Bando, Gates or Toyota OE sepentine belt?

[Bill7]

I have the original serpentine belt on our beloved 2001 Tundra 4.7. 23 years young with 215K on the clock.
The Bando belts are a good price and I have had luck with them.
Which belt: Bando, Gates or Toyota OE?

My guess is they are all fine. Thanks in advance.

I just bought a new Toyota serpentine V-Belt from a Toyota Dealer for my 2008 Toyota Corolla CE with 63,800 miles on it due to age of the original belt. My local Toyota Dealer was able to price match the price of Conicelli Toyota which is one of the lowest price online parts departments. The belt cost me about $43. On the belt from the Toyota dealer, it says Mitsubishi in white letters on the black belt.

In my case, I want to keep my Toyota to have 100% Toyota replacement parts. If I start putting aftermarket parts on it, it would lose it's reliability and longevity over time in my opinion.

I also bought genuine Toyota: PCV Valve and Tube, Thermostat, Coolant, Transmission Fluid (Type T-IV), and Power Steering fluid: (Toyota Dexron III).

I had a bad experience with aftermarket parts on my Honda Odyssey, where my mechanic substituted an aftermarket valve cover gasket and it only lasted 2 years, and ended up failing and causing an oil leak into the coil packs and that aftermarket valve cover gasket caused a $1,000 repair as the oil soaked coil packs were expensive to replace. My own take on after market parts is that to maximize profit for the manufacturer, retail seller, and mechanic, aftermarket parts are made as cheaply as possible. I won't ever use an after market part for anything ever again. The cost savings of after market parts will always come back to bite you.

 

[GSCJR]

On the belt from the Toyota dealer, it says Mitsubishi in white letters on the black belt.

Unfortunately, you sound like another victim of counterfeit parts. J/K

Your belt should say Mitsuboshi, and not Mitsubishi.

 

[wlk]

I'd pass on the Gates. Buy the Bando, dayco or oem would be my preference.

 

[1000MPH]

Not to continue beating a dead horse, but here are a couple pics of Toyota OE Bando (right in both pics) and aftermarket Bando (left) serpentine belt for a Tundra. The OE belt has a woven material rather than smooth for the side opposite of the ribs. I would guess this material helps with belt stretch (to increase service longevity) or noise (to prevent customers from returning due to noisy or squeaky belt).

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This lines up with my experience on my 4Runner but I could not find any markings on the original belt. Did yours actually say Bando? On this thread there are pics of the OE Mitsuboshi vs. the aftermarket Bando if anyone wants even more pics.
I’ve got 50k on my aftermarket Bando that was about $12 from Amazon.

 

[drtyler]

This lines up with my experience on my 4Runner but I could not find any markings on the original belt. Did yours actually say Bando? On this thread there are pics of the OE Mitsuboshi vs. the aftermarket Bando if anyone wants even more pics.
I’ve got 50k on my aftermarket Bando that was about $12 from Amazon.

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Yes, Bando was printed on the belt, along with Toyota and the Toyota part number.

 

[Urshurak776]

I just bought a new Toyota serpentine V-Belt from a Toyota Dealer for my 2008 Toyota Corolla CE with 63,800 miles on it due to age of the original belt. My local Toyota Dealer was able to price match the price of Conicelli Toyota which is one of the lowest price online parts departments. The belt cost me about $43. On the belt from the Toyota dealer, it says Mitsubishi in white letters on the black belt.

In my case, I want to keep my Toyota to have 100% Toyota replacement parts. If I start putting aftermarket parts on it, it would lose it's reliability and longevity over time in my opinion.

I also bought genuine Toyota: PCV Valve and Tube, Thermostat, Coolant, Transmission Fluid (Type T-IV), and Power Steering fluid: (Toyota Dexron III).

I had a bad experience with aftermarket parts on my Honda Odyssey, where my mechanic substituted an aftermarket valve cover gasket and it only lasted 2 years, and ended up failing and causing an oil leak into the coil packs and that aftermarket valve cover gasket caused a $1,000 repair as the oil soaked coil packs were expensive to replace. My own take on after market parts is that to maximize profit for the manufacturer, retail seller, and mechanic, aftermarket parts are made as cheaply as possible. I won't ever use an after market part for anything ever again. The cost savings of after market parts will always come back to bite you.

I agree with you a little bit. Saying using an aftermarket part will “always come back to bite you” is a bit much. Not true at all. There are some very good aftermarket parts out there. There is also some junk. You have to do your research and use some common sense, otherwise it WILL come back to bite you.

