Do I need to replace my belts?

[7Andrei7]

I went to a shop for some normal maintenance and when the mechanic looked under the hood (engine off) he decided within a minute that my belts + tensioner (or pulley) need replacement. I would not be against the belts being replaced but the pulley is 300€ !!

Now I am staring at these belts, looking for cracks, and can't understand what he saw. Is it the tiny shreds of string at the edge of the belts? And why would he recommend the pulley?
I also uploaded a video with a cold start here:

Apologies if I am making a fool of myself! I'm trying to learn.
Thank you!

 

[D.J.]

Mechanic is hungry.

 

[JSolo]

Vehicle age/miles?

Looks used, but not worn out.

 

[7Andrei7]

Car is 4y 2m old and has 97k miles, 70% of which were done on highway at cruising speeds and no more than 5% were done in city traffic.

 

[JSolo]

<shrug> At 100K miles it's probably a good idea to replace the belts if you plan on keeping the car.

Same for the tensioner. When the belts are off other pulleys can be inspected and replaced as needed (or just replaced with oem to be on the safe side).

 

[7Andrei7]

I do plan on keeping the car at least a couple more years. Will there be any signs of imminent risk o a belt breaking? In the maintenance manual there is no replacement interval. It just says "inspect" every 20k miles.

 

[JSolo]

I would expect to see cracks and fraying before as signs of needed replacement.

Don't see fraying in your pics, but hard to see cracks with the grooves facing inward. In your last pic, if you could see under the shiny pulley, that would stretch the grooved side some so you'd see any cracks.

I've yet to keep a car in recent years 100K miles, but in general would consider that a good mileage at which to replace most wear items such as belts, hoses, pulleys, etc.

Did you ask your mechanic why he advised to replace those items?

 

[7Andrei7]

I didn't ask them. It was the first time I went to that shop because they do walnut blasting and I wanted to get an estimate on cleaning the intake valves (my kia dealer does not do valve cleaning).

A mechanic quickly looked under the hood at the intake manifold and just said something like: belts also need replacing.

And today they sent me the estimate for the cleaning and also included belts and tensioner as extras.
I asked them to schedule me only for the cleaning. Let's see what they say.

 

[7Andrei7]

@JSolo Managed to take a picture from underneath the shiny pulley.

 

[JSolo]

It doesn't look bad at all. Wonder what shape the pulleys are in though. If any are rough or grinding, replace 'em all and the belts at the same time.

Won't know condition of pulleys without releasing the belt tensioner... Which may damage it (give its age). Catch 22..

 

[7Andrei7]

Ok, so I did change my belts, just because of the amount of milage.
I think they look pretty well considering I'm at 158k km - 98k miles.

 

[7Andrei7]

Unbelievable but there is already a piece missing from the new water pump belt.
How could this happen?! Bad installation?

 

[Parksjl4]

id get it replaced. my tensioner just snapped off now im waiting a week for the part with no car, and im at 70k miles

 

[7Andrei7]

Should I worry about this belt? Is it normal to see the connecting seams so clearly? It only has 8 months and less than 20k miles. The underside looks completely fine.

 

[D.J.]

That belt looks new, looks good.

 

[SRV]

And today they sent me the estimate for the cleaning and also included belts and tensioner as extras.
I asked them to schedule me only for the cleaning.

What was their estimate, and did you get it done?

 

[7Andrei7]

I only did the walnut blast cleaning with them. It was 250 eur including new seals for the intake cover.
However, this was in Bucharest, so on the cheaper side of the EU. I have the 2.0

 

[7Andrei7]

That belt looks new, looks good.

Thank you for confirming this!
I had no idea what was the purpose of that wire/thread. In the meantime I learned it's normal and is just useful during the belt manufacturing process.