See attached foto of a Timing belt I just bought from one of the Big Three...It's marked PORSCHE (and I paid the "Porsche Price")...but the markings also clearly show that it's a GATES PowerGrip HTD. Can the same belt be purchased from GATES..without paying the Porsche Price? Is this the trend?

Harvey

 

I just bought a gates highly saturated nitrile T196 powergrip for $31.

 

I wonder if the PowerGrip HTD is the same thing and the nitrile T196? Doesn't make much sense to make the same small production belt w/several different materials.

Harvey

 

As far as I know it is the only t-belt from gates(aftermarket) for the 928.

 

What exactly is your question?
So far as I know Porsche never manufactured their own belts. They bought them from other companies like many other components e.g. electrics from Bosch. Where practical they also had second suppliers for each component in case of issues with the prime supplier.

Marton

 

Thanks for sharing that Gates belt info Zeus...good info.

Guess we'd better get ready for Made in China too..oh..too late. Chinese Fuel Pumps are starting to show up on eBay. My next Tbelt will be Gates like you got. I'd sure like to compare the two belts under a microscope. Porsche Gates and Gates for Porsche.

Say, does anyone know if Conti changed their name to RPB or something like that? If so, about when? I'd heard a rumor to that effect.

H2

 

http://www.gates.com/part_interchang...cation_id=3286

 

Bookmarked! Amigazo!

Harvey

 

It's just the difference between "Genuine," "OEM" and "aftermarket."

Porsche makes very little themselves. (I'll bet those are a bunch of NLA parts, too.) They design it, order it and assemble it.

"Genuine" parts are made to Porsche specs and are (supposedly) tested to meet the specs.

"OEM" are the parts made by the company that produces the "Genuine" parts but they may be slightly different. A good example is Zimmerman rotors that when "Genuine" are painted in the center but when "OEM" are not. Or a Gates belt without "PORSCHE" stamped on it?

"Aftermarket" parts are made by other companies without approval or involvement by Porsche. Plenty of companies make brake rotors and some of them are crappy. Same for brakes pads, fuel and oil filters and other maintenance parts.

Soo... For purists and rare parts you can buy "Genuine."

For a better value get it "OEM" whenever possible.

Buy "aftermarket" when bucks or availablity start to matter.

 

Its just good to know that gates is an OE provider.

 

There was just a sale here on Conti belts for $23 ea...............kinda makes you wonder what the silkscreening material is that makes the 'Genuine Porsche' belt cost $100.

 

The Porsche belt is $80. Mine too from Porsche is a Gates belt as i posted about a month ago. Not sure if the aftermarket belt guys get the Porsche card where you write down the mileage and such. That surely has to be where the additional expense is at.

 

Well said and very true!

I have been in many automotive part mfg. plants that make Factory, OEM and Aftermarket parts, some all in the same plant. The last one I spent many months in is a good example, it was one of the Trico plant in Matamoros, Tamps Mexico.

P.S. There in no such thing as "THE OME"! Porsche for example may have more than one company that will supply a particular part. When it comes to assemblies (i.e. throttle body a windshield wiper assembly or a transmission), you open up a whole new can of worms.

Take for instance the automatic transmission in our 928. It was spec’d out by Porsche and supplied by Mercedes Benz. But MB did make the parts that went into it! Every shaft, gear, bushing, bearing, seal and gasket most likely came from different companies. Who knows who assembled all the pieces into sub-assemblies or into a complete part (transmission)?

 

I can assure anyone here that a Porsche WATER PUMP, or Porsche Rebuilt, is CLEARLY higher quality than anything else available. This ... from personal experience.

 

Actually Malcolm, to be fair, Roger was able and willing to sell those belts at that insane price because he had bought a large batch from a dealer going out of business. Similarly when Porsche flushed their cache of Factory Manuals I vought mine from 928 International who offered along with 928 Specialists and others, at $212 or so. Now, they are multiples as expensive.

Roger's kindness should not reset all our expectations to $23 IMHO. 80 bucks for the best IMHO, is nothing.