Who carries Conti drive belts?

I’m looking for a Conti brand serpentene belt. I changed my belt when i replaced a water pump and now the belt is jumping. Somebody told me the Duralast (autozone) belts are shit and they had a similar experience.

so who carries them? As far as i know…everybody besides Autozone carries them.

appreciated. :headbang:

Belt quality wont cause it to jump off the pulley. I have used Duralast before with no issues. You have a belt that is too long, wrong size, or the tensioner is not working properly.

1.) Found water pump going bad, changed that
2.) Replaced drive belt with new
3.) Now my belt is jumping off the S/C drive pulley aprox 1-2 ribs
4.) no visible sign of pulleys being out of line,

Besides the water pump, nothing else changed. The belt jump occurs only when cold. I figure it’s worth a shot since i still have the reciept for the new belt.

Try a Goodyear Gatorback at Advance then.

Btw, I would try to spin the pulley by hand when its cold since it sounds like something is binding.

[quote=“Violator,post:2,topic:27841"”]

Belt quality wont cause it to jump off the pulley…

[/quote]

X2

[quote=“01AudiS4,post:5,topic:27841"”]

X2

[/quote]

i refuse to take someones 'Quality Opinion" seriously when they are the one who fixed a cracked bumper with sheet metal screws and a steel plate. :redface: :wink:

as far as belt quality… it very likely could have been a belt that’s been sitting on a shelf long enough to start dry rotting in it’s packaged posistion.

[quote=“LAFENGAS,post:6,topic:27841"”]

i refuse to take someones 'Quality Opinion" seriously when they are the one who fixed a cracked bumper with sheet metal screws and a steel plate. :redface: …

[/quote]

I was not making a statement of quality, but just stating that quality would not make a belt jump teeth. And I did not “fix” my bumper with sheet metal screws and a steel plate, that was only done to hold it together until I fixed it.

[quote=“01AudiS4,post:7,topic:27841"”]

I was not making a statement of quality, but just stating that quality would not make a belt jump teeth. And I did not “fix” my bumper with sheet metal screws and a steel plate, that was only done to hold it together until I fixed it.

[/quote]

i know, i just like busting your chops about it.

[quote=“LAFENGAS,post:8,topic:27841"”]

i know, i just like busting your chops about it.

[/quote]

Fair enough, it was pretty ghetto.

I know you may not want to hear this, but just because the pulley doesn’t look like it’s out of line doesn’t mean that it isn’t.

The belt make shouldn’t matter, as long as the tension is correct (although I also love gatorbacks, Autozone has them too).

Does your pulley have rubber embedded in it? Sometimes that deteriorates (very hard to see) and will throw everything out of balance. You will never be able to really see it.

a dry rotted belt still wont jump off a pulley. The nylon strands keep the belt from stretching and rubber quality doesnt have much to do with it. It may slip but not jump.

Only reasons I have seen a belt jump:

-Too Long

-Accessory bearing has failed and is binding where requires too much effort to start turning. Belt will just get yanked off the pulley… especially when cold.

-Tensioner failure. Improper belt tension

-Belt is too wide and does not sit deep enough in pulley groove.

-Pulleys are misaligned.

[quote=“Rx3,post:10,topic:27841"”]

I know you may not want to hear this, but just because the pulley doesn’t look like it’s out of line doesn’t mean that it isn’t.

The belt make shouldn’t matter, as long as the tension is correct (although I also love gatorbacks, Autozone has them too).

Does your pulley have rubber embedded in it? Sometimes that deteriorates (very hard to see) and will throw everything out of balance. You will never be able to really see it.

[/quote]

Nothing i could tell was wrong with any pulley, nothing was loose etc. You’re 100% correct that something could have possibly moved a 1/4 of a degree to throw it off… but i’m just playing that odds since nothing changed but the belt.

the biggest thing about the belt make isn’t the make itself, but the design. The Conti’s (maybe others do as well) have relifes that go across the belt, perpendicular to the ribbing… these reliefs would provide more allowance in the belt before it would actually jump a rib on the pulley. That’s my reasoning for trying to locate a Conti belt…i know they have this design.

I inspected the pulley’s and haven’t found anything obvious. Nothing appears loose, nothing has excess wear, or broken bolts. Right now the cheapest, quickest “try” is to swap the belt.

Do you have the pulley(s) out of the car? Maybe if you are up late tonight (10:30ish) I’ll stop by if you want.

[quote=“Violator,post:11,topic:27841"”]

Only reasons I have seen a belt jump:

-Accessory bearing has failed and is binding where requires too much effort to start turning. Belt will just get yanked off the pulley… especially when cold.

[/quote]

:tup: thanks for the info. The think that’s the most likely coulprit.

This was the other thing i wanted to check, i do have an idler pully after the S/C drive pulley.

My reasoning is this. If the belt is jumping the S/C drive pulley, the idler pully which is next in line past the drive pulley in rotation. This idler pulley could be seizing up causing a “back up” in the belt which gives access play in the belt as it goes around my drive pulley.

kinda like if you have a taunt rope moving infront of you and you grab it…you know have access tension on one side and slack in the other side

[quote=“Rx3,post:13,topic:27841"”]

Do you have the pulley(s) out of the car? Maybe if you are up late tonight (10:30ish) I’ll stop by if you want.

[/quote]

pulleys are not out of the car… but i’m gonna start toying around with some stuff this evening.

Thanks for the offer, i’ll definently be in bed by 10:30 tonight…i haven’t recovered from my trip to San Fran yet. And yes, my ass hurts…before anybody tries making a gay comment.

your logic is sound :slight_smile:

http://www.my330i.com/photos/mod22eee.jpg

S/C drive pulley is all the way to the right. Clockwise in belt rotation, the next pulley is my pulley in question then. (almost dead center in the middle of the pic)

I would pull the belt and spin every pulley by hand.
There is a chance the belt design is causing the issue too tho.
Personally I think that supercharger is pushing that little belt pretty hard. If the supercharger system is designed close to the limit of the original belt type then a minor change in belt design could cause major issues.

I can agree with that assessment. It’s definitely possible.

I loosened the pulley that i thought would cause the problem and just tightened it back up. Seemed to take care of the problem :tup: