having spent 40 some odd years busting my knuckles on mainly europeon,
plus a few jap & domestic autos for a living, plus having to endure
the fiasco of dealer/port installed airconditioning, plus the fiasco
York 2 cylinder a/c compressors installed on Piper aircraft has taught
me a few things beltwise. One of the main issues with V belts is the
lack of control of the placement of the plies in the cross section of
the belt. Look at a premium automotive belt & you can see as the belt
passes through the pulley, the reinforcing ply (s) wander all over the
place. The rubber body wears at a different rate than the ply material
& lo & behold the width start to vary & things start to shake. The
serp belts are a huge improvement & a a plus it doesen't have to ride
up & down in the groove as does a V belt. The link belt links are all
ply material (fabric) & allows for easy replication (each link) in the
manufacturing process so chance of defect, uneven wear is reduced.
Also the link assembly flexes much better especially around a small
pulley.