[SOCAL.M6.ZLE]

Hey guys, just a public service announcement, for those who might be seeing some boost drop off. I am, so I did the following things.

1. Make sure your belt is as tight as possible. I tried as hard as a could, but could not get the next smallest belt to fit. I was hoping this would work, as my current belt falls in the middle of the tensioner pressure range.

2. Inspect your Griptec pulley. Although mine only has about 5K miles, the peak of each ribs is shiny, smooth and has lost its grip. I believe this is the issue, based on the photos highlighting the actual contact patch with the Gates Micro-V groove belts. (note, the belt only has 1K miles on it)

Luckily, I had another GripTec 2.3" Upper Pulley on hand, swapped it out, and plan to data-log today to see if this helps. Stay tuned.

How many miles are you guys getting out of your GripTec's and Belts?

[Joshinator99]

Did you reach out to Drew at ZPE to discuss? Probably worth having a conversation with him about it.

[SOCAL.M6.ZLE]

Originally Posted by Joshinator99

Did you reach out to Drew at ZPE to discuss? Probably worth having a conversation with him about it.

Not yet... good idea.

[radz28]

That's crazy! That's something I wouldn't expect, but makes some sense as to why it would happen I suppose.

[SWFLZL1]

I thought there was another recent thread, where someone else had a worn out pulley also…

[Megahurtz]

In my experience the initial surface of the griptec pulleys cause a lot of belt wear initially and then the pulley smooths out and the belt wear reduces. I haven't seen it cause any issues with belt slip though. At least not on mild to moderate pulley setups.

I typically replace the belt after a few thousand miles when using a new pulley. Then leave the second new belt in place until it needs replacing.

[radz28]

I'm new to the blower game, so I'll be watching what a lot of you are doing.

Thank you for sharing.

[Katech_Mike]

Is your boost slowly decaying or dropping off a cliff up stairs? I would highly doubt the upper pulley is an issue. Before Griptec we ran on anodized aluminum only without issue.

[SOCAL.M6.ZLE]

Originally Posted by Megahurtz

In my experience the initial surface of the griptec pulleys cause a lot of belt wear initially and then the pulley smooths out and the belt wear reduces. I haven't seen it cause any issues with belt slip though. At least not on mild to moderate pulley setups.

I typically replace the belt after a few thousand miles when using a new pulley. Then leave the second new belt in place until it needs replacing.

Thanks Megahertz, thats exactly what I did... This current belt maybe has 1,500 miles on it. I don't know if the smoothing of the GripTec was the issue... just curious on what everyone's experience has been.

[RHD ZL1]

Originally Posted by SOCAL.M6.ZLE

1. Make sure your belt is as tight as possible. I tried as hard as a could, but could not get the next smallest belt to fit. I was hoping this would work, as my current belt falls in the middle of the tensioner pressure range.

Be cautious of maxing out the belt tensioner. I had a situation with a customers car where it kept snapping belts. The belt tensioner was on its max limit with the thought to help prevent belt slip however the belts wouldn’t last more than a week. We ended up using a belt that was 5mm longer and the belt snapping issue disappeared and boost was still on target. I believe what happens is when the belt tensioner is on or near its max tension limit it has no “wriggle room” to compensate for transient on/off/on throttle changes, expansion of the engine as it warms up and/or kissing rev limiters and the belt tensioner having no room to move (being at its max position) causes the belt to take all the slack causing it to stretch and fail.

[WiggyB]

Just reach out to griptec and provide these same pictures. I had the same issues and reached out to griptec and without issue they replaced my pulley without question. I had to send the worn pulley back though in order to get the replacement pulley with a higher gripping content on it.

If you look at the underneath the pulley you can see the material that was on the pulley that melted off. When I looked there was some black gummy substance on the dust shield directly under the pulley.

[SOCAL.M6.ZLE]

Originally Posted by WiggyB

Just reach out to griptec and provide these same pictures. I had the same issues and reached out to griptec and without issue they replaced my pulley without question. I had to send the worn pulley back though in order to get the replacement pulley with a higher gripping content on it.

If you look at the underneath the pulley you can see the material that was on the pulley that melted off. When I looked there was some black gummy substance on the dust shield directly under the pulley.

Just reached out to GripTec, ill let you know what they say... Needless to say the 2.3" new pulley gripped much better and I got all my boost back and then some... Stay tuned.

[SOCAL.M6.ZLE]

Ok, Spoke to ZPE... problem solved! looks like my 2.4" upper pulley was not only the less aggressive level 2 grip, but it was an LSA pulley which has a slightly different offset, will accelerate the wear, and introduce slip much sooner than normal. Which is why the 2.3" level.3 I just installed grips so much better. I am sending my old one back to them so they can review, but that seemed simple enough. No more belt slip for me (well at least not on the upper pulley)... for now

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by SOCAL.M6.ZLE

Ok, Spoke to ZPE... problem solved! looks like my 2.4" upper pulley was not only the less aggressive level 2 grip, but it was an LSA pulley which has a slightly different offset, will accelerate the wear, and introduce slip much sooner than normal. Which is why the 2.3" level.3 I just installed grips so much better. I am sending my old one back to them so they can review, but that seemed simple enough. No more belt slip for me (well at least not on the upper pulley)... for now

Glad that worked out. I’ve had good luck talking things over with them in the past so that’s why I suggested it.