[perl]

I have read the FAQ, but I was wondering what personal experiences people have had regarding BMW's position on warranty vs. modifications?

I would assume things like a new head or intercooler would void the warranty, and aftermarket air filters are certainly ok. But, what about replacement cold air intakes, exhaust replacements, etc. Where have they actually drawn the line?


perl

[stryder]

Aftermarket air filters aren't actually OK according to MINI, they're free as part of maintenance, so they can void parts of the warranty under the Magnusson Moss act if the dealer decides that's at fault.

That said, experience will vary greatly by dealer it seems.

[moorlockx]

Stryder gives a pretty good assessment of the situation. It really does boil down to the dealership you go through. However, just because they overlook an exhaust or intake change doesn't mean another dealer won't hassle you for it.

If you do a search under warranty, you'll probably come up with quite a few threads on the subject.

[Grinder]

Perl...it seems as if you want to know what dealers have been ok with and not okay with, not what MINIs official position is, correct? If so, what you need to do is go down to your dealership and ask them. Just because someone else's dealership will let them put on an aftermarket exhaust (heck, my dealership will even sell it to you and install it), doesn't mean yours will. They'll usually be forthcoming if you ask them.

That being said, I think the only time you'll run into trouble is when something breaks, not just going in for scheduled service. Like if your gearbox blew, then they might give you some grief...but an exhaust, intake, etc... shouldn't do that to you.

[Mugami]

Agreeing with Grinder. And the Fact its up to the Writer of the claim. IF they state an altered piece is the reason for the Failure then its not under warrenty. If there is no claim of an alter(aftermarket) piece then the warrenty is good for any BMW made piece on the car. This said if the writer wanted to be a pain. Lets say You burned an intake vaulve and had the K&N drop in filter the writer could state that due to altered intake filter caused an abnormal leaning of lowend mixture along with excessive dirt to pass resulting in burning of intake. Before you guys pick that apart. It happened to me Granted on a Carb car and not a fuel injected one. But the Car was Tuned by the Dealership shortly after adding the K&N filter. There was a low end surge like a vacum leak even before the K&N and i had it checked out earlier and noted in factory log book. Just some things to keep in mind.

Have fun, Be safe and Keep Motov8n

[Keith]

I keep seeing comments like "If you do X you will void your warranty". This misses the point by making it sound as though the warranty is all or nothing. If you do something to your car then anything that breaks because of the change will not be covered under warranty. As Mugami says, it is up to the service writer to interpret that. You can change the head and intercooler and reasonably expect the radio to still be covered under warranty.

The official line from Mini is very conservative - the windshield sticker suggests using a cell phone in the car voids warranty! Every case of denied warranty I have heard of is based on some reasoning (even if obscure) that the mod caused the problem.

[Dark Silver S]

The Magnusson Moss Act actually makes the dealer PROVE that the aftermarket part caused the damage in question. But that doesn't relieve the hassle factor. You may spend years and $$$ before they give up.

I think if you wanted to cheat and replace the stock parts before visiting a dealer (even on a massive blow-up), you'd only have to do that for three years.

[RUKnight]

Go down and ask your dealer, and the other surrounding dealers in the area. If need be when you bring your car in, go and speak to the tech, and bring donuts if its the morning, or the if its the afternoon bring in something for them, be it a drink, snack what ever. I worked at a VW dealer and whenever customers treated the service guys well they in turn got breaks. When i ordered my Mini I asked the salesmanager at the dealer how the service dept was when it comes to modifacations. He told me the tech's are pretty cool as most of them have modded cars and he said little stuff is no problem, such as CAI, exhaust, but he said if you change the supercharger pulley and the charger goes it's on you. Honestly I'm fine with that, if you're drastically modifying a car then you should take some responsibility for your actions as well. They can not void your entire warranty for mods though, for instance if you're window regulator breaks, and you have a fully tuned engine the window regulator will still be covered.
Mike

[gt4pete]

The dealer I work for treats things about the same as RUKnight's dealer.

Anything ahead of the throttle body or behind the post-cat oxygen sensor is fair game. Anything in-between those will all but destroy our chance of getting the claim covered with MINIUSA.

All defective parts must be sent back to BMW NA. If there's anything that points to a modified peice in anything we have to send back, we're not going to repair it under warranty. It's that simple.

It's possible to have something not covered due to intakes and exhausts. I'd put that right around a 0.01% chance though.

It all comes back to if we'll get fined in an audit by BMW NA (which is a pretty penny if you get caught). If you do get caught, they will come back to audit you again sometime soon. Cuz they know that you might do it again.