belt dressing is a product that is left over from the old days, when belts were flat leather, and needed a dressing to grip. the modern v-belt is enginered to grip by a very different method. if you take a v-belt and bend it, you will see that the sides bulge out. it is this bulging as the belt moves around the sheave that grips in the groove. as allready stated by trained profesionls on this thread, if your belt is squeeling or making noise, there is an underlying issue that needs to be resolved. the aplication of dressing will attract abrasive material and degrade your belt, causing your problem to worsen, not get better. to say that a spec is "pretty friken tight" and that pro-techs and shops would do an adjustment to some arbitray bench mark just to get some one out of thier shop is where i get my hackels up.
if you are talking about a flat serpintine belt, the small groves on the one side are doing the same thing as i have all ready mentioned, but enginiers have taken the guess work out of belt tension by prviding a preset tension spring. if there is issues in a system such as this, again, there is underlying issues.
this tech fourms are for exactly what jpthing has said, to help people with little or no experience in wrenching on their stuff. not to be led down the garden path by some free thinker who does not wish to listen to the sound, trained advise from a "pro-tech" .being a journyman read seal millwright, i take great exception to this attitude. if all jpthing is doing is wrenching on his stuff, i wouldnt have cared so much, but the fact that he is offering up such a missinformed service to even lesser informed people is where i start to draw the line. no bad day for me tom, just people that pushed the wrong button with me.
in case your wondering, in a simple v-belt instalation, proper tension would be 1/64" deflection per inch of span using a deflection force (pull in pounds) rated for the belt you are using. for instance, a B belt uses 8 pounds pull for new belts, 2 pounds other wise. see there is even a spec for new belts to acount for stretch, not just pretty frikin tight.
and jpthing, i have taken anger managment, and for the most part the tools i learned do a great job for me day to day, its just that there is allways that one.......................