What brand do you use for timing belt and other belts?
 

S60 D5 2002 225k manual
Please help me to choose or share what brand do you use when changing timing belt. Do I remember correctly that Gates is cheaper and slightly better than OEM parts? Can genuine OEM parts be bought only from Volvo or are there any other places?

Regards

I usually use genuine, but Volvo don't actually manufacture the belts. Its another company that does and then Volvo stick a stamp on it and charge you more.

You can buy genuine parts from dealerships or there's even a place on eBay called Volvopartstrade. That's a dealership based up North that sells genuine parts at trade prices. You have to pay for postage, but the service is great. Just give them your reg, tell them what you want, they'll find it, make payment and that's it. It'll be on your doorstep either next day or two at the most. There's also another dealer called FRF in Swansea. Quote code "C3" and you get a discount for being a member of the Volvo community.

If going down the aftermarket route, go with a quality brand like Gates or INA. Either of them likely manufacture the belts anyway, as Volvo don't.

Just go to the dealer and be assured that IS the best quality you will get. Why gamble with the Unknown on something so vital to the cars existence? As said volvo dont make them but what they do is tell the manufacturer on their data sheet exactly what quality they want and in most cases It is the very top quality, this has always been the case from the 1970's as I have found after working on the cars for 47 years professionally at volvo.

When are you hanging the overalls up, Clan? 47 years! Time to relax on the beach. :tounge_smile::cool:

Nooooo! All that experience consigned to the shelf !

We need you !

Ive been investigating this recently due to a cambelt intent on my '06 V70. Generally speaking IME you want to do the water pump, tensioner and idler pulleys at same time, though it was mentioned somewhere here not to touch the water pump if its not leaking as there are myriad of replacement water pumps out there and not all quality is the same (as we know). Whilst feasible the problem with leaving a water pump unchanged is that given the new belt will be tighter, the old water pump will be running in a changed environment (higher belt load on the pump bearings) which increases risk of (premature?) failure. For peace of mind I will be changing my water pump at same time.

Through my online reading I learnt that the OEM part brands specific to Volvo were as follows. Cambelt is made by Continental, Water Pump made by Aisin, Pulleys made by INA. If your going to do a cambelt as I am, it might be worth looking for these specific brand of parts. Ive also read on other forums the SKF water pump is top quality. I dont know about any of the others. WRT to Cambelts, you also cant really go wrong with a genuine Gates belt (I say genuine as there are also fake Gates out there).

Buy either from a parts supplier that is Volvo/Swedish focused and recommended on Volvo forums, enquiring about these specific brands being in the "kit" or from Volvo themselves with a significant cost premium (double cost unless with a trade discount) added on top. This is generally the case with any franchised dealership pharts dept.

I did read that Volvo at some point changed their water pumps (from cast to pressed impellers) and voiced preference is for cast impeller as per OEM but it seems these are no longer available that i could find or see reported.

I would welcome any corrections/suggestions to the above as I am in the same position as hewking and hopefully this is helpful to the OP. Note: these are just my current findings, and the direction I am heading currently.

usually someone pops up at this point to say that Volvo have high standards and although the manufacturer might be someone else, they will send back anything sub-par, whereas what you buy aftermarket hasn't had the same 'rigorous' quality control

whether that's true or not is anyone's debate unless they themselves have 1st hand worked in that department actually doing the quality control and can tell us from experience I suppose

the way I see it though it's a 20year old car, I'm not going to pay a premium for any of the parts although where possible I do try and find them on ebay in a proper blue box if possible. everything else is just selected as good brand.

having said that I got my belt done by a reputable indie immediately on buying the car, oil change as well, purely because it was nice and low mileage and I was all excited about doing things properly. they rang me and said we reckon you should do the water pump as well, I said yeah makes sense, go for it. that was before I read all this stuff about the OG pumps being amazing or whatever. . with a bit of luck that belt will last the rest of the car's life (or definitely until I move it on)

If it's a keeper and you rely on it go genuine, at least for all critical components, including brakes. I've always had good prices and service from FRF volvo in Swansea. The few pounds extra you might pay will give you the peace of mind over unkown brands or possible fakes that are out there.

Just a 'chime in' from the other side.
For the effort and time it'd take to find INA pullies and whatever brand water pumps, one might as well go with a genuine parts kit from a REPUTABLE parts source online or (gasp) the dealership.
I'm not sure how the conversation would go in the UK but I'd just politely ask 'em for whatever discount they have.

For reference, go to eeuroparts.com and fcpeuroparts.com (both in the US) just to see the kits they have. I don't know any of your sources or shipping over salt water. IPDUSA.com is another honest source but for other Volvo stuff.

Note: I bought a "Gates Kit" from a 'reputable enough' firm. My timing kit was sent out by disreputable 'drop shop'. Many sellers routinely have orders shipped from many different warehouses. The belt looked good but my Gates tensioner was frozen solid, the idler looked cheap and it was all in a tray covered in ripped cellophane which was from something else entirely.
The 'reputable enough' firm made good on a refund quickly.