Hey all.
I have been working on getting my mini back on shape lately
and today I decided to jump on the easiest part as time was running into late afternoon: Supercharger belt change.

So first thing, I have been using NAPA 060535 for the past years as I am running 17% SC pulley. It has been great...! However, recently some people mentioned of using 060532 for 17% pulley and they stated that it is THE BELT to use.

Well. O well. I thought, "Let me try the new size for the sake of it".
The result?

The belt is too freaking short...

Everything goes on smoothly until the last part, where I try to slip it on to the idler pulley, it just becomes impossible. (I even had my wife hanging onto tensioner tool for her life..............!)


Any tips on how to put that damn thing on?

That's too short then. Probably a 1358mm length belt. Those are sons of ******* on the 17%. Revert to the 060535.

Jeremy

O yes.

Me and my wife

Just kept on ***************************** ... about the belt.

Been using the NAPA 060532 belt for a while now...wasn't too short and showing just one hole at the top of the tensioner...

The 060535 on the other hand would slip on WOT runs, and had barely a hole showing.

Maybe check the numbers on the belt sold to you. Could be the counter person goofed as it's not that much shorter to create an issue as you described.

just a question i have a 17% pulley and i used gates micro-v 060532 it only lasted around 6 months with 3k miles on it.

is it ok to use the 060535? i replace the belt yesterday with my friend's jcw belt. when i installed the belt quite easily compared when i installed the 060532 late last year. in addition, with the 060532 installed you can clearly see the hole in the belt tensioner and even the topmost of the 2nd hole.

i used an obd2 scanner and at wot i can get 16.2 psi in the supercharger with the jcw belt (same with the 060532 belt). can i use the jcw belt first or will it give me problem after some use? (i don't see the hole in the belt tensioner) thanks

Pro-tip: Buy two belts from your local NAPA (if it exists), and return the one that doesn't work.

unfortunately, i'm from the Philippines they only have hte jcw belts here

If your 535 belt is in good shape it shouldn't slip on a 17%. Every .25 inch of travel of your tensioner adds 20lbs to the tensioner pulley, so if the belt is stretched or worn, it will slip. As a general rule about belt trains, if you have too much tension on them, you can damage the bearings in various pulleys. I'm not sure if that's an issue with R53s: I haven't seen that correlation.

I use the 532 belt... yes its a bit of a pain to get on. but it holds better and no slip... when i put it on i saw 1 and 3/4 holes and im now at 1 hole showing thats after about 8 months and maybe 15k miles, very hard miles.....

The other belts are not "mini belts".... But from other automotive products that are MORE COMMON than the mini......the mini belts are kinda special length....but the others are used in many different cars/light trucks and are stocked as a basic repair part....so better availability...

It seems you can get the belts.....
Standard ribs on the back work better than "gator back" or micro rib as you found out...
A slipping belt or missalighned belt will fail very fast....

I can't get mine on either... same belt as op is trying. how in the hell do you get it on?!

Just get a slightly longer belt, and forget what other people are using. It's pretty obvious when a belt simply isn't going to fit. I posted a thread somewhere about this, and my personal adventure in finding the right sized belt.

Pairing this for those in my situation.
got a WMW 17% and new belt tensioner.
the 060535 is far too big. In fact there was no tension.

the 060532 was TIGHT but easy to install if;
remove wheel
remove fender liner
install belt so that it is partially on harmony balancer (12-10 o’clock position)
with a 15mm socket turn crank CCW while feeding belt into crank and a/c pulley