Paid $500 to a trusted mechanic. Ordered an AISIN timing belt kit and a Bando drive belt for around $250 (including tax and shipping).
Get the Aisin (OEM supplier) Timing belt and water pump w/ hydraulic tensioner kit (TKT021) from RockAuto (good price, authentic Aisin).
I used to be a Toyota parts guy, we used aisin kits for all our timing belt jobs on all the UZ V8s, all of them are the same layout.
AISIN TKT-021 kit has everything you need for timing belt/water pump. The water pump is driven by the timing belt, so always replace it when doing the belt.
That’s what I paid to have the timing belt done on my Audi A4 at an Audi independent shop.
Re the timing belt, if that has not been done I would get to that immediately. At 350K km it is a ticking time bomb. Use, specify, or supply the Aisin TKH-002 timing belt kit. It is OEM quality
I’ve used dozens of the Aisin TKH002 kits- they come with koyo bearings, a decent tensioner, and a Mitsuboshi timing belt, all very similar to the oem Honda parts. I think the only major difference is the Honda water pumps are usually made by Yamada and the aisin ones are made by aisin… I can’t say I’ve ever had failures with them
Aisin timing belt kit is a few hundred bucks and very nice quality parts.
6 years or 75,000 miles is the most I'd push any timing belt. We inspected a timing belt on a 2002 A4 with 57,000 miles in September - in-service date of 6/1/02 so it's over 6 years. Told her the belt is walking off, riding the edge of the tensioner and fraying.
The timing belt failed kindly early 65k later, so could have been bogus Aisin parts.
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If choosing timing belt across many manufacturers, check the part ranking. If your choice is down to two brands, the PartReview part comparisons help.
We compare timing belt across these categories:
In March 2026 on PartReview, timing belt AISIN were overall better than OEM Audi.
In March 2026 on PartReview, timing belt AISIN were overall more popular than OEM Audi.
By vote balance, timing belt AISIN surpassed OEM Audi:
By number of reviews, timing belt AISIN surpassed OEM Audi:
In March 2026, according to PartReview, these manufacturers led the same number of car-specific ratings:
AISIN are chosen by owners of cars such as: Subaru Legacy, and others.
OEM Audi are chosen by owners of cars such as: Audi A4, and others.
If this comparison didn’t fully answer your question, there are many others on PartReview.
For example, comparisons of timing belt AISIN with: Gates, OEM Volkswagen, OEM Honda, OEM Toyota, Continental, OEM FORD, Mitsuboshi, Contitech, OEM Subaru, DAYCO.
Also available: comparisons of timing belt OEM Audi with: Gates, OEM Volkswagen, OEM Honda, OEM Toyota, Continental, OEM FORD, Mitsuboshi, Contitech, OEM Subaru, DAYCO.
You can also see who is better among other timing belt manufacturers: AISIN or Gates, Gates or OEM Volkswagen, Gates or OEM Honda, OEM Toyota or Gates, Continental or Gates.
