CVT Belts from Sixity Auto (Ebay)

[cheepneasy]

I live in bush Alaska, finding vendors that ship USPS (by far the fastest and cheapest method) can be hard. I ordered a Gates carbon belt from Sixity Auto (45C4553). They promptly shipped it priority mail for a reasonable price (~$10). Unfortunately, in order to stuff it into a small bag, they doubled the belt over and shoved it back into the sleeve (one backbend, two small diameter crimps). The Gates sleeve has illustrations clearly prohibiting these handling practices. I contacted the seller via Ebay and explained the situation (with pictures) , they instructed me to select the Ebay return option "doesn't fit" and that when they receive my return they will refund me so I can place a new order. I instead used Ebay returns "item damaged" option, and in the notes I again explained the issue and gave my opinion that the belt shouldn't be resold as new. I requested a refund of my shipping as well, I'll update if they decline my request. I was able to find the same belt on Amazon and am getting a replacement from there instead (unavailable at the time of my previous order). I'm justifying all this whining as a PSA to anyone sourcing CVT belts, Sixity Auto may have at least one back on the shelf that has been mishandled. End of rant/therapy session.

 

[Winshady]

Wow, I didn’t realize those belts that take tremendous abuse for hundreds of miles are so flimsy.

 

[sledhed]

Wow, I didn’t realize those belts that take tremendous abuse for hundreds of miles are so flimsy.

They are not meant to be back-bent, the way the carbon fiber belts are built, common knowledge to anyone who runs them (and they are equal or better belt than OEM). The Gates Carbon belt is not flimsy and works great for me, however they do have a newer belt out that is supposed to be even stronger, the G-Force Redline, I am going to try one of those next personally...