x28

Hi everyone, I push my car pretty hard. I redline the car at least 10 times everything I drive it, of course that is after the engine has warmed up. If I start pushing the car like dropping clutches and driftings, will the dealer say that I have driven my car too hard and therefore void my warranty?

Another word, will bad technique + pushing the car void my warranty?

The RX8 is my first manual, so I am basically learning how to do heel and toe and stuff like that.

djmano

If breaking stuff is you main concern, no motorsports should be on your list of hobbies...
Drifting is one of the most destructive things you can do with a car... You are basically, over revving, overheating, shocking and smashing things in your driveline and engines to maintain a very unstable condition of a car.

Especially in novice and beginning stages of learning to drive agressively, you will do things to the engine that is very very destructive due to lack of practice, and smoothness in operation..

excerpt taken from motop of club4ag

bad technique + pushing your car will not lead to a voided warranty, it will lead to a destroyed vehicle.

mngpao

only if you push it off a cliff on purpose.

syntrix

Drifting is controlled driving over the limits of the tire. If you have bad technique, you are not in a controlled situation. That is not "drifting". I would call it sliding out of control, and sure that could be bad!

x28

well I can drift the car alrgiht... I always do it in the wet to minize drivetrain wear and clutch wear...

but I jsut wnt to know if I drive the car on track and drive the car hard... and I break the car becasue of bad technique... what happens.... no one hvae really answered my question yet. Please help out

Kas

it is a sports car.

Gord96BRG

Simple - that would be considered abuse, and damage resulting from it would not be covered by warranty. The warranty actually has fine print that mentions racing and abuse will result in denial of warranty claims. Most all manufacturers consider any form of track action to be racing - there's a fair bit of controversy in the UK, for example, where track days are becoming quite popular.

However, the rule of thumb that everyone seems to forget/ignore is: If you wanna play, you gotta be prepared to pay. You want to mod your car? Fine, but if it breaks as a result, it's your fault, and NOT a warranty problem. You want to race (drag, drift, etc) your car? Fine, but if it breaks as a result, it's your fault, and NOT a warranty problem.

If you can't afford to fix damage caused by those activities - then don't do them, or drive something cheaper that you can afford to fix when you break it. Warranty doesn't come into the equation.

Regards,
Gordon

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

I agree with this.
However, leave it up to a Mazda dealer to deny your warrantee claim.
If something breaks, bring it in and make the claim.
I've seen dealers unflinchingly accept warrantee claims for obvious track damage and then turn around and try to deny claims for failing accessories on lightly driven vehicles.
The fact is, dealers make money on repairs whether they are warrantee or not. If it is big and they can get it under corporate radar, they will accept the work.

SnyderMazz

Here is a little story about driving your vehicle hard then trying to claim it, not with an RX-8, but with a Mazdaspeed Protege. He blew the engine up and was knocking a rod with 8G's on the car

This guy lowered it, added a Greddy exhaust, Sparco seats, and a cold air intake. I have dealt with Mazda many times with aftermarket modifications and have spoken to the regional technical rep for Mazda as well.

This is basically how Mazda works when it comes to aftermarket mods and " abuse caused by racing conditions " - basically running the **** out of it trying to take some guy off the line.

Now this guy has aftermarket seats in the car. Mazda doesnt care about stuff like this, all it does is void the warranty on the seats, mounts, and seatbelts (if aftermarket). It works where if you put something aftermarket in the car, it voids that particular portion of the car. IE - you drop a 2 1/2 exhaust from the header back with high flow cat(s) say adios to your emissions warranty, 02 senors included. The guy in the MSP, he had fiberglass tape holding his exhaust together, but you know what? Mazda didnt care at all. They just dont care about stuff like that, because they wont pay for it.

Now, there are things that they do care about and things that will void your warranty completely. Im not familiar with the -8's warranty, but I know that if you drop a Cold Air Intake (CAI) on a MSP, the warranty is void. Its in the warranty. The guy I spoke of earlier, he cut a hole in the frame of the car to fit the intake.

