I am hesitant to spend 80 bucks for one from my dealership, when the local auto parts store has duralast dayco and gatorback belts for 30-40 bucks. I dont know how much longer this car is going to live, do you guys reccommend I go for the OEM belt anyway or is it ok to go with a non subaru belt? Thanks for the opinions and past experiences with these.

if its the car in your pic, it does not really matter, as you have the best engine subaru has assembled. Its the non-interference ej22, and that engine probably has another 300k left in it with regular oil changes, and normal maintenance.

The cost difference is only a tank of gas. But if money is tight go for it.

Goodyear Gator back belts are good, but don't think I would buy the Duralast or a Kelly Springfield.

some have been lucky to find recently belted engines in the junkyard, look for service records in the glovebox or sharpie marking the mileage under the hood . That is as cheap as it gets, most yards charge like 1 dollar for belts lol

How about a genuine Suby belt from subarugenuineparts.com.

 

It's $58. Sounds like a good compromise. I usually like genuine.

I would trust Gates or Goodyear.

 

 

nipper

I use the kits off of Ebay, They are non-oem and work fine.

I've used all of those brands, duralast (probably made by somebody else), dayco and goodyear. No problems with any of them.

i've never noticed any problems with any brands either, except when they get soaked in oil, so just make sure you don't have any bad oil leaks to get the belt wet it degrades the rubber. i've had new belts break in less than a year when oil soaked.

I second the issue with oil, replace leaky seals while in there. Also if you got holes in the cover(s) and dirt gets in there, that will eat a belt pretty quick. You can run without covers, makes changing the belts easy, but they don't last long.