What do you all know or have you experienced regarding upgrades to your Gen2 and dealer reaction regarding warranty?
For example, I am considering Cobb CAI & 93 octane tune and maybe Borla S-type catbacks (opinions on both of these consideration welcomed).
Thanks in advance.
As others have said...it depends. Legally speaking they have to PROVE your mod is to blame is they deny you. That doesn't mean the dealer won't use your mod as an excuse to initially deny you but in the end if you push it to court they will lose if they can't prove your mod directly caused the fault.
For the most part I don't think you'll have an issue but I will say that the tune is the most risky thing you can do. Some tuners such as 5star offers a separate warranty that covers anything Ford denies.
Your entire warranty can't be denied wither. For example if they deny a claim on the sunroof due to your tune then you have easy recourse but anything related to the engine such as transmission would be fair game.
As far as exhaust...you can't make the V6tt sound good. You can only make it sound different...to each his own. As far as warranty it's less risky than a tune but still engine/power/back pressure related so you're assuming risk there as well.
In the end it goes back to the quality of the dealership doing the work and how much time money hassle you want to go through to force them to do the right thing. You might take a minute to have an open honest conversation with the service advisor to get their take.
My personal experience:
I have a tune that I loaded at 500 miles. Thought it was great. said yahoo out loud then uninstalled it about a month later. Just didn't need the extra 75-100 hp and potential long term risk.
I have an AFE CAI and IC, UPR dual valve catch can, KHC Torque Arm, Deaver custom springs, RPG stage 2 bump stop/frame reinforcement kit and the ford performance baja skid plate kit. Last December I lost all boost and took it into the dealership. They gave me a rental car for free due to my xtended warranty coverage from floodford.com. Two days later hey called and said it was fixed. The problem was that the AFE IC hose has come off. The reinstalled it and said have a nice day no charge. They could have charged me and charged me for the rental due to the problem being an aftermarket IC but they covered it anyway. They didn't permanently fix the root problem which required a new clamp that I did myself but they did fix it even though it was an aftermarket part free of charge. This is where individual dealerships will handle it differently and ymmv.
For my money:
Rear Suspension mods - worth it(I tow an overland trailer to base camp)
IC, CAI - I appreciate having them but I wouldn't do it again.
Tune - Cool factor. Glad I got it out of my system so I don't have to do it again....lol. Glad I removed it.
Ehaust - never did it because if I can't make it sound good then why waste the money. 2 friends have borla and something else. They sound fine but no better than stock...just different.
Stereo - I spent 7k - not worth it but I'd do it again cause I love quality sound. Good better best speaking, stock is good, 7k gets you better-much better, 10-20k gets you best.
Trinket mods i.e lights, wheels, bed cover, PPF, etc, etc - I think I have 3-5k in those types of mods and love every single one of them. Makes the truck mine and fit what I use it for.
BTW...seldom discussed but worth mentioning. I added all of my mods to my insurance policy in case something happens I will be reimbursed for everything I've done to the truck over and above whatever they determine the basic truck value to be. It didn't raise my premiums at all but your mileage may vary.
