rebranded by AutoZone as Duralast belts.

2. K-S belts are quite often crap and wear quickly, even if properly tensioned.

3. Nissan belts are made by Dayco or Gates, usually Gates.

4. K-S belts are not OEM for any major maker. Goodyear, the parent company is, but the K-S stuff isn't.

 

You got taken by an auto parts store.

Edited May 23, 2008 by GhostPath

[zonianbrat]

What kind of wear and cracks are we talking about here? I just ask this because a certain kind and amount of cracking is acceptable on drive belts. From the explanation above it does maybe sound like you got crappy belts, but I just figured I would ask. My drive belts are from Nissan and have 22,000 miles on them yet they already have minor usual type of cracking. That is certainly not to say it is not a good idea to go ahead and switch over to those gatorbacks. I just wanted to put in my .02

[Typhus]

What kind of wear and cracks are we talking about here? I just ask this because a certain kind and amount of cracking is acceptable on drive belts. From the explanation above it does maybe sound like you got crappy belts, but I just figured I would ask. My drive belts are from Nissan and have 22,000 miles on them yet they already have minor usual type of cracking. That is certainly not to say it is not a good idea to go ahead and switch over to those gatorbacks. I just wanted to put in my .02

 

They are about 1/4 inch deep, which is near faliure state IMO.

They were cheap, and its an easy job, so no big loss, but lesson learned nonetheless.

 

This situation doesnt even compare to the brand new rotors I just purchased and installed, only to find out days later from a Nissan Mechanic, that they were warped.

I thought the guy was just joking with me, since he knew I had just installed them, but he was serious, saying that even new rotors are sometimes warped off the shelf.

They are drilled and slotted, and I bought them of E-Bay from a very reputable dealer... I thought.

I guess I can pull them back off, and have them turned, but I really wanted to be done with this Pathfinder by now, getting really tired of fixing stuff that Ive already fixed.