Deckoz

Its simple

- Duralast not the same quality as OEM as i explained why above, from first hand experience
- OEM good quality, but bound to fail
- OEM can sand blast the worm and internal piston yourself as preventative
- Billman, OEM part, with updates like oiling and milling the mating surface to make OEM part better and less failure prone
- Ballade, a custom tct, that you MUST set preload for. If you **** up the preload, you can break your chain or worse.

all of the options above except ballade, have their preload already setup.

Jub

Ok, well that's definitely the best response in this thread. My response was somewhat lazy because I've seen a few posts from the same OP that are all things that can be searched on this board. I also want to re-iterate that the failure mode can be way more catastrophic than just some noise, especially with your last comment there. I've torn apart an atv engine that jumped timing before and it's pretty ugly.

To the OP. I've been around here for 3+ years at this point and have very few posts. This board is old and inactive at this point. Most questions that you could ask, especially at a surface level, have already been asked 10 different ways. Read more and you will find info. Billman is the resident s2k mechanic on this board and has a whole post about his TCT, why he does what he does, and he has revised it multiple times to improve it. Point is, read the boards. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience about this platform out there.

Deckoz

btw I hope I didn't offend. Was just trying to be honest to the OP, about my experience with it.. and everyone here

xxyion

I dont think anyone in this thread said Billmans' sucks. I'm pretty sure everyone is under the consensus that Billman is the best. I personally was asking about the Ballade sports TCT as that was recommended to me by my mechanic (not over the billman one, just recommended in general) and so i was curious on why some people said it wasnt good. The preload seems like a good reason why though tbh.

Also i think a lot of people in this thread know the importance of a TCT. So even if you dont drive the car often, the fact that the part could fail prematurely is a HUGE concern. Remember your current TCT hasnt failed yet, its just on its way out and currently isnt causing any issues. What people dont want to see is in a year, you are coming back on this forum saying that your Duralast TCT failed completely without warning and now your engine is ruined. Do you really want to risk a whole engine vs just paying an extra 200$? Personally that wouldnt be worth it to me. I made that mistake in modding my old car and ended up spending a lot more money on quality mods than i needed to because i tried to be cheap and bought replica parts because they were cheap. For something as important as the TCT, do it right the first time and you wont risk catastrophic engine failure.

B serious

There is no chance that any duralast part is in any way as good or better than OEM Honda. If it were as good/better, it would cost a HUGE amount more than the factory part. In every single case.

The OEM TCT can go quite a while before loosening up.

If this duralast part fails in a way that it destroys the rest of the engine, you'll probably be the first to know.

There's plenty of people who find out how "good" an aftermarket part is, first hand. And they never follow up their story with, "but I did save $(xx) when I bought it".

It's all junk, bruv.

czirrfb3

I understand your point but the exact same could be said for ANY part. My OEM one could fail without warning, the billman could fail without warning we could get hit by a bus without warning.

My thinking is a newer part is better than a failing older part, right?

Car Analogy

Look, I get it. I use Duralast parts all the time. Not on my S, but on my other cars. If I were in a bind, just to get the car on the road, I wouldn't hesitate to put Duralast parts on the S like pads, rotors, starter, alternator.

But I wouldn't trust such a critical part, that is very S specific like a tct, to Duralast.

Virtually everyone in this thread is giving the same advice. And its not just what people 'feel' is better. There is a tremendous amount of real world knowledge base on this topic.

Not all advice is good advice. Not all forum consensus is based on real facts. But this is one area where you can be sure the consensus is valid. tct is a mission critical component. The factory tct design has a flaw. Other tct designs are worse than factory. The billman tct is superior to all others.

B serious

?? You don't need to drive the car. Why are the only choices a failing OEM part or a junk aftermarket part?

Option 3 is waiting to buy a part that you don't need to worry about

The OEM one in your car failed slowly with signs of failure after 160K miles.

Sure, the OEM one *could* fail without warning. But I can't recall 1 instance of this after the sale of 60somethingK S2000's in the US.

The duralast part could last 500K miles. But its KNOWN to be junk. Meaning the likelihood of failure is way higher. And its not the type of part you want failing.

You are more likely to get hit by that bus if you're running back and forth across a busy bus terminal at night wearing all black than you are crossing the street at a crosswalk.

Plus...why did you ask this question if you didn't have the same doubts? lol

Now you're like a Duralast spokesperson or something...

B serious

Also, the Billman one has no failure account that I'm aware of....AND its mostly bought by people who note and scrutinize every single abnormal noise.

Mine's been great...but its only been on for a few K miles thus far.

Its $250, bruv. Not $2500

czirrfb3

Guess I'll just keep rocking the OEM one and keep the DL one on the side as an emergency in case the OEM one gets worse and I'll save for a higher quality TCT.