Talked lots to my local Rally Subaru in Edmonton, AB here and they say the only things you can do in terms of performance mods are the cold air intake (which you already tried) and the rear muffler (which may not give you much in terms of hp..so I hear), WITHOUT voiding your warranty.


Apparently there is a "black book" at every dealership that outlines which mods voids warranty...I haven't seen it, but it is there.

 

Some dealers will do "ANYTHING" to get out of doing any warranty maintenance work. They'd rather get your money. Especially if you didn't buy the car from them. Like lawyers most car salesmen are like hookers. For the right amount of money, they'll tell you what you want to hear, not the truth.

 

there are some "mod friendly" dealers... I'm in NH and there is one in exeter and one just opened in belknap.. not only are they willing to get just about any aftermarket part you ask for but they'll install it and give you advice on what upgrades will actually help your performance and what doesn't really do much for you.

also because they're the ones installing it they'll cover it.

I was at my dealership last week and they got some new power packages in from prodrive
http://www.subaruxtras.com/wrx/en-us/p_219.html

there needs to be more mod friendly dealers

 

I too have a local dealership that is mod friendly. [Irvine Subaru] I asked if their new Prodrive performance mods would void a warranty, and their answer was " of course". I had a Greddy EVO exhaust installed by this dealership the day I purchased my car. I had them state {in writing} that this would not void my warranty. Don't assume that if it's sold by a dealership, it's covered. Sincerly, collins

 

this is not an assumption... I spoke to the parts manager directly and he TOLD ME that they've installed many of the kits and that the only thing that would not be covered under the dealer warantee is the new parts installed and that it doesn't effect the warantee on the rest of the car.. the new parts them selves of course come with their own warantee anyway...

also you're warantee CANNOT be VOID, the absolute worse case scenario is if you have a problem subaru is required to determine that the problem was caused by the part you installed. it is ILLEGAL for them to void your warantee... there is a lengthy discussion with some literature FROM SUBARU on nasioc.

my point is it's mostly up to the dealer and if they're your parts provider they'll want to keep you happy and only deny you warantee service if you honestly deserve it.

 

I have had to change dealers for my service since I was told that they were considering voiding my warranty... for reasons such as having performance tires (proof in their minds that I am some crazy racer) sti 4 pots (why do I need to stop... must be using the car too hard) and of course my desire to run 5w50 synthetic racing oil during the summer (anything but 5w30 that they put in at the dealer may void the warranty).

Luckly my new dealer is aftermarket friendly (you should see the owners WRX) and aren't going to go to silly lengths to cause me greif. I know that if you over do it on your upgrades, it shouldn't be on Subarus bill, you wanna play you have to pay, but I have seen with my own eyes a few memos that have been sent out to the dealers with cars that they are not to service because they have "aftermarket parts" on them. The stance that they seem to be taking is any mod to any part will put you in a position that they will refuse to do warranty work on your car. Perhaps if you fought them you could get the work covered... but personally I don't want to have to fight every time I go in for an oil change.

 

Like I said, get it in writing. Assume or don't assume. I don't really care... . Just be proud in knowing you'll be the first person ever to retain their warranty after purchasing and using a Prodrive performance package. Best of Luck, Collins

 

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...hreadid=111461
read the 3rd post down... a letter from SOA...

and my point about prodrive is that it was developed with subaru UK. in the UK you can buy a Prodrive WRX just like here you can now buy a WRX STi. this is good for two reasons 1. if the dealership sends out a claim request SOA is much more reasonable on prodrive parts. and 2. it's less likly of causing a problem in the first place because it was developed WITH SUBARU. also the prodrive parts themselves come with a warranty from prodrive.

I'm not saying you will still be completely covered because you wont BUT it is BY FAR the safest route to upgrade and stay as covered as possible

 

read the first paragraph
http://www.iwoc.co.uk/prodrive1.html

 

could you please post where (in writing) it says that a prodrive kit "will void your warranty"

 

Dude, I had the money in my hands, at the dealership[Irvine Subaru] for the Prodrive upgrade. They told me that my drive train warranty would be voided if I got the Prodrive reflash. NO your factory warranty won't mention Prodrive specifically. And it won't mention ECUTEK, Cobb SPECIFICALLY. AND it wont tell you not to urinate in your gas tank SPECIFICALLY, but believe me, it will also not be well recieved at the dealership if you do. Congratulations on your info. If you feel it's water-tight, go for it! I'm just telling you my experiences. Good Luck. Collins

 

It all depends on the dealership. I would have thought Irvine was more mod friendly but I guess not.