Will Downpipes and Intake Void Warranty?

[ki__]

Will Downpipes & Intake Void Your Warranty? I really wanna hear a lot of people and what they think about this question, i really don't feel like dealing wit Beverly Hills BMW about it, so i rather her all your answers and opinions on this subject first.

Thank you :thumbup:

[Riss Racing]

At the end of the day its an exhaust mod. We have no clients that have ever had their warranty voided due too downpipes....Sticky above has more info. Thanks!

[akak1997]

Anthony,
If lets say the turbo blew, that the horror happened to that 335, would it be logical for the dealer to say the Intake and Downpipe is allowing more flow thru the turbo, hence making it spin faster than it should, hence blew it up?

[akak1997]

Originally Posted by 5soko

I would remove all mods and put the car back into factory trim if there was a engine componet failure, even if it wasnt caused by the product itself. In this case i cant see DP and exhaust causing any type of engine/turbo failure.

Downpipe/Exhaust is tougher to remove compare to Intake or JB3. That's why I'm hesitant to go with any exhaust mods.

[My135]

I don't think intake and cat-back exhaust system alone would give you any trouble but not so sure about ECU, down pipe or any mods which will give you more than >20 hp/tq of increase. Technical, they have to prove the mod caused the failure, but it happens so often, the dealer can deny any warranty work as soon as they saw major mods on your car.

[ORIGIN M.]

I doubt it. They don't want to screw themselves from future paid labor now do they.

[ar design]

Originally Posted by anthony@rissracing

At the end of the day its an exhaust mod. We have no clients that have ever had their warranty voided due too downpipes....Sticky above has more info. Thanks!

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by anthony@rissracing

At the end of the day its an exhaust mod. We have no clients that have ever had their warranty voided due too downpipes....Sticky above has more info. Thanks!

My car is in the shop right now for a fuel pump failure and BMW is denying coverage due to catless downpipes.

The fight certainly isn't over, but anyone doing this should be prepared to fight for warranty coverage if they expect it.

[Riss Racing]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

My car is in the shop right now for a fuel pump failure and BMW is denying coverage due to catless downpipes.

The fight certainly isn't over, but anyone doing this should be prepared to fight for warranty coverage if they expect it.

HPFF is in no way effected by DPs....BMW has a long history of failed fuel pumps. I highly suggest you fight that. If you need help with anything contact me even if they arn't our downpipes.

[ML]

Originally Posted by jeremyc74

My car is in the shop right now for a fuel pump failure and BMW is denying coverage due to catless downpipes.

This is exactly what should be expected. You warranty will not be voided. However, fully expect warranty claims to be denied due to after market parts. The onus will then be place on somebody (you are going to say it's the dealer's/BMW's responsibility, they will push it back at you) to then demonstrate that the failure was not a result of the installed after market parts.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by anthony@rissracing

HPFF is in no way effected by DPs....BMW has a long history of failed fuel pumps. I highly suggest you fight that. If you need help with anything contact me even if they arn't our downpipes.

Thanks Anthony. :w00t:

I completely agree with you. I'm working right now trying to get them to give me the exact response from BMW on the matter so I have some ammunition. So far I haven't been able to get anything in writinig, but I've been out of town and will be picking the car up Friday afternoon. At that point they should be able to give me specifics on the claim denial and I'll post it. I've been posting about this in one of the other HPFP threads, but I'll start a new one once I've got more information.

[jeremyc74]

Originally Posted by ML

This is exactly what should be expected. You warranty will not be voided. However, fully expect warranty claims to be denied due to after market parts. The onus will then be place on somebody (you are going to say it's the dealer's/BMW's responsibility, they will push it back at you) to then demonstrate that the failure was not a result of the installed after market parts.

I'm pretty sure it's on them to demonstrate that the parts caused the failure, not for me to prove they didn't. It would be completely unreasonable to expect consumers to spend that kind of money and effort in testing. I'm sure this is going to be a huge PITA, but I'm going to push it as far as I can.

I was having intermittant fuel problems from the time the car was new.

[JKAWB]

just talking about warranty's will void your warranty

[JohnL135I]

Originally Posted by JKAWB

just talking about warranty's will void your warranty

I just got an E mail from BMW, My warranty was voided because I read this thread.

