Dealer Visit - Warranty Voided - Taking mods off the car - Experiences with mods

[Shrikecorp]

Greater Seattle area folks...along the lines of the posts above, can anyone recommend one dealer over the others? Particularly for not being squeamish about little bolt-ons. The word I hear is that the dealer where I purchased mine is definitely best avoided for service. I'm planning to take the car to a well regarded independent shop for scheduled maintenance, but warranty issues do come up.

 

[jdouga]

Went in for the recall, added the rubber piece, and got the shift logic tsb. All is fine, intakes/springs/exhaust/junbl secondary delete and all... no questions at Cerritos Kia, outside of Glendale Kia excellent marks from service and overall professionalism. Really busy but when you have that kind of service it’s expected.

Removed the jb4 and really felt the difference, even if I mainly use map1. Weather permitting, that bad boy goes back on pronto! Lol

I had the same experience there, personally theybtold me i can take it to them for anything and if they think the work will be denied because of a certain mod thattheybwould let me know so i can take it off and bring it back, cant ask for much more than that.

 

[Socalstinga]

I had the same experience there, personally theybtold me i can take it to them for anything and if they think the work will be denied because of a certain mod thattheybwould let me know so i can take it off and bring it back, cant ask for much more than that.

nice, I'm glad their service is confirmed by others. Damn, all these socal stingers on the forum but i rarely see anyone and I drive from LB to Irvine 3-4 times a week. lol

 

[jdouga]

nice, I'm glad their service is confirmed by others. Damn, all these socal stingers on the forum but i rarely see anyone and I drive from LB to Irvine 3-4 times a week. lol

Lol, i see a bunch but most aren't modded at all, and are the 2 0s

 

[Socalstinga]

Lol, i see a bunch but most aren't modded at all, and are the 2 0s

what's funny is, there are now 2 other stingers in my parking structure at the office buildings i work at. Both went up to me and were asking about the car...3 months later, one guy buys one...1 month after that, the other bought hers..LOL

I've seen 2 in LB around me, red and ceramic...and we all can be seen gawking at each other when we drive by. funny thing is, they're all older than me and i'm 39! Maybe all 3 of us had a midlife crisis hahaha

 

[jdouga]

what's funny is, there are now 2 other stingers in my parking structure at the office buildings i work at. Both went up to me and were asking about the car...3 months later, one guy buys one...1 month after that, the other bought hers..LOL

I've seen 2 in LB around me, red and ceramic...and we all can be seen gawking at each other when we drive by. funny thing is, they're all older than me and i'm 39! Maybe all 3 of us had a midlife crisis hahaha

I fins mysllef doing the same thing when i c another stinger lol

 

[cncBilly]

No more questions from me ... I got all the answer I needed from the local dealers I called. And you said it best they will turn work away aka deny warranty work ... is that not the same ?? .....point made by all service advisors said to simply not mod your car if you don’t want the risk of getting warranty work denied ... they all had the same response on mods .... good you have all that experience in Kia motors ... I think this is pretty simple situation don’t bring the car into the dealer with mods that will raise red flags ... now if you have an exceptional relationship with a specific dealer then that can be a different story ....

Would intakes be a red flag mod?

 

[Socalstinga]

Would intakes be a red flag mod?

I think people may be overthinking the whole warranty issue. KIA literally debuted 3-4 modified stingers when the car first hit the auto shows. Even some dealerships here in the US have modified stingers in the showroom - eibach springs, 20 inch wheels, K&N intakes. I think those types of modifications are fine. It's the piggybacks, coilovers, air ride that take it to the next level and put you at risk for voiding warranties. My fall back with KIA is "how can you deny my warranty when your showrooms and auto show cars are identically modified to mine". Not sure how far that will go, but with minor bolt ons, none of those items would contribute to a car's failure.

 

[Angel]

Would intakes be a red flag mod?

I will say no.

At the end of the day it really depends on the dealers. You can get a dealers that does not care at all or you can run onto a service advisor and tech that hates their jobs and just want to make to make your life miserable.