Ive seen postings about piggybacking a chip on your ECU or even reprogramming it. Im going to sound like an a**hole here, let me tell you this....if you touch the ECU and change either the ECU itself or reprogram it, your done. If you have a running issue and the dealership hooks up the Mazda WDS tester and it spits out that the ECU is out of wack and there is evidence of tampering, bye bye warranty. Im not 100% sure on this, but from what I have been told by my techinicains, the computer in the -8's keeps a record of programing, I dont know if thats true, and they arent either but there are rumors about it, so thats good enough for me. Read the fine print in the warranty about what you can add and cant add. Just remeber that whatever you change, is void from the warranty.

Now for " abuse " driving. Its hard for dealerships to really say " You were racing it " unless there is extreme evidence. If both of your passenger side wheel bearings go at the same time, they are going to question what you were doing with the car. Ive had instances where kids have been trying to raise their parents car and shear 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears completely apart as well as crack the flywheel. They deny it, by saying things like I was just driving and it wouldnt go into gear, but if there is evidence, we are calling it.

Right now, Mazda is recalling all of the warranty parts that dealerships issue out. I had an 8 that needed a new cat put on. The next day Mazda wanted that part back, priority. I have seen times where we have missed diagnosed a warranty claim for " abuse " and Mazda has kicked the part back saying " We wont cover it "

A forewarning, read that warranty before you do any mods. Also, if you break something while racing it or " abusing " it, dont lie to the service writers or the mechanics. We hear every excuse in the book on a daily basis. Just be careful what you do and dont do.

Final tips:

DONT TOUCH THE COMPUTERS
DONT TOUCH THE INTERNALS OF THE ENGINE

--- Ok...Im done rambling. By the way, that Speed I spoke of. Mazda voided the warranty and the customer now has to purchase a new engine....$6G's for a car with 8G miles. If you have any particular questions about the warranty, feel free to ask.

O.R.A.

I know of car dealers (not Mazda, but people are people) that have denied transmission warranty work because the tires in the car looked too worn for the mileage of the car so they deduced that the car had been driven in an abusive manner.

rabinabo

I read your other warning about not touching the computers, and now I just remembered an important bit of info. Canzoomer had his car in for warranty work (got engine replaced) AFTER he had done testing with his ecu piggyback, and the dealer didn't notice at all. This seems to indicate that one can probably get away with canzoomer's piggyback if you uninstall it before taking it in for service.

Kas

I dont think anyone here has had warranty issues yet. Mazda has been extremely prompt to jump up and fix any problems us owners have had.

SnyderMazz

I also mentioned I was 100% sure about the dealer being able to see if the computer has been accessed and that it was just a rumor. And Kaz is right, Mazda has been all about just fixing it, no questions asked.

If the piggyback system you mentioned works and you can get away with it, do it. I know I would personally. Canzoomer got his engine replaced...what was the reasoning for it? Im jsut curious.

-=Zeqs=-

Question now...Mazdaspeed parts. If one was to get Mazdaspeed parts when they became available, IE: Mazdaspeed Exhaust, Intake?, and had a Mazda dealership install it, would the warranty be altered in any way shape or form? I know they would be reluctant to honor warranties for an aftermarket versions from AEM, Greddy, Racing Beat, yaddi, yaddi, yaddi...

SnyderMazz

As long as the parts were MAZDA AUTHORIZED (Ie: Mazdaspeed, some Racing Hart) it will not void the warranty as long as you purchase it through the dealer and you have the dealer install it. With some parts the Factory warranty goes void for that certain part, but you will obtain a Factory PARTS warranty which is good for 12 months/12000 miles. But as long as its authorized then, no the warranty isnt voided.

We wouldnt be relucant to honor a warranty if you have aftermarket parts, we just wouldnt. If you put aftermarket swaybars and swaybar links or even lowering springs, you void your suspension warranty even if its a factory part that is going bad. If you have a high flow cat on your car and your O2 sensors are going crazy, we wont do anything until you replace the cat back to the factory part. Thats how that works.

syntrix

snydermazz:

The part really has to have a direct cause in the fault of the car part(s), but the dealer can just simply refuse to work on the car, before any warranty work, and there is nothing MNAO can do about it, except maybe direct you to another independent dealer!

Just keep that in mind, all!

Also, might want to google the magnusson-moss act. On another side note, search for that AND something like "subaru legal rulings", and you will see why subaru is getting away with denying a lot of warranty work for "silly" reasons.