Effects on TLC package?

[JayRaj]

Does fitting Hartge and any other non-works mods effect the TLC package and hence the warranty?

Cheers


Jay

[dinger]

If you have the Hartge conversion it will invalidate your warranty,but with the TLC servicing it depends on the dealer your using.


dinger,

[midlife mini]

Point of clarification if I may dinger?

A Hartge conversion does not invalidate your warrantee to the extent that some may interprit your post. Yes, there could be an issue with those parts modified but, BMW will honour Warrantee on everything else. Regarding TLC as it's up to the dealer to reclaim from BMW/MINI the payment for work done granted some are more ethical than others.

Hartge are happy to offer Warrantee over and above that of the installer in the case of Birds, for a fee.

[Speedd]

Welcome to MINI2 Raj and i agree with Midlifes comments.

Also make sure your dealer is ok with the mods. I recently had a sports exhaust and filter fitted and waited for confirmation from the dealer before I made any changes.

Good luck and keep us posted

Anand

[dinger]

Quote:

Originally posted by midlife mini
Point of clarification if I may dinger?

A Hartge conversion does not invalidate your warrantee to the extent that some may interprit your post. Yes, there could be an issue with those parts modified but, BMW will honour Warrantee on everything else. Regarding TLC as it's up to the dealer to reclaim from BMW/MINI the payment for work done granted some are more ethical than others.

And there will be an issue if BMW/MINI find that if its found due to the conversion it has caused other parts of the engine to fail it will invalidate the warranty on those failed parts.!

[dinger]

Quote:

Originally posted by Anand
Welcome to MINI2 Raj and i agree with Midlifes comments.

Also make sure your dealer is ok with the mods. I recently had a sports exhaust and filter fitted and waited for confirmation from the dealer before I made any changes.

Good luck and keep us posted

Anand

With all due respect,but putting a after market exhaust and filter is not quite the same as a Hartge conversion.

[Shamster]

Another thing to consider is the resale. A BMW/MINI main dealer will not be able to sell a Hartge car on their forecourt.

[Shamster]

Quote:

Originally posted by Max
shamster, this will depend on the dealer of course? They may put them on the forecourt, but whether or not anyone will buy is a different matter.

In some respects, they may also have a problem selling a used JCW S or Cooper, on the basis that they might have been thrashed (now we all know that the MINI Chrysler 1600 engine is virtually unbreakable, but you will have to convince a potential buyer of this?)

Me? I'm just gonna put my original pulley back on and return my ecu to its stock setting (on my customer key). Cost? Just 2 hours labour at my local tuner.

haha

I don't think so Max. I can't see how they could sell an unofficial non JCW car against an approved and offical JCW car. Sure an independent will sell the Hartge car but I'd be extremely surprised if a main dealer tried to sell one - the warranty wouldn't stick.

Re-setting as you're suggesting would seem to be the way out.

[Nic D]

You guys seem to miss the fact that there are BMW Dealer's in the UK who are used to handling modified BMW's if the work has been carried out by a reputable tuner! Bird's had the franchise for all interior work on Lamborghini's they are not some cowboys just started up over night. A well modified car will be just as desirable as a factory conversion and in some case's even more desirable. AMG started off as an outside tuning arm don't forget as did Schnitzer.

[dinger]

Well Nic D,the MINI dealership at Tunbridgewells will not buy in a Cooper S thats had a conversion unless its the JCWs one.

Im not saying the Hartge is a bad conversion because its not.

dinger.

[Nic D]

Dinger i appriciate your point of view but the way you guys are scare mongering it's almost as if no one has ever modified their car's outside the dealer networks and lived to tell the tale! Hartge & Birds would not have been in partnership for over 10 years if their products were that bad and had no acceptance amongst some of the dealer network. Of course my own opinion is i'd rather use an enthusiastic dealer who understood my conversion than one who looks at a car as a products and treats it like one too.

If you look back into BMW's own museum you'll find Schnitzer and Alpina modifed cars, most of which were modified before the factory brought them under their umbrella.

Will there be a demand for Hartge modified car's after 3 years? Probably be easier to sell than a std Cooper S, you'd only have to let the potential buyer drive it once and they'd be smitten.

I also have a small inkling that for some of you this is your first fray into the world of aftermaket tuning and have always stuck to stock factory products, for me this is my first fray into brand new car ownership and i'm not looking into what the resale and ease of disposal of this car will be after 3 years, i know that if the work is good enough and delivers what it should the car will find a buyer.

As some one at Birds said to me, they may not like to acknoweldge us but they respect our work.

[Shamster]

Nic - Birds is only about 1/2 hr from me and I used to use them for work on my 7 series. They were recommended to me and Kevin Bird came out on a road test with me before I started to use them. It was only as a result of the road test and the subsequent chat I had with him that I entrusted them to look after my Beemer. I also had my MCS booked in with them for the Hartge conversion back in April but due to other commitments had to pull out so I am well aware of their reputation as a major tuning house and and a highly rated one at that.

All I am saying (and I think Dinger too) is that you will be lucky to find a main dealer who will sell you a Hartge tuned car given that Alpina have been their official tuner for many years and JCW is the official tuner for MINI.

This would effectively mean that BMW were officially endorsing the Hartge product which they are not. I wouldn't count this is scaremongering, only fact.

[dinger]

Quote:

Originally posted by shamster
All I am saying (and I think Dinger too) is that you will be lucky to find a main dealer who will sell you a Hartge tuned car given that Alpina have been their official tuner for many years and JCW is the official tuner for MINI.

I am thanks Shamster.

[v8voodoo]

Just spoke to my dealer in Canterbury. If I have the Hartge conversion (or any other for that matter) done, it will not honour my TLC and my warranty will be negated on the parts/related parts that are modified.
Bummer.
Is it true that some conversions can't be detected..?

[Shorty]

JUst depends on the dealer, mine loves the conversion & is willing to service it. When I had mine done Birds had just had their car serviced under TLC too. I have to agree with Nic about the scare mongering, but I suppose a dealer will try to put you off having the conversion if they are trying to push the JCW @ twice the price?