Do I Need a Toon for This

"uofime-2" (uofime-2)
08/23/2016 at 16:03 • Filed to: None

One of the most common things that you will see on any automotive performance forum has got to be people endlessly worrying about “voiding” their warranties. The irony of that is that many times people will ultimately makes seriously bad decisions for the health and performance of their car out of fear of “voiding their warranty”. It is the height of illogicalness to do something that will make your vehicle unreliable for fear that your vehicle may be unreliable.

Specifically, many people are terrified of reflashing their ECU because they’re sure the dealer will be able to tell (ignoring the debate if that’s really true or not) and they will be completely unwilling to even look at their car for any reason at all (which is of course blatantly untrue both by law and in practice). That ignorance isn’t really fine, but if they were to hold on to that false belief and generalize it to all of the modification that they might do to their vehicle that would actually be OK with me, but of course they don’t. Therefore, while they fear the black smoke and mirrors that is electronics in their minds, they are more than happy to commit fraud by installing and subsequently removing “bolt-on” parts from their cars whenever they need service. Still, do to an idiosyncratic warpage of my moral compass that illegal activity is not what makes me what to mash my keyboard and scream at my phone’s screen. The problem is that doing this can cause real harm to their cars.

—

Stanley Zitello

DISCUSSION (20)

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > uofime-2
08/23/2016 at 16:16

I like (read: am highly annoyed by) how people think their warranty is this magical thing that if it’s “voided” puts you on some sort of dealership service blacklist. Nobody bothers to research and actually understand that all that will really happen is the dealer will deny service under warranty if they believe that they can link the mechanical failure, or whatever issue you might have, to a non-OE added part.

You’re also in the Subaru world, and much like the sub-world of Toyobarus (and really most import groups), it’s full of young idiots who don’t actually take the time to learn anything and just mindlessly regurgitate the same crap they read on FB or forums.

/rant

Also, karting this week (Wednesday or Thursday) or next?

Decay buys too many beaters > uofime-2
08/23/2016 at 16:19

Agreed, the number of people I see in the BRZ community running catless headers and no tune is absolutely astounding. I’ve also logged a few people’s cars running aftermarket intakes with fuel trims in the +15% range. When I tell them “Hey, this is a high compression engine that is tuned to function with a fairly specific set of input parameters. By changing X you modifying those input parameters. It is not just a function of leaving power on the table, you are potentially hurting your motor” I get back answers like “I don’t want to void my warranty”

Also people who break rods on stock cars... meanwhile, on the same forum’s for sale area is their turbo kit :/

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > Decay buys too many beaters
08/23/2016 at 16:23

Tell me about it. People also aren’t willing to spend money on quality parts for their cars either. “Hey, I just spend $20k+ on a brand new car, better buy the cheapest shit I can off eBay for it!”

I’ve been trying to sell a catted JDL EL header for a very reasonable price for months now, and all the local kids are like, “I’d love a header, but that’s so much money!” Then the next week, “Yo broz, check out my new taillights! Anyone know about dem drift spots on the low?” -_-

uofime-2 > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
08/23/2016 at 16:24

If they would acually search, read and listen to stuff on good groups/forums it would be a massive improvement. What really annoys me is how readily available the information is but is still ignored

uofime-2 > Decay buys too many beaters
08/23/2016 at 16:28

I'm in the WRX community, that same fueling error will blow your motor on our cars expecially with garbage Cali gas and remarkably sooooo many of these people seem to be in California

uofime-2 > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
08/23/2016 at 16:29

Carting: might go today still not positive. Otherwise could do another day haha

Baskingshark > uofime-2
08/23/2016 at 16:35

Let’s say hypothetically I go buy a new STI, which I might do, should I leave it stock to preserve the warranty or do I do what I really want to do and go with a Cobb Stage 1 tune with their intake?

Decay buys too many beaters > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
08/23/2016 at 16:37

I have theories. I believe the FR-S/BRZ fits a really strange market where you get #1. Relatively young and somewhat successful 20 something males that are “over” the 240sx (mildly autobiographical). #2. College age males whose parents bought the car because it’s safe and “Johnny worked so hard for his 3.1 GPA in high school”. And #3 people with a ton of credit card debt who drop $20,000 in mods within a year of purchase.

For obvious reasons #1 and #2 tend to be pretty cheap overall (with #1 generally buying good parts over a much longer timeline and #2 buying a bunch of cheap parts all at once). This is the only reason I can see for companies like speed by design can flourish despite a known inferior product permeated with intellectual property concerns.

Edit, this is specifically the modding community. Lots of others buy the car for a cheap sporty commuter and never touch a thing

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > uofime-2
08/23/2016 at 16:37

Can’t make it today, gotta run a couple errands after work, and I don’t have my helmet anyway. haha

Tomorrow or Thursday works for me, then I had to Nashville until Monday night. Pretty much any day next week is good too.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > Decay buys too many beaters
08/23/2016 at 16:44

Pretty accurate. Although I think there is a number 4 that’s a bit of a mix of 1 and 2, with trace amounts of 3. Generally early 20 somethings males who want the “new 240" and make ~$30k now with a job they got just out of college/trade school, or with a GED and a couple years of work experience. Parents might help them with some parts of it, like co-signing the loan or something, and then they irresponsibly spend all their money on crap parts or max out credit cars (I know one girl who’s rumored to have gone into a bunch of credit card debt for the turbo on her hard parker).

Either way, most of the community sucks. haha I’m glad to be most closely identified as a #1.

uofime-2 > Baskingshark
08/23/2016 at 16:46

I recommend leaving it alone for 10-15k miles. Then you can go wild and do what you want.

The intake is nothing but a noisemaker on a stage one car.

I recommend not running an OTS tune for an extended period. Even if you’re otherwise stock if you’re going to leave the car in that state for awhile pay for at least an E-tune or even better a protune.

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > Baskingshark
08/23/2016 at 16:46

You want to read about how warranties and modifications actually work. That’s what this post is all about.

Decay buys too many beaters > uofime-2
08/23/2016 at 16:47

Yeah, it’s getting there on the BRZ too, thankfully I think the knock control kicks in a little quicker on the FA20 (plus no boost buys a lot of leeway)

Speaking of California, do you get a bunch of morons constantly asking about aftermarket part’s CARB exemption status despite not living in or ever planning on living in California? I’ve seen this behavior very frequently among FR-S/BRZ owners and it absolutely baffles me.

Decay buys too many beaters > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
08/23/2016 at 16:57

Its a bit of a 3 way Venn diagram :)

Yeah, funny thing is. I’ve been a member of probably half a dozen car communities now, and one thing that has prevailed through all of them is that the platform OGs are usually kind of jerks and appear full of themselves. Now I’m on the other side of the fence and I totally get it. I have 100% transitioned into grumpy single word answer “use the search bar” (in forums) platform expert lol

Baskingshark > Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
08/23/2016 at 17:12

Yeah I will once I get into it...

Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow > Baskingshark
08/23/2016 at 17:20

You’re already 10 steps ahead of most of the idiots who own them. haha

uofime-2 > Decay buys too many beaters
08/24/2016 at 08:56

No not generally, maybe WRX owners just have less California dreams

Kanaric > uofime-2
08/24/2016 at 12:52

Two of my friends blew their WRX engines on shitty download tunes, both were replaced under warranty. It’s law that the company has to PROVE your mod caused the failure.

uofime-2 > Kanaric
08/24/2016 at 12:54

Ejs have had some serious problems glad I have an FA

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > uofime-2
10/27/2016 at 09:31

Here’s a toon:

Kinja'd!!!