[SV Concepts II]

We are protected under the Magnuson-Moss Act. Unfortunately it's very difficult to fight dealerships, I've had my fair share of experiences. Your best bet is to be prepared with evidence backing your statement in case something fails.

[AchtungF80]

Originally Posted by BlacknRedi

Will Downpipes & Intake Void Your Warranty? I really wanna hear a lot of people and what they think about this question, i really don't feel like dealing wit Beverly Hills BMW about it, so i rather her all your answers and opinions on this subject first.

Thank you :thumbup:

Yes.

[fourtailpipes]

not much, if anything truly "voids" your warranty (engine transplant does, for example). as stated, they have to think that the specific failure is a result of your specific modification. unfortunately, the dealer suspecting that you caused the failure through modification is typically enough for them to refuse to perform the repair, and if you push it too far, piss someone off, or just get unlucky, they'll make a note on your file. once there's a note in your file, you'll likely hear the same answer from every dealer you visit.

rule of thumb: if you want to be certain that you won't have warranty issues, limit your modification to areas where BMW themselves offer "performance" parts.

also, BMW is now in final development stages of diagnostic tools which will detect not only the presence of aftermarket software tweaks, but even previous use of such software, so even if you reflash back to a stock map, they will still know. again, this alone isn't enugh to "void" your warranty, but something like software affects a LOT of components in your engine, any of which they could refuse repairs on.

[wastintime]

this is really an issue of knowing your rights as a consumer. Anthony is 100% right, I've worked in tuning since I was in college and we used to have to go deal with dealerships for our customers all the time. Putting a full exhaust on your car can't break the A/C system. If you read the fine print there is incredibly little that can actually "void a warranty" you may even void your powertrain warranty by doing some crazy things and power mods, but everything else is still covered. Heck go with Dinan and your at 384hp and still under warranty.

Don't believe people when they tell you you're going to void your warranty. It is not hard to deal with dealers on warranty issues at all if you know your laws. Also it helps to pick the right dealer. My best example is I'm a Porsche racer... a good friend of mine bought a GT3RS and it he bought it from Brumos and it developed a small oil leak with 15k miles on it. Now they knew he had tracked the car 3 times a month since he bought it, they still fixed it on the spot without him even asking. Lol, if you took it to my local Porsche dealer they'd laugh at you and say it was your fault. It helps to know which Porsche, BMW, Subaru, etc... dealers are more involved in motorsports than others.

btw, blacknredi, your car is beautiful... lol, I wanted red, but my girlfriend said no... and it's technically her car so...

[esses]

There was a post about this happening just the other day. In real life BMW can and will void your warranty. That's v, o, i, d. Will it hold up in court? Probably not. Will you pay to fight it in court? Probably not. "Picking a dealer" doesn't help because it is the regional rep's decision and that decision is recorded in something called a computer. Funny how real life works. Be smart out there, wear goggles.

[M3Newbie88]

So what about the BMS filter.. since that is technically not an intake I rather not keep removing my stuff and putting them back on and the filters are alot faster to put in instead of the oem air box.. well tomorrow I am going in for my oil change and going to leave the "filter on" and see what happens but of course when I get home I am putting back on my Riss Intake haha..

[WeekendWarrior]

alright let me just throw this out there. a car company is a business. like in any other business there are balance sheets. why in the living breathing fuck would a company willingly throw away thousands to replace parts and cover labor thus adding to their cost when they can easily say "hey what is that an exhaust mod? oh sweet. kiss your warranty goodbye, clown. were keeping our money." not because it added to the damage of the part but because they CAN and it will save them MONEY!!!!!1. get your head from your hiney. if a dealership can get away with telling you no to fixing something THEY WILL. thats the way it works. learn to take off and on the exhaust quickly if having it means that much to you. you must pay to play but you musnt try then cry when it doesn't go in your favor.

[esses]

Originally Posted by BlacknRedi

don't feel like dealing wit Beverly Hills BMW about it

I missed this the first time around. Is Dung still over there at BH/BMW? If so, you should take a walk and talk hypotheticals with him. He is a good guy.