A question for all you people with a lot of mods

[UrbanRedneck]

The guys that modified their cars a good bit, or even a little, I have a question. Do you guys just not care about warranty (or can afford to not need one), or do you just not get any crap about it at the dealer (obviously this doesn't include superchargers and major modifications)? Or do these cars rarely need warranty work?

I ask, because I want to do some modifications to my car. Mostly just an offroad pipe, axleback, CAI, and tune, but I am worried that I will have issues if I need warranty work. Now, I know that by law they can only void a warranty on the componant that is changed for the modification, or if they can prove that the mod caused the fault you are having, but that doesn't stop them from making it real, real difficult when something needs fixing. There's always the option of putting stock parts back on when you need to go in, but other than a CAI and axleback, it can become a lot of work, and what happens if the car gets stranded on the side of the road, you won't have that option.

That just leads me to wonder if you guys just don't care about warranty or what? Or basically, what do you guys do when the time comes that the car needs a repair?

Also, generally, how often do these cars actually need work within the duration of the warranty? Maybe they are just real reliable so it isn't an issue?

Lastly, I fully expect to have issues at the dealer if I have a tune or an offroad pipe, but I doubt they'd really care about an axleback or a CAI, am I right? I've always modified every car I've owned, and this isn't going to be an exception, but it's also my first car with a warranty, and since I work on other people's cars 45 hours a week, I don't feel like working on my own, so I am a big fan of the concept haha.

 

[whyask]

In the tech section there is a set of stickys (post that wont go anywere) and in there I posted one about the same stuff.. check it out , theres alot to be learned !
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=729978

 

[DrG06GT]

I haven't had it at the dealer for anything except recalls. I doubt they will care if the mods don't affect the broken part. Basically, I just don't worry about the warranty. Once I put on the S/C the fun outweighed the concern.

 

[flyboy86]

i really don't worry about it. Since i bought it, i knew i was gonna put the KB on it, so i didn't worry about it ever. When i bought my 05, there was like 6 months left on the warranty, so i said F it, and i went ahead and modded the hell outta her.

 

[kooldawg6]

I bought mine brand new and started modding it the next week. I haven't done anything major to it that I'd have to really worry about voiding any major parts. My car has been good to me so far and I'm just over 5K miles shy of putting her past the 50K mile warranty period.

 

[DarkFireGT]

My dealer is pretty friendly. Even so, I really wasn't worried about the warranty when I bought the car. I just wanted to start modding. Half the reason of buying a brand new one is the perception that it won't have any problems. If it does, and it's caused by my mods, then I'll foot the bill.

 

[cowtown]

Well dealers up here don't seem to have their head in their ass like down the US. I don't have anything too radical outside of a tune, but when I get gears later on that will change. Of course they'll never know I have them unless they drive it and as long as the problem doesn't occur because of the gears they won't say a damn thing about them. Heck they tried to sell me a set installed before I bought the car.

It's important to find a dealer that deals a lot of mods as they will typically be less likely to cause grief later on.

 

[Snooze]

If you bought brand new, and you plan to install mods.. Here's the plan i would take.

Short ram, or cold-air intake is fine. an axleback would also be fine.. There's nothing really that a dealer can turn around and argue to say that either one of those items caused a failure in the vehicle and they'll deny warrenty work.
Just be sure that any-small item you install Is indeed legal in your state/province. dealers don't have to work on a car that isn't legal.

Before you go programming your ECU (Even if you shyly return it to stock before taking it to a dealer for warrenty) Wait a good 10,000km's (or 5-8k miles) before you do anything major that would cause warrenty issues.
Reasons being..
Every new car is prone to electrical bugs, or mechanical tweeks. If its not your car, then its some Joe's down the street. Don't take the chance. Drive it, and listen to it before you do anything serious.

I'm not set on relibility of Fords.. I bought my stang back in october 07' with 30k km's, and the shaker 1k radio has already developed a mind of its own, and was replaced under warrenty.. I highly expect the moment the warrenty is done, the car will self-detonate. so i'll have my camera ready when it does.

On my 07' subaru. i bought it in Sept 06. I did a full exhaust (up/down/catback) the first week, and left it at that until about april 07', after it had 20k km's. Then i went nutz and it became my dedicated track car in October 07 :O.
It has about 55k km's, and not a single issue. Its not that i don't care about warrenty, its just i was cautious about what i dug into before i was sure everything was sound. (Well, now.. i just don't care! I don't think i could make any warrenty claim without a dozen possibilties that aftermarket parts had caused)

 

[blacksheep06]

You just need a cool service manager. Mine replaced an o2 sensor under warranty even with LT headers, no questions asked.

I've never seen anybody on any forums really complaining about getting screwed over by the dealer because of a few bolt ons. I guess it could happen but the fun of doing mods out weighs the negatives for me.

I ordered my car from the factory and had an axle back several weeks before the car even came in. The stock mufflers came off in less than 24 hours after taking delivery. I had an offroad pipe and a CAI/tune before my first oil change.

I have a tad over 15K miles on the ticker with the the mods in my sig. I wouldn't let warranty work scare you away from getting the most enjoyment out of your car.

 

[Radman]

Go ask your local service manager what he/she thinks.