[Patton250]

Originally Posted by ResIpsaLoquitur

The truth is, you can never really know. You just have to know (and be comfortable with the fact) the possibility exists.

Sounds good. I won’t get them then.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Originally Posted by Patton250

Sounds good. I won’t get them then.

If preserving warranty coverage is priority number one, then that’s probably the right way to go.

[Patton250]

Originally Posted by ResIpsaLoquitur

If preserving warranty coverage is priority number one, then that’s probably the right way to go.

It just makes me sick bro. It’s my understanding that the owners of Evolve company are partnering up with BMW with these intakes. Not a full partnership, but some type of understanding with them. It’s stuff like this that really makes me question BMW that they would try to get out of things. I suppose if I change the wheels and something goes wrong with the engine, they could void the warranty for that also right? I was going to put all new wheels on this thing also.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Originally Posted by Patton250

It just makes me sick bro. It’s my understanding that the owners of Evolve company are partnering up with BMW with these intakes. Not a full partnership, but some type of understanding with them. It’s stuff like this that really makes me question BMW that they would try to get out of things. I suppose if I change the wheels and something goes wrong with the engine, they could void the warranty for that also right? I was going to put all new wheels on this thing also.

That’s very cool, but, the only type of partnership that matters for warranty purposes is one where essentially BMW co-signs the use of the product on the car and is dealer approved (i.e., some Carbahn products) and, BMW gives their coveted blessing.

It’s frustrating. I’m one of the people who keeping warranty coverage is important. My desire to lease these cars and not purchase them kinda comes out of that same place. I want to use it new, then get another when I am done with it, and never worry about any issues that arise while it’s in my possession.

With that being said, I can actually see BMW’s perspective. As a business, I wouldn’t want to be on the hook for someone screwing up my product because they did something absurd with it. But it’s different for people doing reasonable things I think; intakes as an example. Both sides of the situation — us and BMW — could all have our interests preserved by them not stretching to find causation/relation and being reasonable if we were reasonable. To go back to our previous example, don’t try to blame the seat heater on DPs. And from their perspective, don’t try to blame everything on messed up boost pressure. Unfortunately demarcation or delineation of those two sides are sometimes separated a by a micrscopically thin line, so their general practice of being tight with how/when they honor their warranty prevents having to look at it on a case by case basis. And let’s all be honest — this pads their bottom line.

I am not against making any changes to your car if you want retain warranty coverage with no issues. I just do reasonable ones. I have a RaceChip that comes out entirely every time I go to the dealership for example. I don’t have aftermarket wheels (because I adore the 706Ms and don’t care that they’re boat anchors — as described by another owner on here), but if I wanted other wheels, that’s a “mod” that I personally wouldn’t be opposed to, even though I’m super risk averse on this stuff.

[crypto]

I don’t lose sleep over these smaller mods but just remember that everyone’s you’re friend till you attempt to burn a hole in their pocket. They’ll throw you under the bus so fast if it’s you vs them eating the cost.

[Patton250]

Originally Posted by crypto

I don’t lose sleep over these smaller mods but just remember that everyone’s you’re friend till you attempt to burn a hole in their pocket. They’ll throw you under the bus so fast if it’s you vs them eating the cost.

If something goes wrong with the car, the dealership does not eat the cost right? They get reimbursed handsomely from the manufacture, right?

[GriggsyG22]

Originally Posted by ResIpsaLoquitur

That’s very cool, but, the only type of partnership that matters for warranty purposes is one where essentially BMW co-signs the use of the product on the car and is dealer approved (i.e., some Carbahn products) and, BMW gives their coveted blessing.

It’s frustrating. I’m one of the people who keeping warranty coverage is important. My desire to lease these cars and not purchase them kinda comes out of that same place. I want to use it new, then get another when I am done with it, and never worry about any issues that arise while it’s in my possession.

With that being said, I can actually see BMW’s perspective. As a business, I wouldn’t want to be on the hook for someone screwing up my product because they did something absurd with it. But it’s different for people doing reasonable things I think; intakes as an example. Both sides of the situation — us and BMW — could all have our interests preserved by them not stretching to find causation/relation and being reasonable if we were reasonable. To go back to our previous example, don’t try to blame the seat heater on DPs. And from their perspective, don’t try to blame everything on messed up boost pressure. Unfortunately demarcation or delineation of those two sides are sometimes separated a by a micrscopically thin line, so their general practice of being tight with how/when they honor their warranty prevents having to look at it on a case by case basis. And let’s all be honest — this pads their bottom line.

I am not against making any changes to your car if you want retain warranty coverage with no issues. I just do reasonable ones. I have a RaceChip that comes out entirely every time I go to the dealership for example. I don’t have aftermarket wheels (because I adore the 706Ms and don’t care that they’re boat anchors — as described by another owner on here), but if I wanted other wheels, that’s a “mod” that I personally wouldn’t be opposed to, even though I’m super risk averse on this stuff.

Say something happens and they go to scan the vehicle...can't they see history of abnormal boost levels and other metrics from the race chip?