The first time I took my car to the dealer it had intakes. When I asked the tech if that was a red flag he said no. He told " On this dealer we don't care about intakes or exhaust mods if its just a cat back and you don't remove the Cats" But he also told me that at other kia dealers he knows about they have a no mod policy, unless is Kia certified parts.

If you just have intakes just leave them on. If you have an intercooler, downpipes, piggy back, then that where it gets tricky.

Every time I took my car to the dealers I made sure I removed all the parts. I just prefer to play it safe.

In all honesty if you just want peace of mind then just remove it for the dealer visit. Intkes are really easy to remove and put back on.

What are you taking the car to the dealer for? Whats mods do you have on the car now?

 

[Freelancer]

-kind of a ranty reply, if you want to flame me, feel free...

Ok, so I didn't read every single post in this thread, but if we could all simply get on the same page.

Dealers do not void a warranty. Please stop using that terminology.

A dealer can reject a warranty claim. Period. It is on them to prove that the modifications caused the failure that you the car owner are try to get fixed under warranty. You would need to fight Kia, not the dealership on this matter.

If you add down pipes, up pipes, add a tune, and your turbo gets messed, yeah, you're not gonna have a leg to stand on. If your modded car is putting down 450-500 whp and you destroy your differential, guess what, they are not going to cover that.

But, if your seat doesn't move up or down - covered. If your sun roof starts to leak - covered.

Sure, if you have $5,000 worth of actual horse power increasing mods done to your car and you want the dealership to do your oil changes, why I have no clue, yeah, they probably aren't gonna give a $h1t about your mods. Does the dealership notate after market engine parts? Who knows, you would have to speak with the service writer at that specific dealership.

Anyone here that came from the STI community is very familiar with the saying "pay to play". Make sure you have enough cash to pay for anything you potentially caused to break out of pocket. Just because Kia has a 10 year 100k warranty and you decided you wanted your Stinger to be able to beat an S7, don't go crying to Kia when things go sideways.

Thanks for reading my rant. OP, sorry for the hijacked thread.

 

[Angel]

Not a rant you a

-kind of a ranty reply, if you want to flame me, feel free...

Ok, so I didn't read every single post in this thread, but if we could all simply get on the same page.

Dealers do not void a warranty. Please stop using that terminology.

A dealer can reject a warranty claim. Period. It is on them to prove that the modifications caused the failure that you the car owner are try to get fixed under warranty. You would need to fight Kia, not the dealership on this matter.

If you add down pipes, up pipes, add a tune, and your turbo gets messed, yeah, you're not gonna have a leg to stand on. If your modded car is putting down 450-500 whp and you destroy your differential, guess what, they are not going to cover that.

But, if your seat doesn't move up or down - covered. If your sun roof starts to leak - covered.

Sure, if you have $5,000 worth of actual horse power increasing mods done to your car and you want the dealership to do your oil changes, why I have no clue, yeah, they probably aren't gonna give a $h1t about your mods. Does the dealership notate after market engine parts? Who knows, you would have to speak with the service writer at that specific dealership.

Anyone here that came from the STI community is very familiar with the saying "pay to play". Make sure you have enough cash to pay for anything you potentially caused to break out of pocket. Just because Kia has a 10 year 100k warranty and you decided you wanted your Stinger to be able to beat an S7, don't go crying to Kia when things go sideways.

Thanks for reading my rant. OP, sorry for the hijacked thread.

Not a rant, and yes you are spot on.

Beautifully said, you need to pay to play. I don't come from the STI community but I do come from the 2JZ community.

You are correct engine modification will potentially void warranty claims related to the engine/drivetrain. This depends on the mods of course.

Engine mods wont void a warranty claim for power windows etc....

Some Dealers, if not all dealers track if they see any aftermarket mods on the car. All Kia dealer have a section on their system where they can keep track of the car mods by Vin and also flag cars. So next time you come in for a bad turbo and they flag your car because they seen an intercooler, down pipes etc...Guess what you are getting rejected.

FYI don't try taking a billion dollar company to court, you are not going to win lol. You will spend more money on court fees, than you would of just fixed the car yourself.

I said this on the past, if you are not mechanically inclined and are worried about warranty then you should not mod your car.

