Failed Drive Belts.

[DMCVegas@xxxx]

So, here I am. 1½ of ownership, and I am now on my 3rd A/C belt, and 
my 7th alternator belt! The first 6 belts were chewed by the fan 
blades on the alternator. It looked like someone had bent them out 
just far enough so they would slowly chew the belt. After a 3lb. 
slegde hammer, and a 2' stick of re-bar, that issue is solved.

Now I have a new problem. Sunday when I got into my car, I hear an 
awful screeching from the engine compartment. I stopped the engine, 
and checked things out. My alternator belt had flipped on it's side. 
I realize this could be poor tensioning. But, when I inspected the 
belt (and the A/C since I had to remove it too), both belts were 
hard. The A/C belt in particular was already cracked all over the 
bottom. When I bent the belts backwards, both snapped instantly!

So, I have 2 questions:

1. My heat shield in front of my muffler is damaged a bit, and has 
been perforated in a couple of places. Could this be extreme heat 
that had dried out the belts?

2. Is belt dressing a good idea? I've heard that it can sometime dry 
out belts and crack them prematurely. Since I drive in the heat 
constantly, this is the last thing I want to do.

Any help/ideas would be greatly appriciated. Thanks in advance!

-Robert
vin 6585