Warranty-Voiding Modifications...
 

Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to the forum.. Hopefully, I will be the owner of a brand new 370Z Touring with Sport Package sometime between August and October..

I'm pretty sure you guys around here can help me out listing for me which modifications I'm safe doing without voiding my factory warranty...

My initial plans were to do the "basic" stuff like CAI, cat-back exhaust, headers, short-shifter, anti-sway bars, springs or coil-overs, tires/wheels, engine oil cooler, Stillen or unorthodox underdrive pulley...

I don't know which one of these will void the warranty and which ones are safe.. Any help appreciated...

Nothing will void your entire warranty. However, if one of the parts you put on causes the car to malfunction then dont expect the dealer to cover it under warranty.

They have to be able to prove that whatever you did to the vehicle casued the problem. It is very hard for them to void your warranty from what I understand.

Hard for them to void your warranty, but easy for them to deny your claims and make your life a living hell.

whatever you pull out becomes void..like taking out the stock intakes....warranty gone on those....things like that....check to see if ur dealer is willing to install some mods...if they do, they will keep the warranty untouched.

TT the car probably voids everything...lol

I hate it when I see this statement...because it makes it sound like it is all on the dealer and that they will honor ANY claim unless they can 100% without a doubt prove otherwise. This is SOOOO far away from how it really works.

Heres how it really goes...

Engine blows --> dealer sees -enter performance mod here-
Dealer: Sorry, claim denied
You: But my -enter performance mod here- had no effect on the engine blowing!
Dealer: Sorry, claim denied - we believe it did
You: No it didn't!
Dealer: Sorry claim denied.

Now what? Now you have to spend the time and money to fight for your rights...most of the time it will cost you more in the long run than repairing the car yourself.

Court battles cost a ****-ton of money. Trust me, I know.

You are exactly right. Everyone here loves to spout the Magnuson-Moss Act, but the real world is very different. Prove it did not cause the failure (on your $$$$$ dime)

If you blow your engine, of course. I was tlaking about samll problems and if you only have small mods like exhaust, intake, and such.

Well, I think I should've mentioned the fact that I'm not in the United States.. I guess it is all dealer dependent then...

Would it be advisable to stick with "minor" modifications (intake, short-shifter, tires/wheels, anit-sway bars) while the vehicle is under warranty to avoid any kind of trouble..??

There is no court battle involved with that scenario. You contact your regional Nissan rep. He meets you at a dealership and he tells the dealer what they will or will not do for free.

It would unless you're willing to roll the dice..

This is what I have been told by a friend who had a situation with his vehicle, but I dont know all the specifics.

Sure there is, when the Nissan rep says no...then what?

You give up?

I pretty much consider the dealership and Nissan rep as the same entity.

The Nissan rep isn't on your side. He isn't there to speak for you.

I've been down this path before with a dealership who refused to fix a differential do to "aggressive driving" which they had NO clue of even knowing. Try that one on for size. The almighty rep agreed with the dealer.

Edit: This was not a Nissan dealership, it was a Chevy dealership.

That is not nice. What ended up happening?

I had a Honda rep overrule a dealer and get me a new transmission. It will depend on your rep but it gives you someone to pester enough to get some help.

If you "rice" your car, then Nissan automatically voids it.

Damn it, does that mean I gotta remove my AMG emblem on the back along with my neon lights?

i had a friend with an S take his faulty clutch back to the dealer and they told him they wouldn't change it because they suspected he was launching on it. he never did anything of that sort. anyway, they ended up changing it for free in the long run, but it was a giant headache for him.

don't forget the SOHC VTEC sticker at the bottom of your quarter panels

If you search the forum for "void" or "warranty" there are quite a few threads that will help you. :D

Thanks for your comments guys..

Let's see what ends up happening when I get my hands on the car.. Can't wait..

it's not about what you know or "suspect" but what you can prove in court and in that claim the dealer can't prove ****.

my dealership is awesome.

they were the ones that put on a different exchaust system. they were the one teaching my dad how to launch controll. they were the ones that started drifting and **** with the demo GT-R. the owner of the dealership TTed his 350 and ****.

He is a nice guy

Holy Thread Revival Batman!

If you are just doing simple mods, all you have to do is put the stock stuff back before taking it to the dealers. Its simple enough to put your old intakes, or springs back on. If you have a engine problem, they can't void your engine warranty because you had mod springs installed.

So true. I had a Cobalt SS Supercharged with lowering springs and alot of other mods on it. My sway bar links broke...both me and the manager at the dealership knew it was caused by the rough ride lowering springs caused...however, they couldnt 100% prove it so my warrenty was still go. I had even swapped superchargers and meth injection..warrenty was still good. Even with the 370z. I just installed my nitrous system, my climate controls were acting up so i went to the dealership with the bottle in and everything...mods i have are intakes and nitrous and thats it. They seen it but it didnt do anything to the warrenty cuz it had nothing to do with the issue. I'm sick of these people saying "if you install aftermarket parts it will void the warrenty" no it wont...if the aftermarket part caused the issue that u r getting worked on then yes...but unless it did and they can prove it then its not voided.

I'm interested in specific warranty denials, if anyone is open enough to admit some possible stupidity.

Old enough to have owned several cars: I have always been screwed by domestic dealers and service reps. Only once by a Toyota dealership (sales manager backed me and got fired for his effort). But a different Toyota dealership was fixing stuff for me a year after the warranty ran out. No mods by the way.

Have researched the 350Zs quite a bit. When the 06 and 07 had "oil consumption issues," Nissan replaced a lot of engines for free. But the owner had to work with the service department to gather stats over time.

Still interested in specifics. IMO Nissan, Toyota, Honda appear to care more about word-of- mouth experiences, both as a brand and by dealership.

And a confession. If something goes wrong with my car, I can't diagnose it in time to put the old parts back on...as a matter of fact I can't diagnose it, nor can I swap parts back and forth. Need to know potential problems beforehand.

I guess I'm lucky that my dealer (Infiniti) has a Stillen CBE/Gen3 CIA etc.) on their service bay walls for display. They are pretty mod friendly, even if you have non-Stillen parts. :)

But as with everything, there are limits.

My dealership is mod-friendly too. In fact they'd tease me every time I came in for routine service for NOT having any mods. When I finally started modding, they were more than happy to install the parts and assured me I wouldnt run into any warranty issues.

What I do not understand is why do dealerships deny claims... It does not cost them anything as Nissan pays them for the parts and labor they have put into it.

It just makes no sense.

Of course it makes sense. Nissan warranties their Design, specs and tuning parameters. When you start changing that, Nissan has no control over the effects those changes may have. Most all manufacturers have the same guidelines. If they didn't engineer it, they're not gonna stand behind it. You're on your own there..Nissan has no obligation to pay for your modifications (or screw-ups)..

THe truth of warranty is this:

ANY part added to the car can void the warranty as long as that part is the direct cause of the issue. If you put an exhaust on the car and your AC fails or your windows stop working, they are not related, no warranty issues there. However if you put an exhaust on the car and consequently the cat cracks because you overtorqued a bolt, well, no warranty.

Standard bolt ons usually are not a problem with many dealerships, however it is up each dealer's discretion on if they wish to work on the car in the first place or not. You simply cannot avoid that.

so you'll be fine as long as you install things correctly and don't do anything too too crazy. BUT if you do, it should not void the ENTIRE car's warranty.

hope that helps (and this is coming from someone who's working in dealerships for over 8 years)...