Go with the K&N drop in filter and clear corner lights (but make sure the light bulbs you change, if you do, are white or yellow...)
Um... other than that you can change little things like hood to carbon fiber or shift ****, or other small little items... just don't do any "major things"

ace

 

No mods void your warranty unless the dealer can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they were the DIRECT cause of any warranty claim you make to the dealer.

As for recommended mods, try doing a search and/or reading through the DIY/FAQ forum.

<font color=blue>04 DG/G Coupe - St. Louis, MO
Premium, Aero, Performance, Splash Guards
Tint - Grounding Kit - UItinon 6000k - Rebadged
Clear Corners - PIAA Plasmas - K&N Drop-In</font color=blue>

 

EXACTLY! This is one of those question that keeps, and will keep popping up forever, and its answer is very simple. Just as ncozby stated "No mods void your warranty unless the dealer can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they were the DIRECT cause of any warranty claim you make to the dealer."

You can install a supercharger, nitrous, rims, suspension, whatever you like, just as long as what goes wrong - did not "go wrong" in direct relation or contributed by the mod you performed. Its that simple!

Typical scenario: You install a supercharger and blow your transmission. Well, the dealer could have grounds to void the repair here because they can claim the transmission was not built and or designed to handle the increase in power. That would be a valid claim too, but lets say your dash lights go out, or one of your shocks bust and start to leak, or your seats wont heat up, those are items they cant claim against, so your warranty for such is still in effect.

The problem per say, must go hand in hand with the mod you performed in order for a dealer to deny warranty work. Now some of you may be wounding why deny the claim, work is work, and they get paid anyway, right? The answer to that is yes and no. They do get paid, but when warranty work is performed the service shop / service techs get paid 2 to 3 times less than they would if it was a non-warranty claim job, plus they get to work on their leisure, vs what's known as book-calculated labor for warranty work. Infiniti can say, it should take you 1 hr to replace part X and we're gonna pay you $40 for the warranty work, but on a non-warranty job the shop will charge their shop per hour rate (which could be as high as $75 an hour) and they can take 1 or 2 or 3 hours to do the job. So for the most part, warranty jobs are usually more stressful and less profitable (if at all) for service shops and techs. This is why some service shops will look for reasons and opportunities to deny warranty work, and what better way to prey on import tuning freaks like us, who obviously have the money, and are often left without any alternative. Sad but very true!

For the most part though, dealerships and service centers value their customers more these days than it use to be like back in the late 80's and early 90's. They want to keep you as a customer, and they want you to come back to them for everything from service work to another new car. Your attitude and how you treat them also plays a important role. If they know you're a valuable client, they will do everything they can to make you happy, so quite often they may over look "mods" and perform warranty work, knowing that you, your wife, kids, or friends may be back to them for more business.



"See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a *****, but only enough blood to run one at a time."

 

What the MM Act says and what actually happens can be very different. I think that it comes down to how mod-friendly your dealer(s) are. Let's take a look at another example: You put on a grounding kit correctly and your alternator decides to blow, sending a surge of power that pretty much melts your wiring, electronics, computer, etc before your fuse can blow. You have your car towed in but forget to take the grounding kit off. Your very mod-unfriendly service advisor says that your grounding kit caused the surge and you've got yourself $5000 worth of damages.

You say that you put the kit on correctly just like everyone else on g35driver and FA and that it was not the cause. It was a bad alternator.

Even If we take as a given that the grounding kit did not cause the surge, you will still have an uphill battle if your dealer wants to give you a hard time.

Let's say they want to be jerks. You reason with them and try to explain that the kit could not have caused it. They refuse to agree. What happens next? YOU have to take them to court. That means hiring an attorney at $150-300 an hour and most likely an expert who will testify on your behalf that it wasn't the kit. Meanwhile, your G is laid up and if you don't have a second car, what are you going to do for transportation in the months that it could take for the case to go to court?

The attorney would probably bill you for a couple days time, you have filing fees, expert fees, etc., which add up very quickly. If you have to rent a car, $29 bucks a day will get you a very nice Kia with good gas mileage.

Even though there are no certainties when it comes to litigation, let's say you win and Infiniti fixes your car. You're still out a considerable sum of money, time, etc. Worst case scenario, you lose, and you have to pay the $5000 for the repairs in addition to all of the costs above.

So, I would submit that the protection an Act might provide to us consumers may not be all it's cracked up to be in actual practice.

Also, according to DFW at Grubbs, the dealerships receive their full hourly rate ($90+ per hour) and full retail for all parts used in their warranty work.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by al503 on 02/02/04 03:31 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

Yeah, but if you win in court, then doesn't the dealership have to pay all your court fees, lawyer fees, transportation (in the interim), etc...? The only bad part is if you lose the case, then you are out the 5 g's like you were saying. If something goes wrong, you should definitely have some idea about whether or not the mod caused the problem to begin with before you ask the dealership to fix the problem.

Mods:
Aluminum racing pedals
JWT Pop Charger / Z-tube Combo

 

6MT_Coupe,
I think that the MM Act does indeed provide for reasonable attorney fees and court costs IF you prevail. I take back the contrary asserted in my previous post. Other costs such as rental fees, etc., are not covered.

<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by al503 on 02/02/04 04:02 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

I don't think anyone noticed you leased your car. I would read the paperwork for your lease. I think you would have to undo all of your mods when the lease is done... Unless you buy the car when you are done with the lease.

2004 DG/G 5AT Coupe with all options except Satellite Radio

 

Good catch. Key word, lease.