I have maintained my M-I-L’s 2005 Camry with 186K on it. Used many aftermarket parts. Still runs like a top.

 

[RoyFJ]

I have either used Bando or OEM for my Toyota and Mercedes, the Bando on the Mercedes is far better than the Continental that came with it.

 

[Bill7]

I agree with you a little bit. Saying using an aftermarket part will “always come back to bite you” is a bit much. Not true at all. There are some very good aftermarket parts out there. There is also some junk. You have to do your research and use some common sense, otherwise it WILL come back to bite you.

I have maintained my M-I-L’s 2005 Camry with 186K on it. Used many aftermarket parts. Still runs like a top.

Your strategy seems to be working, so sounds good.

My main concern is gas station mechanics marking up the cheap after market parts to make them the same price or even more expensive then the OEM parts would be if you bought them from a low priced Toyota dealer's online parts department.

I found a mechanic who allows me to give him my parts and he just does the labor. He allows me because I have 4 vehicles and the 3 Honda Odyssey's I have seem to need frequent repairs. So I'm one of his better customers.

The Toyota's have such outstanding reliability, I just can't bring myself to pollute the car with non Toyota parts.
The only aftermarket parts I use are oil and air filters. For some reason, the Toyota OEM filters have low efficiency meaning they don't catch as much debris as the high efficiency filters like Fram.

 

[Urshurak776]

Your strategy seems to be working, so sounds good.

My main concern is gas station mechanics marking up the cheap after market parts to make them the same price or even more expensive then the OEM parts would be if you bought them from a low priced Toyota dealer's online parts department.

I found a mechanic who allows me to give him my parts and he just does the labor. He allows me because I have 4 vehicles and the 3 Honda Odyssey's I have seem to need frequent repairs. So I'm one of his better customers.

The Toyota's have such outstanding reliability, I just can't bring myself to pollute the car with non Toyota parts.
The only aftermarket parts I use are oil and air filters. For some reason, the Toyota OEM filters have low efficiency meaning they don't catch as much debris as the high efficiency filters like Fram.

I understand. In my MIL's case, she is on a pretty tight budget, so Toyota OEM can get pricey. She drives like 3K a year these days, so, I don't buy her junk, but I do use a lot of aftermarket stuff. Good news is, not much breaks on this car. I just did her brakes (front and back) with Bosch rotors and pads. Factory pads and rotors for almost 20 years! Impressive.

Bosch works fine. Did it last year.

 

[Bill7]

I understand. In my MIL's case, she is on a pretty tight budget, so Toyota OEM can get pricey. She drives like 3K a year these days, so, I don't buy her junk, but I do use a lot of aftermarket stuff. Good news is, not much breaks on this car. I just did her brakes (front and back) with Bosch rotors and pads. Factory pads and rotors for almost 20 years! Impressive.

Bosch works fine. Did it last year.

Bosch is good. I also like Denso, as Denso makes a lot of the OEM parts for Toyota and that could be a hint at why Toyota's are so reliable.
Denso has it's own website: https://www.densoautoparts.com/

I really like Toyotas Corolla's due to their high reliability, 300k mile longevity potential, and 40+ MPG (with the smaller 1.8 Liter 4 cylinder engines) if you drive them gently at the speed limit on the highway. I prefer the low mileage older models that are sold by the children of retired couples who are becoming too old to drive.

I like to go to the forums (ex: Reddit) and pick Toyota models/years as used vehicles that several owners post that they are original owners and have gone 300k+ miles with only a few repairs. Those are the Toyota year/model to buy as used cars in my opinion.
I recently bought a 2008 Toyota Corolla CE from the son of a retired couple. It only had 60,000 miles on it. I bought it for $4,000.
I plan to take it to 300k miles (as I'm driving it 20k miles a year from now until I retire). Then will keep it in retirement for long trips with my wife. Am transitioning away from the 3 Honda Odyssey's we own, as they are just getting too expensive to maintain as all of them now have over 140k miles.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Well, it turns out the belt was a Toyota Dayco. Go figure.
The new Bando belt seems to make the engine sound a bit smoother. Placebo effect for the win!
I love this truck!

 

[drtyler]

Well, it turns out the belt was a Toyota Dayco. Go figure.
The new Bando belt seems to make the engine sound a bit smoother. Placebo effect for the win!
I love this truck!
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Yes, Dayco made the original Tundra belt (and the dealer replacement for 10+ years), but the current replacement from the dealer is made by Bando. The Dayco belts were pretty good and durable.