1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Tensioner stop opinions?

Hello Everyone,

I figured i should stop in and say HI in this thread. We believe our DT TS to be a great product and stand behind it. but with anything, there is always going to be the exception to the rule. Have some come back broken? yes, do i totally know why, not always. There are several factors into why. One is how it's installed. Since i can not install every one, it says in the directions on where to place the ends to have movement and you also do not want the bolts too tight. The other things could be a bad cable lug. We by them in bulk and I try to weed out most of the bad ones before they ever get made into one, but some times it happens. I had only seen 1 fail because of a bad lug. However, to date I have only had a few come back to me and I have replaced every one no questions asked, but if someone doesn't contact me, there is nothing I can do. Also a long time ago, there where a batch of 20 that where made too short. 10 went to a vendor and as far as I know the rest where still here at the shop. It is possible that one made it out and I would be happy to replace that one if so, but that was over a year ago that happened. Most of the time it's because of how the cable lugs are angled. To date i have never had anyone call me about a boost problem becasue of them.

If anyone has an problems or questions. Feel free to post it up here, send me an e-mail, or give us a call and i"ll get you your answer.

Thanks!
Chad Miller
Detroit Tuned
22664 15 Mile Road
Clinton Township, MI 48035
586.792.MINI – shop
586.792.6465 – fax
Detroit Tuned
[email protected]

 

I've had a DT stop on for the last 6 years installed by Chad himself. I've been careful to watch the belt & replace it before it jumps ship so it has not been tested in anger I guess. I do believe it will do its job if asked.

 

I'm sure Chad would make it right if someone sent him a busted DT stop.

 

Alta tensioner stop for me and my buds. We don't care about noise.

Jeremy

 

I have the Detroit Tuned one, luckily I've never had to experience how effective it is.

 

I haved the Minspeed one and like it. Also have not had to experience whether or not it actually works.........lol

 

post GTT too...i am not familiar with that one. Ive tried alta and DT ones. Right now, im am running nothing. one rattled and the other robbed my boost at high rpm.

 

GTT's



How did one rob boost at high rpm?

 

OK.......cant find the Minspeed one either. Guess they stopped production. It was the same as the GTT one. Very simple.

 

alta rattled, and was too finicky to place it where it didnt, and DT stole about 1 1/2 boost. as soon as i took it off, my boost came back. It was too short...thats the only thing I could figure. it was stopping the tensioner from fully tightening, thus the belt would slip at the high rpms. Not sure if im a unique case, if i had a defective unit, or my car is screwy, but putting it on sure did still my power. I wanted it to work...but it just didnt. I never contacted Chad, so I'm not sure if there is an issue or not....there are a lot of ppl using DT tensioner and I havent ever heard of this being an issue.

 

Sounds like that was a case of the belt streched out and the stop prevented the tensioner from over extending itself. Bet if you got a new properly sized belt it would have been OK.

Only concern I had with the DT one was the questionable practice of crimping the ends.

 

+1. my alta did the same thing as mushadd's when i first installed, turned out the belt was stretched. as soon as i put on a new belt the problem was gone and no more loss of boost

the alta was my choice simply because it's one solid piece, with less chance of something breaking. it's cheap reassurance and easy install

 

I'll probably get flamed for this, but I don't like the idea of running a tensioner stop. The reason is; you shouldn't need one! If you run a proper length belt for your application and regularly replace the belt and tensioner [both of which are notorious for failing every 30k miles on the R53] then you shouldn't have a problem unless something catastrophic happens. I consider the belt and tensioner part of my routine mainenance. Call me a daredevil with regularly changed underwear but that's my take on it.

 

Mine was ripped from one of those ends and I never put a tensioner on there again.

 

belt was literally brand new. Napa 539. I even tried the gatorback before goingn back to the napa. My belt is tight...over one hole showing on the tensioner tab.

However, with what Ryephile said, I have never known of having to replace the tensioner. what does it do? I always thought that it even works or it doesn't...not really like a belt that will slowly stop working... can anyone enlighten me?

 

I have to disagree with Ryphile............have had several friends that have lost belts because of some debris that got caught up in one of the pulleys and ripped up the belt and failed. This is simply a form of prevention for a possible failure. I have not ever had one fail, but sure don't want to have to pay for it if it does.

The tensioner is just a spring with an oil filled damper to make sure the belt is held tight to the pulleys so there is no slipping. They do fail and this can cause the belt to slip.

 

FIXED THAT I know we had a belt slippage problem with the DT one when we put it on my car at a garage day, but we figgered it out.

If you tighten the end bolts and allow the cable ends to rotate you can pretension the cable, limiting tensioner arm travel, and robbing boost through belt slip. Make sure the cable makes a "U" shape, not an "S" shape, and that the cable ends point STRAIGHT TOWARD each other, and not down into the "U". That allows just enough cable length for the tensioner to do its job, but not enough to let the pulleys touch.

It's not super simple to do because you've got to hold the cable end facing the other cable end while tightening the nut, then do it again on the other side, especially when the ends want to rotate with the nut, then want to face down into the "U", and the cable is effectively acting as a compression spring pushing against the end, but it can be done. Easy, once you know that it needs to be done.

Also: I have one friend who lost a belt, the tensioner arm traveled too far, the pulleys contacted each other and chipped - he had to replace pulleys because they were eating belts.

Nice thing is, once done, the cable won't rattle, doesn't wear out, and sits there not doing its job until needed. Maintenance free. I like it that way. Oh and the crimped ends on mine looked pretty darned solid.

 

DT may be one of my competitors but it's the only stop we use. Have had great luck with it and no noise like other ones.