Exhaust and connecting pipes void my warranty???

[bmellion]

Guys,

Noob here...

Just purchased a brand new 2012 M3 convertible. I was considering purchasing an Eisenmann race with connecting pipes. Will this addition void my factory warranty? BMW maintanance plan?

I want to order it now, but I want to make sure that I don't have any issues moving forward. Thanks everyone for the help!

Best,
Bradd

[hieu1004]

Usually with all car warranties, they won't void it unless the mod directly contributed to the failure that you need warrantied. For example, they won't reject fixing your nav if you had problems with it just because you had an exhaust. The best thing to do and the only way you're going to know is if you ask your SA. Another thing to consider is not all dealerships are made equal. I have 3 dealerships in my general area and I chose the one that I thought gave me the best service and they just so happen to be very open about certain mods. What I can tell you is that a catback/axle exhaust is generally ok with most all dealerships. Hope that helps - good luck.

[bmellion]

Originally Posted by hieu1004

Usually with all car warranties, they won't void it unless the mod directly contributed to the failure that you need warrantied. For example, they won't reject fixing your nav if you had problems with it just because you had an exhaust. The best thing to do and the only way you're going to know is if you ask your SA. Another thing to consider is not all dealerships are made equal. I have 3 dealerships in my general area and I chose the one that I thought gave me the best service and they just so happen to be very open about certain mods. What I can tell you is that a catback/axle exhaust is generally ok with most all dealerships. Hope that helps - good luck.

Wonderful. Thank you for your advise. I will contact me SA this morning. Have a great day.

[crabman]

Not exactly accurate. I am not an attorney but I have wandered down this path and here is a few things I picked up on the way. The warranty is almost never voided in total and this can only be done under certain specific cases such as odo tampering, declared a total loss by insurance (salvage title), etc. that don't apply to a modification. What you normally face is a denial of warranty coverage on a specific repair or less often the loss of drivetrain warranty as a whole but in either case the remainder of the new car warranty remains in effect.

Possession is 9/10s of the law and you are not in possession of your warranty, BMW is, the dealership acts as their agent if you will. If for whatever reason they decide to refuse a warranty repair they need prove nothing. They just say no and it is done. You can now give up or decide to pursue it. If you decide to pursue it you come out of pocket or wait what may be a long time to have your say before you will see this repair. Once you do find your way to arbitration or one of the many other avenues of resolution you will find that they have a stated reason for denying this warranty repair along with various paperwork and charts to baffle, obfuscate, and generally sling BS every which way and you must show that these things are wrong. In other words despite what you read about them having to prove this or that the reality is you will be the one doing the proving if you want to see your warranty repair.

As to BMW and a cat back. BMW themselves offer a performance catback exhaust which they will install on a new car before you have taken delivery. Since this does not "void" the new car warranty it doesn't give them much to work with should you install one yourself. Speaking anecdotally I have not heard of anyone having the warranty denied because of a cat back on this car or any other even in the old days when a person could expect to see a real horsepower increase from changing the mufflers. Headers/performance cats/cat deletes and the like yes, a cat back alone no. Nowdays with CAFE and the escalating hp wars the low hanging fruit has been picked off by the factory and its unusual to see a hp bump on any car that is remotely performance oriented meaning they cant claim that the muffler has changed the car into something it was not when it sold which is the usual bedrock of power adding warranty denial. Obviously I don't know everyone and it may very well have happened or even probably has happened but it is certainly very uncommon. I would not be the least bit concerned over a cat back exhaust and warranty.

[bmellion]

Originally Posted by crabman

Not exactly accurate. I am not an attorney but I have wandered down this path and here is a few things I picked up on the way. The warranty is almost never voided in total and this can only be done under certain specific cases such as odo tampering, declared a total loss by insurance (salvage title), etc. that don't apply to a modification. What you normally face is a denial of warranty coverage on a specific repair or less often the loss of drivetrain warranty as a whole but in either case the remainder of the new car warranty remains in effect.

Possession is 9/10s of the law and you are not in possession of your warranty, BMW is, the dealership acts as their agent if you will. If for whatever reason they decide to refuse a warranty repair they need prove nothing. They just say no and it is done. You can now give up or decide to pursue it. If you decide to pursue it you come out of pocket or wait what may be a long time to have your say before you will see this repair. Once you do find your way to arbitration or one of the many other avenues of resolution you will find that they have a stated reason for denying this warranty repair along with various paperwork and charts to baffle, obfuscate, and generally sling BS every which way and you must show that these things are wrong. In other words despite what you read about them having to prove this or that the reality is you will be the one doing the proving if you want to see your warranty repair.

As to BMW and a cat back. BMW themselves offer a performance catback exhaust which they will install on a new car before you have taken delivery. Since this does not "void" the new car warranty it doesn't give them much to work with should you install one yourself. Speaking anecdotally I have not heard of anyone having the warranty denied because of a cat back on this car or any other even in the old days when a person could expect to see a real horsepower increase from changing the mufflers. Headers/performance cats/cat deletes and the like yes, a cat back alone no. Nowdays with CAFE and the escalating hp wars the low hanging fruit has been picked off by the factory and its unusual to see a hp bump on any car that is remotely performance oriented meaning they cant claim that the muffler has changed the car into something it was not when it sold which is the usual bedrock of power adding warranty denial. Obviously I don't know everyone and it may very well have happened or even probably has happened but it is certainly very uncommon. I would not be the least bit concerned over a cat back exhaust and warranty.

That's even more clarification! Thank you! Eisenmann Race and connecting pipes it is!!