I followed this brief (?) thread with interest - mainly because it had a
Kangol flavour and this make is in the older of my two Triumphs. The belts
are the originals, came with the car from new, work perfectly and have no
signs of frayed or damaged webbing. All that said, I'm changing them because
they've done a lot of work over that 34 year period and I don't feel I can
trust them if they are called upon to fulfil their design and installation
purpose.
It's a known fact (within the UK at least) that belt webbing made in the
60's and early 70's doesn't last forever - even
if it looks as though it should - and like the cars, it was never designed
to live this long anyway. In lab tests, old webbing has been proven to
become brittle under sudden local loading (as in a crash) while also losing
its tensile strength and softening over time. I'm not anxious to prove or
disprove this theory - and with due respect to those with a variable view, I
would seriously question the philosophy of buying secondhand belts unless
you are 100% certain they have never been called upon to restrain in an
accident.
But how old is that webbing? Would it stand the strain that *could* be
imposed on it? Would you be prepared for your wife / girlfriend / son /
daughter / friend to be the guinea pig?
I'm erring on the side of safety. All the belts on my cars are coming out
very soon. They're original, they're not damaged, they work fine but I don't
trust the webbing because of its age. For the record, I don't intend to sell
or give them away and they'll be destroyed in the interests of everyone's
safety.
Jonmac
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