[pbonsalb]

Not from their usual scan with a piggyback like JB4 or Racechip that intercepts the commands from the ECU and modifies them. But more serious analysis would show signs that the engine was not operating under stock parameters. I don’t know all the details, but for example fuel use might be what is expected from 700 hp rather than 600 hp. Most likely, that level of analysis would not be done unless there was a major warranty claim.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Originally Posted by GriggsyG22

Say something happens and they go to scan the vehicle...can't they see history of abnormal boost levels and other metrics from the race chip?

pbonsalb hit the nail on the head. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

It’s significantly lower risk than any other (tune type of) performance mod. I put 29K on my previous M5 with no issues, and am at 6K+ on my new one, also thankfully with no issues. The gains are modest, so beyond not being easily detectable (or at least, less detectable under normal circumstances unless a more significant/detailed inspection is done), I think the RC is not stressing the engine to the point where you’re going to have an issue to begin with.

I personally would not do anything more aggressive for better performance for all the reasons we’ve discussed in this thread.

Anecdotally, for my last regular service on my previous M5, when the car was hooked up to ISTA (in front of me, for something unrelated) I saw that it took significantly longer to to connect than it normally does. I was holding my breath the whole time, but it ended up connecting just fine and all was well.

[GriggsyG22]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Not from their usual scan with a piggyback like JB4 or Racechip that intercepts the commands from the ECU and modifies them. But more serious analysis would show signs that the engine was not operating under stock parameters. I don’t know all the details, but for example fuel use might be what is expected from 700 hp rather than 600 hp. Most likely, that level of analysis would not be done unless there was a major warranty claim.

Which is exactly my point. If something serious happens and say the piggyback really wasn't even the cause. They would go for that in-depth scan. See that and instantly blame it on the piggyback.

[GriggsyG22]

Originally Posted by ResIpsaLoquitur

pbonsalb hit the nail on the head. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

It’s significantly lower risk than any other (tune type of) performance mod. I put 29K on my previous M5 with no issues, and am at 6K+ on my new one, also thankfully with no issues. The gains are modest, so beyond not being easily detectable (or at least, less detectable under normal circumstances unless a more significant/detailed inspection is done), I think the RC is not stressing the engine to the point where you’re going to have an issue to begin with.

I personally would not do anything more aggressive for better performance for all the reasons we’ve discussed in this thread.

Anecdotally, for my last regular service on my previous M5, when the car was hooked up to ISTA (in front of me, for something unrelated) I saw that it took significantly longer to to connect than it normally does. I was holding my breath the whole time, but it ended up connecting just fine and all was well.

What race chip do you have or recommend?

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Originally Posted by GriggsyG22

What race chip do you have or recommend?

I have the GTS Black (the top tier one) set and forget to Map 7 (the most aggressive map). I doubt anyone here who has RC has anything other than the GTS Black. It is an awesome little mod, and I think you get a lot for your money. Modest but safe gains. I absolutely feel when the car doesn’t have it installed for whatever reason — usually prepping the car for dealership service. So much so that the car is not fun to drive for me anymore without it. I used to remove it at home (30 minutes away from the dealership) before I went in for service, but the car is so noticeable without it, that I am now pulling over a few blocks away, right by the dealership, to remove it. I go to that same parking lot immediately as soon as the car is ready to be picked up to reinstall it so I don’t have to endure the 30 minute drive back without it.

Reach out to Ben @ r33_RGSport. He’s a top notch, universally highly recommended forum vendor, and, just as awesome — a passionate enthusiast. He’ll answer all of your questions, give you trustworthy advice, and get you what you want, and bonus — you won’t have to wait for shipping from Germany.

[tjlees]

Had aftermarket rear camera fitted and tune that disabled the EGR.

Dealer repaired camera, when it went bad and replaced EGR under warranty.

When dealer snapped off my brake nipples, the warranty company refused to pay for new calipers.

So depends on your dealer, size/type of repair etc.

If your engine\transmission blows and its logged outside normal parameters due to after-market tune/parts, its very likely BMW warranty will not pay out.

[Maverik259]

Dealer doesn’t give me trouble with my mods. In fact they always love to see what’s new whenever I come in. In fact one is the new SA just picked up a 2019 and we spent 30 min during my last service talking mods. I always remove my Racechip and install thr dummy plug. But my CS amber lights and intake and lci tail lights are favorites of theirs.

With that said they refuse warranty claims as much as possible. While they approved the coolant tank they refused defects in my leather arm rest calling it normal for a 20k mile car. Lmao

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Dealer doesn’t give me trouble with my mods. In fact they always love to see what’s new whenever I come in. In fact one is the new SA just picked up a 2019 and we spent 30 min during my last service talking mods. I always remove my Racechip and install thr dummy plug. But my CS amber lights and intake and lci tail lights are favorites of theirs.

With that said they refuse warranty claims as much as possible. While they approved the coolant tank they refused defects in my leather arm rest calling it normal for a 20k mile car. Lmao

“I always remove my RaceChip and install the dummy plug.”

So that means you’re leaving in your wiring harness. I’ve always wondered if people do this. Your dealership seems to be mod friendly, but if anyone at my dealership saw a Y wiring harness with A and B labels plugged into the boost pressure sensors, they would know exactly what was going on, even if the dummy plug was in instead of the actual RC module. And it would for sure cause problems.

I know someone very well who did exactly what you say at my dealership. My cool SA asked the owner if he should hook the car up to ISTA because there might be no going back if it detected a tund initially (though I know this is unlikely with an RC without going deeper than a regular service/oil change would require). He confidently told him to go ahead. ISTA took a very long time to connect, but did not report “tune detected.” He got lucky once and removes the whole setup religiously now, plug the boost pressure connectors back to their stock location.