Guys i see a lot of 2011s STIs with the ringlands still blowing but only in the states, so far, admittadly many more are sold there so it looks worse than it prob is.

but what i see if the Yanks more than always buy a new car they instantly buy a COBB AP and go with this so called Safe Tune, but they still blow up.

So ive been rabbling on the forum about why they do this and i get attacked saying that they have to due to crap fuel and Subaru of America crap Tune SOA, but i dont agree.

Surely Subaru ship the cars in the states and cater for the enviromentals locally, but if not they should cover any issues anyway, so why bother with this Cobb thing.

Soon as you add the COBB AP SOA have an avenue of pulling your warrenty, and by the looks of the forums it really isnt helping them.

Anyone share any views why only the USA have shafted 2011 and us the Uk and Australia dont ?

are the yanks just utter modding Junkies or is it really that crap over there.

 

COBB AP is a hard thing to prove on a warranty claim unless the car has a VDR or they pick through the freeze frame data of the fault codes, because with a COBB AP you first of all download your original map to it before you upload the new modded map, so if you have a problem you can just put your old map back on the car and take it to the dealer and they are none the wiser..

Done this loads with the R35 GTR.

The only issue you have with Warranty is the fact that a COBB is never the only thing the owner has done to the car, they have always done other things. In the small print of any Warranty it will clearly state that any modifications not supported by the factory manufacturer will void the Warranty..

What this means is the likes of factory tuners that have deals with the manufacturer are fully Warranty covered but the others are not.

Nissan = Nissmo
Mercedes = AMG + Brabus
Subaru = Prodrive + Pro R

And so on you get the picture ?

Plus the main forums are monitored by manufacturers and they know fine well whats going on. I know this because I used to be a GTR master tech for Nissan and we got a letter stating that GTROC was being closely watched and any Tech found to be on there could face the chopping block if found to be commenting on certain things and that was from Nissan and not the dealer I worked at.

 

So Cammy thanks for that, If the 2011s have Data trackers on them, could you tell then ?

Wouldnt that track something connecting to the ECU port and Visa versa etc.

Im sure the 2011s have that now.

thanks for reply im wiser. can you get me a GTR cheap

 

Yes mate any change in the ECU mapping it is recorded on a VDR even if you swap the ECU it records the new ECU serial number and logs it as being on the car even if you swap it back before taking it in.

A trick on some cars is to pull a certain fuse and it stops the VDR but this again causes the dealer to look in more detail at any Error code freeze data and if it has any changes in fueling or boost its a total give away.

With Nissan any VDR data is downloaded every time the car is in and stored at the dealer for when Nissan ask for it and the geeks in Japan sit and sift through it for any suspect changes to it from factory settings, and yep you guessed it Warranty refused if anything does look suspect...

 

i hazard a guess Subaru are wise.

Ok so Yanks if your reading this, Stop dicking about with the COBB **** and use the car as intended.



and then maybe one day you too can have a 320R