Timingbelts.ie - anyone used them?

Kaizersoze81

Anybody used this company? Would you recommend them? Coming in about 15% cheaper that the likes of Atlas, and about 30% cheaper than a main dealer.

colm_mcm

Never heard of them till now.

Refreshing honesty on their Facebook page though.

2013 Jaguar XF 2.2 Diesel.
This was the first time we have had a 2.2 diesel Jag in for a timing belt replacement. 203000km on the clock at three years old! It was fairly straight forward (it's a regular 4 cylinder PSA diesel engine as found in Fords, Peugeots, Volcos etc, only slightly more capacity.) but the crank shaft bolt was very difficult to remove. To make matters worse we damaged the crank shaft position sensor magnetic reluctor plate - possibly by placing it in a magnetic tray with the other bits and pieces when dissassembling the car. We charged €350 including labour and VAT to replace the complete timing belt kit and water pump (we paid for the reluctor!)

Kaizersoze81

Have heard their ads on the radio so looked them up as I'm due a timing belt myself. I suppose honesty is good if unusual to hear of in the car service industry!

markc1184

I'm looking to have my timing belt done in the next few weeks. Just priced it on their site. €370 for the kit including water pump on a 2.0 Skoda Octavia. Skoda themselves are charging €375.50. So although they are cheaper, for the sake of €5.50 I think personally I'd prefer it done by the main dealer.

Kaizersoze81

That's a very good price for a main dealer

clancyoo7

Got timining belt and water pump done on my mondeo with them in November. Very good service

SmartinMartin

I wonder why Toyota isn't on their drop down list.

Jack the Stripper

colm_mcm wrote: »

Never heard of them till now.

Refreshing honesty on their Facebook page though.

Sounds like a few Halfords mechanics gone out on their own.

rex-x

SmartinMartin wrote: »

I wonder why Toyota isn't on their drop down list.

Id say its because very very few Toyotas use timing belts, even fewer of the models we actually get over here, they would be mostly chain driven

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Got my belt done main dealer for 420 recently. For a saving of 50 quid or less I'd be reluctant to let an unknown crowd at it.

Autochange

Why don't you save your money and give it a try yourself?
I'm sure you could find a manual and few spanners.
It's hardly over technical is it?

colm_mcm

It's beyond most people's DIY skills.

Autochange

colm_mcm wrote: »

It's beyond most people's DIY skills.

That might be timing chains you are thinking of. The belts are simple enough I think. From what iv read it's just a matter of lining up some marks and swap ing the new one in. By the sounds of it garages are charging a lot.

Ciano35

Autochange wrote: »

That might be timing chains you are thinking of. The belts are simple enough I think. From what iv read it's just a matter of lining up some marks and swap ing the new one in. By the sounds of it garages are charging a lot.

And tensioning it correctly, doing the pulleys, and the water pump. It takes the guts of a day to do, it really isn't that simple.

Jack the Stripper

Did one in Land Cruiser in less than an hour last night. Majority of belts don't take a day.

Harcrid

I'm all for DIY but not on something where the consequences can be severe if you mess it up.

Guy:Incognito

They are good lads. Used to deal with them when I was working in a motor factors up to last year. The owner used to pass work to them when it came up (couple of customers looking for fleets of vans looked after etc) because he knew they were decent.

GhostyMcGhost

Jack the Stripper wrote: »

Did one in Land Cruiser in less than an hour last night. Majority of belts don't take a day.

Jack the stripper indeed...

Stoolbend

Jack the Stripper wrote: »

Did one in Land Cruiser in less than an hour last night. Majority of belts don't take a day.

You're using the most straight forward timing belt around today as an example.

Most belts are much more awkward to do and one mistake could cause thousands of euros worth of damage.

magentis

Autochange wrote: »

That might be timing chains you are thinking of. The belts are simple enough I think. From what iv read it's just a matter of lining up some marks and swap ing the new one in. By the sounds of it garages are charging a lot.

"I think" being the key words there.Get it wrong and serious damage could be done!Not to mention the requirement for specialist tools to do quite a few belt changes.

Kaizersoze81

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

They are good lads. Used to deal with them when I was working in a motor factors up to last year. The owner used to pass work to them when it came up (couple of customers looking for fleets of vans looked after etc) because he knew they were decent.

Thanks, I think I'll check them out

SmartinMartin

rex-x wrote: »

Id say its because very very few Toyotas use timing belts, even fewer of the models we actually get over here, they would be mostly chain driven

Mine has a belt, hence the question.

soc

Yep I've dealt with the owner Justin (I think that's his name) there. Lovely guy and to the point. No faffing about. He's from South Africa. We got our timing belt done there...and we were so happy with the place that we brought our commuter car there when some work needed to be done for Nct. We were on the lookout for a decent place to go for car related issues...and We found it with them. Highly recommend.