I personally have a full bolt on Stinger and when I take it to the dealer. I personally remove all the mods from my car. For me its worth the extra work and time I spend on it. For other people it might not. That's a personal decision.

 

[cncBilly]

Not taking the car into the dealer anytime soon. I have Injen and velossa's to go on so was wonder if I put them on before first dealer visit or after. Thx for the feed back. Cheers

 

[Angel]

Not taking the car into the dealer anytime soon. I have Injen and velossa's to go on so was wonder if I put them on before first dealer visit or after. Thx for the feed back. Cheers

I will be honest with you. Go to the dealer first. Get the recalls done first, and whatever else you are taking the car to the dealer for. After your dealer visit then put on the intakes and velossa.

FYI I made a DIY video on how to remove your front bumper on you tube, if you need the link let me know.

 

[Angel]

@cncBilly FYI when you install the Velossa

 

[City Kia MVP]

WOW.....that was a lot....I can tell you all that if we do the mods at our dealership your good. From BOV's ,cold air, lowering springs, sway bars, down pipe's, cat back, catch cans, intercoolers to the LAP 3 We are one of the only dealers that have a full performance and accessories center in the dealership. We work very close with the manufactures and some distributors to insure quality and fitment. We price match the K8 store prices and have a great relationship with David. As a matter of fact we just built a black GT2 RWD here is a sneak peak....

 

[Angel]

WOW.....that was a lot....I can tell you all that if we do the mods at our dealership your good. From BOV's ,cold air, lowering springs, sway bars, down pipe's, cat back, catch cans, intercoolers to the LAP 3 We are one of the only dealers that have a full performance and accessories center in the dealership. We work very close with the manufactures and some distributors to insure quality and fitment. We price match the K8 store prices and have a great relationship with David. As a matter of fact we just built a black GT2 RWD here is a sneak peak....View attachment 22292 View attachment 22291 View attachment 22290 View attachment 22293

God Bless you and your dealer. I wish more dealers were like you. You need to set up a dealer in the Chicago area.

 

[cncBilly]

WOW.....that was a lot....I can tell you all that if we do the mods at our dealership your good. From BOV's ,cold air, lowering springs, sway bars, down pipe's, cat back, catch cans, intercoolers to the LAP 3 We are one of the only dealers that have a full performance and accessories center in the dealership. We work very close with the manufactures and some distributors to insure quality and fitment. We price match the K8 store prices and have a great relationship with David. As a matter of fact we just built a black GT2 RWD here is a sneak peak....View attachment 22292 View attachment 22291 View attachment 22290 View attachment 22293

I also say "God Bless You"! I would be happy to spend my money with you. Wish we had someone like you on the Canadian West Coast. Keep up the great work hopefully others will follow your lead. Cheers.

 

[MerlintheMad]

WOW.....that was a lot....I can tell you all that if we do the mods at our dealership your good. From BOV's ,cold air, lowering springs, sway bars, down pipe's, cat back, catch cans, intercoolers to the LAP 3 We are one of the only dealers that have a full performance and accessories center in the dealership. We work very close with the manufactures and some distributors to insure quality and fitment. We price match the K8 store prices and have a great relationship with David. As a matter of fact we just built a black GT2 RWD here is a sneak peak....View attachment 22292 View attachment 22291 View attachment 22290 View attachment 22293

Cool. Where are you? That info would be useful in your member profile.

 

[SKStinger]

WOW.....that was a lot....I can tell you all that if we do the mods at our dealership your good. From BOV's ,cold air, lowering springs, sway bars, down pipe's, cat back, catch cans, intercoolers to the LAP 3 We are one of the only dealers that have a full performance and accessories center in the dealership. We work very close with the manufactures and some distributors to insure quality and fitment. We price match the K8 store prices and have a great relationship with David. As a matter of fact we just built a black GT2 RWD here is a sneak peak....View attachment 22292 View attachment 22291 View attachment 22290 View attachment 22293

That black stinger looks mean. Nice work!

 

[City Kia MVP]

Good morning all.......just wanted to share a few more Pics.