My belt slips sometimes under hard acceleartion while shifting gears (A4). I replaced the belt last year with one from CarQuest and it didn't help. The car has 72k on it. Should I go with a new tensioner or is there a better gripping belt out there? Are there different aftermarket tensioners out there that are better?

 

You might need a new tensioner, but you also might try a Goodyear Gatorback belt. I don't know if there are aftermarket suppliers of the tensioner (probably), but they would just be stock replacement types.

 

Thanks Shoebox. I'll try the Goodyear belt first and hope that takes care of it.

 

I had the same problem and bought a new goodyear gatorback belt from autozone a few weeks ago. Seems to have fixed my problem.

 

A tensioner is VERY cheap, and AutoZone carries them in stock.

 

The GM tensioner from one of the places online that sell it at wholesale is cheaper then the autozone Dayco replacement. For example $29+shipping from gmpartsdirect compared to $43+tax from autozone.com.

 

shipping from GM parts direct will usually bring the price up, often times it doubles the price or better

 

The first item is almost always $9.95 for shipping from gmpartsdirect unless it's large. I didn't suggest ordering from them, just used them as a source to find out the wholesale price.

 

Becareful with those autozone replacement ones. My buddy put one and he kept throwing belts. Something about it wasn't built right and didn't line up correctly. He tried several of them and they didn't work. He ended up getting one from carquest. Just something to check before you take off to go test it out.

 

I picked up both the Goodyear belt ($23) and tensioner from Tire Warehouse ($36). I've just been too busy to put them on. This weekend!