ThisRegard

I used them too for a timing belt change earlier this year, very nice guys to deal with.

JohnBoy26

Jack the Stripper wrote: »

Sounds like a few Halfords mechanics gone out on their own.

Why? Because they broke something while changing a timing belt? These things happen from time to time, even to the best of mechanics

Autochange

i have actually done my own belt on my 2008 petrol Renault Megane. Remove the covers. Line the cams up. Lock the crankshaft. Open the tenshioner, remove the belt, remove the tensioner and water pump. Replace both including seal the w pump. fit the new belt. tension with an allen key to the mark on the tensioner. unlock the crank. fit the covers. fill with coolant and bleed the air.
Simple really.
Give it a go, save your self hundreds

rex-x

Autochange wrote: »

i have actually done my own belt on my 2008 petrol Renault Megane. Remove the covers. Line the cams up. Lock the crankshaft. Open the tenshioner, remove the belt, remove the tensioner and water pump. Replace both including seal the w pump. fit the new belt. tension with an allen key to the mark on the tensioner. unlock the crank. fit the covers. fill with coolant and bleed the air.
Simple really.
Give it a go, save your self hundreds

That is actually one of the more difficult belts, the crank sprokect has no key so is free to slip and the bolt is a stretch bolt that must be angle tightened perfectly or it will fail prematurely, some places wont even touch them the risk is so high! I have seen so many failures from people just tightening the crap out of that bolt :eek:

People also don't tend to understand that on a 16v engine in particular you must make the cam sprockets float once the cams are locked to achieve correct tension. This is usally achieved by either undoing the center bolt or there can be 3 smaller bolts as with peugeot/vw tdi to allow the sprocket to spin while keeping the cam locked. Many home heros and even garages just lock the cams, throw the belt on and tension it, leading to a loose side and a tight side and ultimately early failure

JohnBoy26

Autochange wrote: »

i have actually done my own belt on my 2008 petrol Renault Megane. Remove the covers. Line the cams up. Lock the crankshaft. Open the tenshioner, remove the belt, remove the tensioner and water pump. Replace both including seal the w pump. fit the new belt. tension with an allen key to the mark on the tensioner. unlock the crank. fit the covers. fill with coolant and bleed the air.
Simple really.
Give it a go, save your self hundreds

It's not a diy job for the vast majority of people. If not done correctly it won't save you hundreds and might end up costing you thousands.

shooter69

Guys anyone have any experience with these ? Good or bad ? Wife's car is 5 years old and due timing belt/ water pump . Price is €370 which seems cheap .. Audi A5 sportback 2.0 tdi
Main dealer quoting €589
Thanks

Toyotafanboi

No experience with them. It's a good price but I'd want to know what parts they are using and what warranty they put on their work.

Costs can be cut infinitely to create better prices but I wouldn't want a no name brand timing belt kit fitted to my car, for example.

If they are fitting a good brand kit Gates/ Conti etc and are putting a 12 month warranty on it, it can't be too bad a deal.

biko

Merged with recent thread

They also have a recommendation in a thread from last year.

shooter69

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

No experience with them. It's a good price but I'd want to know what parts they are using and what warranty they put on their work.

Costs can be cut infinitely to create better prices but I wouldn't want a no name brand timing belt kit fitted to my car, for example.

If they are fitting a good brand kit Gates/ Conti etc and are putting a 12 month warranty on it, it can't be too bad a deal.

Yes good point , I'll email them and ask , a post on their website mentioned skf belt and Graf water pump , I have heard of skf products in the belt and bearing arena and they are a premium brand , Graf seems to be decent too tbh.
I'll report back when I hear
Thanks

Wibbs

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

If they are fitting a good brand kit Gates/ Conti etc and are putting a 12 month warranty on it, it can't be too bad a deal.

I dunno T, for me with something as important as a belt on an interference engine I'd be and have gone original manufacturer every time. Good brand OEM, or "uprated" I'd still be dubious TBH. I suppose it depends on the engine involved?

JohnBoy26

Wibbs wrote: »

I dunno T, for me with something as important as a belt on an interference engine I'd be and have gone original manufacturer every time. Good brand OEM, or "uprated" I'd still be dubious TBH. I suppose it depends on the engine involved?

Most cars will be perfect with good brand oem belts, for example i've never had a problem with blueprint kits on any of my japanese cars but with some other cars such as older petrol 1.4/1.6 16 valve vw's genuine kits are a better option as these are known to snap belts prematurely.

shooter69

Just to follow up on this got a phone call from Justin in timingbelts.ie to say they use Dayco timing belt kits and they offer 2 yr or 100,000km warranty ..seems ok. Quick google seems that dayco are decent product

Shefwedfan

Need to do timing belt on SMAX, main dealer is 625...this crowd is 320

that is some saving