Who worries about what mods will do to their warranty?

[Cardude99]

The question you need to ask yourself is, "if the dealers not gonna cover it, am I willing to pay for it?" If you get the mod bug once you start down the rabbit hole it's pretty hard to turn back.

Yep, couldn't agree more. Which is why I'm nervous to get a tune. I don't want to also potentially pay for an engine

Sponsored

 

[StealthStang]

Honestly, if you’re not going to do a tune I would just do the DP and intercooler. You’ll need a tune if you do FBO.

Also if youre not going to get a tune, then it needs to be a Intercooler and catback.

Putting a downpipe it will need to be a catted downpipe, otherwise its going to have the oil smoke issues.

If you put a catted downpipe, I dont think the gains are worthwhile (unless the noise and look is what interests you), for a worthwhile performance increase from stock exhaust youll need the whole exhauts to be done, plus a tune.

On stock tune, my recommendation is resonator delete with catback, a factory mount compatible intercooler and then a K&N filter or similar filter to give some induction noise. Also lightweight wheels make a noticeable difference too, just stay away from potholes.

 

[FreePenguin]

Question- I have the ford perf tune. Pretty satisfied with car as is, but if I did put a catted downpipe, would that make my car louder? do I need a retune from what I just read it sounds like you can get away with no tune- or my ford tune with it.

 

[Chef jpd]

A catted aftermarket downpipe would generally be 3" in diameter with a small high flow cat.
With a FP tune this would gain you nothing and perhaps lose power.
I have a pro tune, and when my final mod was the downpipe, it gave a little more volume and a good amount of low end and high end push. This was only after datalogging.
Canned tunes such as FP and Cobb are written for strict parameters and cannot adapt to mods they are not designed for.

Also, depending on the DP, you might not pass state emissions testing. The O2 sensors will never show as ready.

My 2¢.

 

[FreePenguin]

Thank you chef again for more info. I was only considering the idea for sound only, if its cause me to lose power, nobueno. Fortunately ohio 99% of its area doesn't do e check, tons of sport cars and crazy exhaust running around due to it.

 

[StealthStang]

With a four cylinder engine, to get it to sound good at most RPM, you have to make sure that the system keeps exhaust gases flowing smoothly in the system from idle. If your downpipe and exhaust system are too free flowing the exhaust pulses will too separated and this created the farty sound that so many people associate ricers with.
So the take away is that you do want some restriction in the system to back up the pulses a bit, the cat and the resonator help with this.
I would definately keep them for now now if sound is your biggest concern.

 

[PRG3k]

When you first visit the service dept, ask about mods. If they're wishy washy at all about performance mods and warranty, that's all I need to hear and I will never visit them for warranty work. Some ppl don't have a choice because they live out in the boonies but if you live in any sort of populated area, you should find out which dealerships have the better service departments. Find a friendly one and build your relationship.

The dealer I bought my car from has a, let's say, more 'thorough' process when doing warranty claims. After I blew out cylinder 3, I knew there was a big chance of them finding a way to put me on the hook for the repairs. I put the car back to stock, de-tuned the car, played dumb and limped it to a different dealership where they rebuilt the motor under warranty. Its really just a combination of factors: the service dept, your mods, the damage, if you're willing to put the car back to stock and luck.

If you aren't willing or can't do most of those things, you might want to think twice about modding the car too heavily.

Sponsored