Are the cheap aftermarket crankshaft pulleys/harmonic balancers any good?
 

The OEM harmonic balancer aka crankshaft pulley costs $300 and is prone to failure. So, are any aftermarket pulleys any good? I don't think I need one at this time, but the many recent threads on this topic do make me nervous.

My belts are squeaking at startup, so I ordered new Bando belts.

I don't want to put too much money into this car because I would like to get something else soon.

For reference check this out.

I've purchased a couple from Tom's auto on eBay. The one on the left in the picture is from Tom's. I think I paid more than the price listed in the ad.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-H...tWJqy2&vxp=mtr

I bought the first replacement from this eBay seller for my first 95 model around 7 years ago..

https://www.ebay.com/p/Harmonic-Bala...75.c100623.m-1

I'm glad i looked more before asking about this. i noticed a few weeks ago my pulley was wobbling. I looked again today a little closer and MAN IS IT WOBBLING!
It appears though that the inner belt and grove is true, but the outer section is all over the place. i am going to inspect and try to tighten bolt but i'm assuming because of the age of the car that some kind of rubber dampening has gone bad. from the little research i did tonight it looks as though it's a one piece pulley as opposed to a two piece that might be coming apart.

so i'm in the same boat, aftermarket or junkyard? combination of junkyard pulley and aftermarket harmonic balancer?

the pulley project is behind fixing bubbling super hot power steering fluid and my other issue of my CE light illuminating telling me my car is not entering closed loop mode (ugh!). replaced the temperature sensor today and the thermostat will be tomorrow. grabbed a knock sensor just in case as it came up on the report as well.

this car WILL last me 200kmi if it kills me. haha.

Please suction our and replace fluid on a daily or frequent basi's until the color is red, similar to new fluid. Report you results once this has been done.

Just get yourself a Unorthodox Racing Pulley or Contact ASP racing to built a underdrive pulley for your VQ30DE...
https://www.unorthodoxracing.com/cu10101-crank-pulley