I am on the fence about replacing our 08 WRX auto with a Ralliart, we test drove one today, seemed pretty nice but would love a little more power. The handling was better than the Subi. After reading here, it seems like anything done to the ecu is detectable by the dealership, right? So, a good CAI is probably going to need a tune of some sort, voiding the warranty? I would happily spend $500 to get another 20 or so horsepower, but not at the expense of the warranty. Anything I can do?

 

1. Grab the Cobb AP or the tune from Bryan at GST (in one of the ralliart sections)
2. Enjoy the amazing gains
3. Flash back to stock for dealer

Yes the dealer can find out if you've tuned the car if they really wanted to find out. Unless its a huge problem you shouldn't be worried though.

Or you can get an exhaust but you won't see as much gains and it will be more than 500 for a full exhaust setup.

 

The RA platform is pretty powerful, mind you it's a bit detuned out the factory. With about $200, you can flash your car to a better tune thanks to Bryan@GST.

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/09...ns-o-data.html (first post says it all)

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/09...t-basemap.html (1/4 mi times in first post)

As far as your warranty is concerned, I do recall hearing about people modding their cars and then returning to stock for dealer visits with no problems. Each dealership is different though. Do your research around EvoM RA threads for more info to help you decide if you should stay stock or mod. Be careful though b/c once you start modding, it can be hard to stop. There's a lot to be learned from others that post on here. I will say though, I've got 8k miles on my 2011 RA and have had no problems so far to warrant a visit to the dealer, but I did my research. May be luck or smart choices.

 

Most importantly, I would try to find a dealer w/ a more or less decent service dept. GL with the purchase though if you do in fact decide to buy

 

gl?

Thanks for the responses, I'll dive into more reading tonight.

 

gl=good luck

 

Our cars are definitely slower on the stock tune, but it's easier to make a whole lot more power (and cheaper).
Oh, and I had a Subie before this as well. The RA's handling is hands-down much better. The subie is alot softer, which is nice for cruising, but when you want to get on it, the RA's the way to go

 

There definetly are dealerships that do it. I'm down in cali, and my dealership installed all my stuff when the car was brand new, before I even picked it up. Warranty still valid. UR down pipe, cat back exhaust, UR intercooler + UICP/LICP

 

Swap in an evo x turbo with stock evo x parts they would certainly fall within the category of approved modifications

 

I believe what the OP is after here guys is, someone in the X forums has found a Flash counter. So.....well you obviously know what that means, no need to explain. But it doesnt go into detail on your flashes, it only shows the amount of times you have flashed.

If you are incredibly afraid for the life of your warranty i wouldnt go any farther then a drop in air filter and maybe a catback exhaust.

If you feel daring, then go ahead and get a 10-15 dollar boost pill the above and flash over to a better mapping, like GST. You could make just about a 50hp gain i would say with all this here, considering your stock is around 19X at the wheels, you could be around 24Xish i would say, or even more. I didnt go this route, but plenty on here did and can prove to you and show you their numbers.

Also my stats as follows:
18.5k miles
308HP
290TQ
She is still going strong no problems.

I hope this helps

 

It does help, thanks.

 

Oh yeah particularly since they know you have to modify your ECU to run this.

 

The manual clearly states that you can use approved mods, adding factory OEM parts to a vehicle would certainly count as approved modifications.

As far as ECU flashing goes there is a company in Australia who mods EVO X and Ralliart and sells them through dealerships with full warranty therefore any thing that they do to a vehicle could also be argued as an approved mod if you duplicated it.

That's apart from the fact that they have to prove the mod damaged the car.

 

Ummm, not even close man.... just because the X turbo is an oem mitsubishi part does not mean it it ok to install on a RA without voiding warranty. (Maybe you were joking about this and I read it wrong?)

It is VERY easy to prove an X turbo on a RA does increase the power significantly...... thus if it went to court they could very easily "prove" the oem turbo swap killed a motor or any other piece of the drive train. Not to mention that just installing an X turbo without modifying the factory RA tune would probably result in a catastrophic failure within a few hundred miles or spirited driving.

On another note:
Yes there is a flash counter, but thus far it seems even the mitsu tools are not reading the correct address and thus they cannot tell, at this time, how many times the ecu has been flashed. This is pure speculation at this point i believe (that they do not have a tool that reads the correct address within mitsubishi), but since the counter exists, it would only take a few weeks for mitsu to update the tools to read it correctly.

For the most part though, so long as all the hard parts stay stock I would not be at all worried about flashing in a good tune and flashing back to stock for trips to the dealer.... but... the caveat is that ALL the parts stay stock... including the boost control system.. intake... exhaust.... I'm sure you could get away with a catback exhaust so long as you leave the factory cat and 02 sensors alone.

 

If the dealership gives you a hard time, just tell them that "El Diablo" made you do it!!! Some of you will get this.....