light weight pulleys for cheap....
 

so I wanted a set of lightweight pulleys. $300-340 for Go Fast Bits seemed pretty expensive in my eyes. Turns out most "brand" pulleys are just pulley kits from a Chinese factory screen printed with their logo...

I decided to bite the bullet on these for $65 shipped:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ps0807f1c1.jpg

Came in the mail today. Very light weight. Identical in every way except for colour to the GFB. And at a fraction of the price. I'm very happy with them. I'm not one to cheap out on parts normally but for some machined aluminum pulleys I don't see how it's any risk.

Just like that silicone inlet hose you see there.... it's 5 ply... very tough.. and was only $50 because it doesn't have *insert company name here* printed on it.

I'll save the $$$ for the bigger parts that are very important, and figured I'd share in here for the people looking for a cheaper alternative. I found these on a popular auction site for those interested. Oh and they only took a week to get here

....& I guess I'll await the haters...

Ken

I know for a fact that the GFB pulleys are made in Australia. So your assumption of them being the same is incorrect.

What is more likely, is that someone sent a set of GFB pulleys to China to be copied.

It would be interesting to see how they actually balance up. They could be fine. At the very least, I'd be checking that they're balanced, before assuming they are and bolting them to my crank.

FYI People buy branded items as you are in effect buying something that a company is prepared to stand behind. For example, I personally would not check whether some pulleys from Toda Racing are balanced, as I trust the brand. That's not to say that anything branded means its good; your comment about things often being made in the same factory then having a logo inserted is actually accurate with many things. However, that isn't the case here.

I didn't say the GFB pulleys were made in China, I said that many brands outsource to China. This set produced there happens to be identical to the GFB kit.

These are computer CNC'd form a solid block of aluminum. The seller I purchased through has a 1 year warranty on these and is very quick to reply on any questions on the product. Just by handling them I could feel that they were very well made, nothing out of place. and at .8lbs on the crank and much less on the other two I can't really see how they can be made unbalanced.

And FYI I understand why many people buy brand name things. For instance I have Enkei RPF1's for wheels, OFH and OFT, P&L full exhaust, ISC coilovers and a few others on the car. Not to mention half the stuff I have in my house. But when it comes down to it. Most brands only put a 1 year warranty on products, and I'm sure that under piles of disclaimers that a lot of warranty's only cover the product itself.

I had a dealing with a brand name recently, whom I will not disclose. It was an exhaust product. There was a pin hole in a weld which left a small trail of soot. About a foot behind that pin hole there was a fresh scrape (very minor) from the car being lowered. This was in the photo I captured of the pin hole in the weld. After contacting them asking if the issue could be dealt with the company tells me that it appears there is a scrape on the piping and that could be the cause to a pin hole in the weld AND has now voided the warranty. I used to be a vehicle mechanic so I understand welds are the strongest points in normal piping construction on most tubular products such a stainless steel. I am currently an aircraft mechanic with friends in our metals tech shop who are highly trained fabricators. All of which would put money on the fact that the pin hole was there from production.


And for those wondering, no this wasn't the P&L exhaust lol

Just because they look the same and appear high quality doesn't mean that they are. As for the 1 year warranty, what does it cover? The replacement of a wrecked engine from an imbalanced pulley, or just the cheap $65 pulley itself? A warranty means very little unless it's from a company with an established reputation, even if the company has the best of intentions.

Just out of curiosity what company/reseller did you get the pulley from?

Most of light pulley are made from T6061 aluminium see wiki for techs....but only Laile and Buddy are made from A7075 aluminium, the better alu as stress resistance power and strenght.
So when you buy these items see with attention to specs. Sometimes you pay too much for T6061 that is under A7075 aluminium quality.

I mentioned warranty's in my recent reply. I understand them don't worry.
I've had a wrecked engine from a faulty valve in my ej205/257 hybrid build. Forged STI short block was built by outfront motorsports. And the wrx heads were machined and the valves/springs/retainers/cams were installed in the heads by EQ tuning. One of my valves failed in a way I have never seen before, only assumption by a several shops in my town is material defect:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...e/IMG_2212.jpg

Sent the valves off to undisclosed well known and trusted US performance brand. Refused to acknowledge a material defect and only offered to replace the valves. I had a destroyed $7000 long block. Nothing cheaped on here :)

So I've seen and experienced "warrantys" first hand

Oh and if you search ebay you'll find them pretty easily

Allegedly these are made of a7075 aluminum. But I'm sure the only way to truly test this is to have them tested in a lab.

:laughabove:Hahaa

Yup, I'm being a ■■■■■►
Carry on.

It's late, and I'm half asleep trying to stay awake to transition back to night shift :( I guess this is karma for me snickering at a guy saying "atm machine" while I was on vacation

No company building pulleys for the twins is going to offer to replace your engine if it blows up. Unless you can somehow prove with zero doubt that it caused it. Even then. Still doubt it.

I agree with op on certain things. I'm not going to buy a 500 dollar carbon intake tube because it's some name brand. On actual performance parts, I'll spend the money necessary for quality. I don't consider pulleys performance parts. Anyone can engineer a circle with holes in it.

So you know the warranty from a company selling on eBay with no other online presence is pretty much worthless, then way did you mention the warranty in the first place?

This may not be a performance part in some people's opinion, but it can cause some damage if it fails, or overtime if it just isn't up to spec. I'm not saying Chinese knockoff parts like these are guaranteed to fail, but the real quality is completely unknown. In addition it's kind of screwing over companies like Go Fast Bits and Perrin who put in the time and money to engineer them in the first place.

The word warranty was thrown out there in the first reply to this thread, in my reply post #3 yes I said this has a "warranty" in my next post #4 I explain my findings with a not to be named manufacturer and their "warranty". Then you stepped in and I brought to light my engine which shit itself because of a valve and how that "warranty" worked out for me.
My point to both of those posts was to say, warranty's are almost worthless for aftermarket parts.

Not to mention If your mechanically inclined like myself, install your own parts etc that immediately voids 80% of warranty's out there because it's "not installed by a professional". Using the car on a track unless the part is declared off road only is a warranty void. There are so many disclaimers that a reputable company will use to their advantage unless it means only replacing the part.

Whatever, I'll be the "guinea pig" on this I suppose. If my engine blows up somehow I'll report in...

Did you get a chance to weigh the stock and aftermarket pulleys?