The Dreaded SOA Warranty

[slimasian]

Ahh, so the hot topic of discussion. The SOA Extended Warranty. Yes, I have the 6 year/50,000 mile plan, due to the fact that my last car's catalytic converter went kaput at 30k. It was a 2000 Firebird, I know, and this is a theoretically better engineered Japanese Subaru...but hey, I'm not taking any chances. I go to Vermont all the time and other hostile environments, and the last thing I need is my Rex to go broke on me.

Soooo here's my question. A mechanic around here tells me that the Vishnu Stage Zero is an easy install, easy uninstall...meaning that should something go wrong with the sube and I need to file a claim for warranty, the uninstallation of the kit is easy and I could limp back to Subaru. Seems too good to be true. Then again, it's not far-fetched either...Stage Zero is just an uppipe, MBC, EMI adapter...not anything major. What do you guys think??

-slim

[campbell]

I would guess just uninstalling the uppipe itself would be a Huge PITA! But thats just a guess. The rest should be no problem. Maybe keep the stock uppipe and decat it. That would probably be the best bet if you want to make it easy to go back to stock appearance. I feel for you though. I've haven't done anything that is hard to change back to stock just cause of the dreaded warranty issue. Theres a lot I want to do but I want to wait until the warranty is near up.

[Hot_Dog]

So what would everyone do...remove all aftermarket performance products when going into the dealer? I'm concidering a UTEC, which can just be unplugged, but things like exhaust are a little more work.

[MisterX]

I don't think you'll fool the dealer. The evidence of the work to install / uninstall the mods will be evident. I spoke to a rep of Mastro Subaru who reported seeing cars in this condition. The SOA tech reps see thousands of cars and they know what they're looking for / at.

misterx

[Hot_Dog]

True. I wonder how pickey they would be about exhaust parts...I mean, the dealer will put on a STi or SPT exhaust. I can see why a UTEC, or the like, would cause some problems.

[MisterX]

They were very pickey about my exhaust parts.

misterx

[Hot_Dog]

Oh well. I guess if you want a really fast car, then you have to be prepared to pay for the things that break. Otherwise we should have bought faster (and more expensive) cars that were designed for the power.