Can't have my cake and eat it too....can I.

I bought my 09 Street Glide new off the showroom floor on 1 Nov 2008. It already had the stage 1 103 kit installed by the dealer when I found it. I decided to go with the HD extended warranty (service contract...whatever) because I didn't really know who did the engine build or what problems I might encounter because of it.

I have had no issues with the bike (other than front tire cupping issue) since picking it up and it will never see the inside of a dealer for service or any maintenance I can do myself.

Now I am considering installing a woods TW6-6 cam upgrade in the near future. I would do this install myself. I assume this job will void my warranty for most anything that could go wrong with the motor...correct?

So the question I have is....

Should I cancel the extended warranty and use the refund to perform the cam upgrade (factory warranty would still be good through 11/2010)?

Or, should I do the upgrade and fight with HD should anything go wrong that I feel is unrelated to the cam upgrade?

OR, should I just wait for the warranty to expire (5 or 7 years...can't remember right now) to mess with it?

Thanks...Tony

 

This would be my choice. However I am an anti extended warranty guy. That being said if you put wood cams in yourself you will void the engine part of your warranty. But the rest of the bike should still be covered.

 

+1...I'd get the refund and use that towards the cam upgrade. My $0.02

 

I have always been anti-extended warranty on everything I ever purchased. I had to finance the biggest part of my first Harley in 2005. I was offered 3% less in interest rate if I took the extended warranty. I did the math, if I would've taken the full five years to pay for the bike, the extended warranty became very cheap. I took it for that reason only.

I paid the bike off in 2 years, so the savings wasn't even half of what I had planned but...... I used the extended warranty three times for repairs that would've been about $3,000. I traded the bike after the last warranty issue and got a refund for $700 after I cancelled, so my money did come back to me.

This convinced me to take the extended warranty on my new 08. I was asking myself the same question you are when I decided to upgrade heads and pistons. The tech that I was talking to about my upgrade assured me that my extended warranty would still cover everything except my new heads and pistons if I kept it.

It is a gamble either way, but I decided to keep it in case I have a major problem with anything other than heads and pistons in the future.

BTW, I am sure you know that the dealer is the difference of night and day on what is covered and what is not covered under warranty or extended warranty. I don't know why this is, but it is true. One dealer I have dealt with doesn't cover anything under warranty. Another dealer I have dealt with covers everything under warranty even when I don't think it should be covered.

It's a gamble. Think about it and roll the dice. Only the future will tell you if you made the right decision or not.

Dennis

 

+3
All extended warranties are a PITA.
Grab the cams and SMILE!

 

My opinion would be to keep the extended warranty. Being an owner i can tell you that ive had a lot of guys VERY happy when something breaks and all they have to come up with is $50 out of pocket which i usually pay out of pocket anyway to get them a nothing out of pocket fix.

Another thing is that if you do the work yourself and its not installed and documented at H-D, and its not a cam problem how are they gonna know about them short of you telling them yourself... Just a hypothetical situation to contemplate...

Besides as stated in earlier posts the warranty would still cover everything else on the bike besides the engine if they did know.

 

Would they not be able to tell if they were tearing the motor apart for a repair?

I would assume that one of the first things they would have to do is pull out the cams for motor repairs. Say if I twist the crankshaft or something. Then I have it in the shop and they have it all torn down...then find my cams and say....no warranty and you owe us this much....

Would this not likely be the case?

 

If your motor blows, and they tear it apart, they will notice that the cams were swapped. If a HD dealer did not do the install, they will say you caused the motor to blow because of cams. The question will remain, how far are you willing (time and money) to fight them? If the factory warranty on your motor is that important, then cancel the extended and then do the cams after the factory warranty expires. Or have HD install a cam that they will cover. Or just do the cams now and throw the remainder of the motor part of the warranty out the window. This is just my opinion for whatever thats worth

 

I am not a fan of warranties either. If you had no problems with your ride then my suggestion is get a refund and do the cams or whatever other mods you have your eye on. Warranties are sold for a reason - pure profit. Definetly put the money back in your pocket.

 

Not to get off the subject but if you cancel the extended warranty you get a refund?