I'm still fairly new to the forum but I met a few of the members at the Taco Mac meet up last week. I had the silver 2013 WRX. I have some time before my warranty is up, when I purchased the car I made a great deal with Stivers which included my oil changes (7 or 8 of them free), 30k, and 60k service (I think both, can't remember off hand). I got the extended Warranty because I got them to cover my tires up to 60K (coverage includes hitting a pot hole or steel plates on the road and if one is damaged, they will replace with 2 new ones). All in all I got a great deal because I hardly paid anything for the extra warranties but now there are some mods that I want to do to the car. I am thinking a minimum would be an axel back exhaust or I can use the SPT line and still be covered. I would like to do some suspension work as well. What are some mods that I can do that will not void the warranty. Thanks for your help.
Nothing can "void" the warranty. The dealer has to prove that if something happens, that it was specifically the aftermarket part you installed was the direct cause of said failure of the car. So, for whatever reason, if your window motor breaks, they cannot legally say "You have aftermarket springs, we're not touching your car." The one thing you will want to do is remove any kind of tuning software. That can and will make the dealer "decline" your warranty request. They still cannot void it.
If you just want to do an catback and aren't messing with the stock ECU tune I don't see how you could invalidate any of your warranty. Most mods that aren't power adders really will only affect the parts they might be directly attached to. For instance if you go with a wider wheel with a much greater offset or are running spacers they may not cover a wheel bearing issue but they would cover your transmission in that situation. A word to the wise, they do read forums so if you track your car and post about it they will use that against you.
But maybe those harder springs caused the vibrations that shook that poor window motor to death! C/N you can worry yourself to death, or follow the common sense advice already given.
I see this a lot and you would be surprised how bad it is with other brands. The manufacturer can deny your warranty on just about anything they want if you modify your car. It would be up to you to take them to court to pay for the work to get done. Unless you are prepared to take them court and battle their lawyers, my advice would be to stay stock and be happy. Granted it would be a real dick move for them to deny a window motor claim if you put on a catback exhaust, but I have seen it done on other brands. In reality, they could claim the added sound caused the wiring to fail.
Thanks for the advice guys, I ask because with my mini cooper and my jeep I dealt with a handful of warranty issues. Really I am looking to play with the exhaust some. Its my DD and I have a 90 mile round trip commute so I am being smart about it.
Word to the wise, Yes aftermarket can void a warranty but it wont void all warranty. As Matt said, a window motor failing will not be caused by an exhaust. Can't say it hasn't been blamed before.. Thankfully not that i've heard of anyways.. I will say though if SPT offers it and you really don't want to void a warranty.. SPT is Subaru performance Tuning. SPT doesn't void a Warranty and if you ever decide to sell the vehicle in the 60k miles. It's a Certified used car which means more in your pocket when they buy it back. Yes SPT is expensive as all get out and some Not all I believe are a waste of money. Personal Preference.. Secondly.. Talk to most aftermarket shops as some of them also have a warranty not just on their parts they send you but some will even tell you that they don't void a manufacturer warranty. All up to you though.. If an aftermarket part is installed we + the engineer have to prove it was the aftermarket part + the labor to install it caused the problem or your bad driving habits. Proof is in the pudding they say.
If you are really concerned about the warranty, buy all SPT parts and have the dealer install it. No one to blame but themselves.
Well I researched a bunch today and decided on the nameless axleback muffler delete. Since it's for a hatch it takes a little longer because they seem to make those to order. I hope to have it in by the next meetup but we will see
Despite the fact that it may void the warranty, I've gotta say that the Cobb AP was one of the BEST decisions that I made for my WRX. It really smoothed it out, made it feel healthier and brought it to life.
I have heard that from a ton of people; but, I practically got an extended warranty for free and since I have that, I might as well not blow it. I have done plenty of mods to previous cars and spent a good deal of money. I don't mind the Stock WRX so I am pretty much ok with taking the modding kind of slow. I bought the axleback exhaust from Nameless because I am tired of not being able to actually hear the car but that will take about a month for them to make it and ship it according to their timeline. The planned mods are a downpipe, Cobb AP, and Suspension. My car handles pretty well but I wouldn't mind it to be a little stiffer. I haven't been on to many mountain roads with it yet so those wants may change after a few runs up to Virginia and NC.
I have heard that some dealerships can actually tell if the ecu has been flashed. Idk the truth about that statement but I have been going with that until I hear different. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
This quote is from Bill at Cobb Tuning. Sorry for the wall of text, but I think it may make you feel better about the rumors.
Thanks Chris. That does help. There r a few people in the group who work for the dealerships so I'll check and then start saving Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
To clarify the AP. Can we tell if an aftermarket tune has been installed? Our computer/scanners read live Data and we have saved Data. So if you have a tune and it don't match. We'll assume you have a tune. Aftermarket parts? we'll assume a Tune. #1 mistake most people make when bringing their car to a dealership is. They have a tune on the car and leave the AP in the car clear as day. So when something breaks and it's laying in your middle console.. you just shot yourself in the foot. If you have a forum write up. We do read forums. If you get an AP there is a couple of things to see. We know what your system is suppose to run. So flashing it back to stock could hide it Temporarily. Don't leave in the car during major service. If you ruin a clutch or an inter cooler hose from goofing off or over boosting. If you fight us we call an engineer. His computer is updated past our system. He can tell how many times a flash has been installed, How fast you've been in the car, what a stock one looks like, Has Data from SPT parts being installed in his system. So can you get away with AP? possibly if you aren't stupid and blow your motor *cough* By the way if you run a tune and you have a recall or a TSB that involves us flashing your ECM and it doesn't take because your Tune blocks our reflash. It's wireless to the system which SoA can see at anytime they please. Everything in our dealership now backs up into the cloud and SoA has access to every dealerships information and every car/Vin # Just don't be stupid all i got to say
Thank you, I figured there was a way. I was planning on waiting anyways Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk