orangeone

This type of warraty denial claim is not without base. I had a 73 V8 Gremlin that needed more tire in the rear. I used AMC wheels and I think the tires were G60/14's. They denied all warranty work after I put the tires on. OK, that was in 73. Let's go to my 93 Ranger. I put the closest sized snowtires on it that I could find. I was denied warranty coverage because of them.
In my opinion, nothing has changed from 1973 to now. If there is a way for them to escape honoring anything, they will. The problem becomes yours alone.

SHOTGUNPOINTER1

I have never had a Warranty problem with Chevy but I haven't done any Modifications on the ones I owned till the HHR. That being said I am a little worried about doing much at all. It seems to me that if the after-market guys do such a bad job at their products we must be putting all our vehicles at risk.( not too likely) My changes will probably go on any but I will try to stay wihtin some reason. Like Wheels would be Smoothies the same size as stock with the stock tire size. Warranties make my head hurt anyway you never know what is covered until the Dealer says OK. Then you had better know your rights and start complaining to anyone who will listen.

Z-Man

Outstanding Information
Thanks all

Z

mikep01

being a tech starting of with ford in the good old 5.0 days i have seen may come in with superchargers, diesels with non oe turbo kits and have done much work under warranty. as long as i can prove that the mod dosent affect it it fine by me. what erks me is i have seen a c230 come in with an aftermarket cat and the cel keeps coming on for a cat efficency code. the is a broken vacuum line that is a known concern. i told them that they should fix it and it would probably solve the problem. but my shop forman who thinks hes mister hot rod says dont touch it. and he gets all the sema info and magazines. i aske if he knew about the magnuson moss act and he didnt have a clue. im just a tech not a forman so what do i know.

2007OrangeHHRLT1

I have heard lots of different stories on voided warranties and it goes back and forth a lot....All I know is that Chevrolet has to prove that whatever after market stuff you put on the car actually caused the problem.....Like say you engine seized or you burned a hole one of the pistons, but you had a cold air intake on it....They have to prove that the intake made the motor do that before they can deny your warranty claim....I have had my car in for blown out struts and I have the gold line coil overs on it and they have replaced them without question....so I dont know if I'm just lucky but I do know that they have to prove that your after market items damaged or ruined that part of your car...

ChevyMgr

There are so many posts in this thread that I wanted to "quote" but too many to do so. So here is how it is in the Dallas Zone for Chevrolet.

If a modification affects/damages or causes a failure, that failure is not covered. The warranty is not voided on the vehicle JUST THAT FAILURE.

Changing wheels and tires DOES NOT void warranties on unrelated repairs such as radios, door alignments or what have you.

Warranty is NEVER denied just because a mod is done. But if common sense and technical reasoning deems that the mod created the failure then it CAN be denied.

The most common denied warranty repairs are for lifting or lowering a vehicle, causing suspension components to break/crack or fail and programmers added that cause powertrain failures.

If you have a certain engine that you never see any internal engine failures with it and a vehicle comes in with a hole in the piston, plus it has a program in it, then common sense would tell you that is what caused the problem and warranty should be denied. This is no different then failure to maintain a vehicle by doing simple oil changes. If you drive 30,000 miles and do 2 oil changes, your engine is going to sludge up and fail. This would not be a warranty failure.

Now to the issue of who authorizes warranty repairs. 95% of all warranty repairs are authorized by the DEALERSHIP service manager(s), not GM. The prior post concerning a "what if" powertrain repair being denied if you added different wheels to the vehicle is a different subject. They took the authority away from Service Managers a few years back on high dollar engine and transmission repairs. We have to now call a group called PQC. Yes they do ask the size of the tires and wheels. No they do not automatically deny these claims based on this. If the tires and wheels are close to the original or the vehicle has these same size tire/wheels on other models they do not deny. EVEN IF PQC DENIES THE CLAIM THE SERVICE MANAGER CAN CALL HIS LOCAL REP AND HAVE THAT DENIAL OVERRIDEN, IF THE MANAGER FEELS THIS WAS NOT THE CAUSE OF FAILURE.

Another thing is that my dealership, the techs and myself get PAID by GM to perform warranty repairs. We don't get "retail" pricing but it is still income, so we really don't try to deny warranty unless it is blatant abuse and/or we are going to have to call PQC to get a powertrain authorization.

My own personal thoughts on programming is this. Some of them are fine, but some of them are not. When I was young and customized my own cars we didn't have computers so programming was never an issue. But I knew that street racing the vehicle would cause a lot of abnormal stress to the powertrain and that there were going to be failures. I also knew that it would be MY MONEY paying to fix these failures whether it was a blown engine, differential, clutch or transmission. In other words I TOOK RESPONSIBILITY for my actions and ponied up the cash to fix it. So don't blame GM or the dealer for your actions. If you want to play sometimes you have to pay.

bigallis1

Well said Chevy Mgr! Thank's for your input.

Vinny

Let me throw in my two cents...

From a guy that has always modded my cars (my Mother thinks that cars don't come with wheels or tires as I have to get new ones days after I get a new car)

I have never had a problem with a warranty issue most of the time even with a modded part. That being said, I just took my freshly lowered 07 to the dealership to have the suspension checked out and also a Mobil 1 oil change. While there I picked up my black chrome parts that I ordered from the parts counter (even though I could have saved $20 buying them online) I also picked up my GM Perf intake... I also BSed with the Service Manager/Parts Manager and a few others that commented on my HHR (including raving to a couple that were looking at one in the showroom). I talked to a Tech and told him I was slapping 20s on it as soon as the weather broke and wondered about better brakes such as the ones on the SS...are you getting the picture?

Buy local if you can, take the time to get to know the guys that can either treat you well or drop you in a well...as my Mom says " you catch more flys with sugar"

BTW, they made sure to hand me a flyer for a Vett sponsored car show, told me I should do well and they can't wait to see it with my 20s

caponecar

Lowering it can possible void the suspension warranty but wheels should not have any bearing on your waranty and most people are only putting 18's on
I have 20 inch rims on my HHR and no warranty issues but like said early by almost everyone ...if you have a problem put your stock back on!
happy hunting

Hotrodbob

Most likely you wont have a problem except that unless you can reprogram the computer your speed readings are off as well as anything related to that. Also, if the offset of the wheels causes premature bearing wear then you could be cooked. Keep the old wheels should you need them.

Mikep01- I guess your boss has never delt with a lemon law case or BBB. He's lucky he has techs like you. If I had to show up at a hearing due to a Service managers/dealer issue, he is coming a long.