Important

Wrong if you lower the car the only thing that you void the warranty on is what you changed and the things that are affected such as shocks etc.

John said:

Wrong if you lower the car the only thing that you void the warranty on is what you changed and the things that are affected such as shocks etc.

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and that depends alot on the service facility also but if you argue it will go your way

just passing on info

The Magnusson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act of 1975 indicates that a manufacturer has to prove that a modification you've made to their product caused a particluar failure. Of course, if you go into the service department and blast the service manager, he's likely to just ask you to leave - these are private businesses, and they can do that.

I handle lemon law and breach of warranty cases for a living as an expert witness - this question has come up many times.

Jim Lewis said:

The Magnusson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act of 1975 indicates that a manufacturer has to prove that a modification you've made to their product caused a particluar failure. Of course, if you go into the service department and blast the service manager, he's likely to just ask you to leave - these are private businesses, and they can do that.

I handle lemon law and breach of warranty cases for a living as an expert witness - this question has come up many times.

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man.. you sounded alot more eloquint than me, but exactly right.

Sorry, John, been doing this for a living for a while, 5,809 cases to date.

There's another side to this coin, though, and the first poster's information is partially correct - most manufacturer's owners manuals indicate that you can't modify your car, in any manner, from stock form.

I've never seen this stick, and I've (we've) been up against some damned good defense attorneys, easily winning in situations where some guy installed a Flowmaster cat back on his truck, then had rear differential problems - completely unrelated, but it took a lawsuit and an expert in court (me) explaining how it was unrelated before the consumer prevailed.

You just have to be reasonable with your expectations of warrantied service. I don't think most dealers would deny you service on your fuel pump because you installed a different type of air filter. On the other hand, if you drop your car 3 inches and some suspension components wear out. You shouldn't be 100% sure that warranty is going to cover it.

Sp00ner said:

You just have to be reasonable with your expectations of warrantied service. I don't think most dealers would deny you service on your fuel pump because you installed a different type of air filter. On the other hand, if you drop your car 3 inches and some suspension components wear out. You shouldn't be 100% sure that warranty is going to cover it.

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Exactly right - if you change your struts to aftermarket, don't expect warranty claims to be honored on your springs and strut housings...just like if you install an aftermarket stereo and your speakers blow, you've probably bought new speakers vs getting them free.

Generally, unless there are bunches of mods, and they're done *******-style, the area affected by the mods are disqualified from warranty claims. That is, unless you have a service manager who doesn't mind risking his job to "hook you up" - I wasn't one of those service managers...

Yeah, but don't the majority of suspension parts fall under the wear category anyway?

actually no none of the suspension is a normal wear item, all 3/36 struts mounts etc.

palahniuk said:

Yeah, but don't the majority of suspension parts fall under the wear category anyway?

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No, not really - control arms, bushings that squeak or moan, sway bar end links, etc are all covered under the basic warranty. Now, other than control arms and bushings, you're not talking about anything major, cost or labor wise.

thanks for the info,this is good to know