I do not think some people are unsderstand that the dealer does not make warranty calls. They really have no say in svt and shelbys. The dealer has to call and get the ok to work on my shelby any time it goes into the shop.

 

You are 100% correct. Some dealers might do the repair without Ford's approvals but they run the risk of not being reimbursed by Ford after an audit.

 

The thing that sticks out here to me is the whole "you went to the track" thing. Why is the track such a bad place if its an open day and you make a few runs? I know it can be rough on cars, especially if your there every night. But this is not a miada or civic, its a GT500! It should be able to handle a few runs at the track without breaking a sweat. Its not like you threw a KB and slicks on her. How is this any different than stomping on it at a stoplight (or every stop light, which I would if I had a 500)? or on highway? I guess the track is just where warranties go to die.

Also... what on earth do they expect you to do with that "performance" vehicle? Drive gramma to the grocery store? That puppy's supposedly built for the performance enthusiast so I would expect ford to want you to drive it like you stole it, brag on how badass it is, and fix things when they fail and they shouldn't. But hey, thats just my humble opinion.

 

I felt the same way as you when I was hearing this from the plant rep. I said the same thing along the lines I could pull off to the side of the highway and do the same thing. He said if I did that they'd void the warranty as well. It just blows my mind that if you drive a Mustang like a performance car there is ZERO support from Ford. It was a very disappointing experience.

I think what Ford really wants you to do. Is buy it and put it in your garage. Tell all your buddies how badass it is for the whole 600 miles you've driven it during the warranty period. Then sell it at Barrett Jackson 30 years from now.

I did break down and buy the Fiesta. I really needed something for a daily driver to keep some miles off the GT500.

 

I'm curious to see what they are going to do with the BOSS, after all they are ADVERTISING it as a car that is built for the track.

 

It will be very interesting how they handle that. It has to be some kind of false advertising to do and say one thing while void those same things in the warranty guide.

 

False advertising is the line of thinking I have.

 

http://www.roadandtrack.com/tests/vi...s-shelby-gt500




sell the gt500 and jump on a caddy..

 

Welcome to last month. Enjoy your stay.

 

Ford should really stop with all the burnout posters and anything related to boasting 0-60 times, if you are not allowed to put your pedal near the floorboard lmao

 

 

They didn't warranty my transmission on my '06 which wasn't put on a track and when repaired by an authorized Ford warranty shop (They did all the trans work for two local Ford dealers), it was proven to be a defect in the parts. Ford still did nothing.

My wife has an '09 Lincoln and getting service done on that is a pain.

Warranty and Service are not reasons I buy a car anymore. Mainly because if they were, I'd have to by Porsche or Mercedes and I'm not that rich.

 

Bpmurr,

Don't assume that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. I'm currently shopping for a GT500 but have been a diehard Chevy owner for the last 10 years.

Chevy is just as frustrating to deal with if you have warranty issues....I have a 2003 Z06 that was always a warranty nightmare...heck, the **** thing leaks so bad that I cannot drive it in the rain. Period. I took it to multiple different dealerships and I always got 2 answers from the service managers: the windshield was replaced by a non GM approved shop (car still has the original OEM windshield, never changed) or that it's a common problem on these cars and they can't do anything about it. I gave up and turned it into my track car.

GM is just as guilty about advertising these cars being used on the track but being very quick to ignore warranties on the spot. This applies to Corvettes, Camaros and the CTSV...all cars that we keep getting shown should live at the race track. I've seen it happen plenty of times. Heck, we found that out when my dad had problems with his 2009 Z06 and it had only been to the track once. That single time out, it was only used for road racing so there was no hard launches or anything along those lines. The problem was even consumable related; both rear tires had their treads separate from the sidewall....and these are Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires. The front tires were perfectly fine, but as expected, the dealership simply refused to look at them as soon as they realized it had been at the track. We figured we might have had a chance as the failure was obviously a defect in the tires but afterward simply ordered new rears from tirerack and never went back.

The current gen CTS-V's cannot be beat on at the track either. After all the talk about how beefed up the rear diffs in these cars are now, they overheat like crazy if you actually try to drive the car hard. We know first hand as multiple 2010 CTS-V owners in my racing club (including my dad again) found this out after a few laps on our track.

I was even denied warranty coverage on my 2009 Silverado for a known transmission issue (leaking batch of torque converters in the 6 speed automatics) simply because I had installed long tube headers on my truck. Try to figure that one out. The problem existed and was documented by the dealership long before the headers even went on, and I made the stupid assumption of believing they wouldn't have problems with them. As soon as the parts were available and I could get my truck in, they simply did the work and billed me for it as their service techs believed that the headers (or installation of the midpipes, etc, etc) had somehow caused the torque converter to leak. I actually did win that one, I threw the original service records infront of the service manager that showed that they acknowledged that the problem existed months before and eventually he gave in and made it disappear.

Porsche and Mercede's can be just as bad, my uncle is on his second 911 turbo and he's constantly taking it in for repairs. Heck, porsche can't even fix the **** frunk from opening when you're driving down the highway.

The moral of the story? You want no warranty problems? Don't buy a car.

Dealerships will try to weasel out of it one way or another, no matter which company you're buying from. If you're an enthusiast that likes to hotrod your vehicle, be prepared to do all of our own work, because the dealership assumes we're all idiots and are breaking our cars. If you like to hit the track, then definitely avoid the dealership...even if you are in the right, it's the single excuse they need to avoid having to pay for parts for your car and they will take it.

Heck, we have had dealership employees come to the race track on occasion and flat out walk through the pits writing down peoples VIN's and license plate numbers. Most of the time the cars are just sitting there and never actually hit the asphalt.

 

Wow, thats just plain creepy!

 

isnt that a invasion of something?

 

OP modded his car.

All bets are off.

 

I can't believe you bought the Fiesta after this? The thread title is "I'm done with Ford".

 

The fiesta was too irresistable I dont blame him LOL

 

I got a good price on the car and just needed something cheap as a DD. However, that is going in the shop today because it grinds going into reverse. lol I can't win!

I really did a bad job of representing my case in my first post. What really upset me about this was the extent Ford went to deny any assistance on the GT500. They probably spent more money in man hours investigating and fighting me then the cost of the parts and labor. I realize moding the car opened up an additional can of worms. The one day at the track and mods where within what the OEM clutch can handle. It took months for Ford to confirm what I knew from talking to Shelby and the clutch manufacturer. Ford's inability to get an OEM unit in a timely fashion and vagueness about support installing another OEM unit lead me to look to the aftermarket. After much research and feedback from other GT500 owners I went with a McLeod unit from Lethal. While the McLeod is a nice piece I get a nasty noise a low RPMs because its not sprung like the OEM unit. While Lethal and McLeod have been great and offered to take care of me I’m back to going with another OEM unit that never seems to come off of back order. I am lucky in that the Ford Executive team had an OEM unit pulled from the plant and sent to my dealer this week. My car goes in Wednesday to get the McLeod taken out and the OEM back in. I’m still out the first round of labor, shipping, and the cost of a 07-09 Slave cylinder. When everything is said and done plus the stainless steel clutch line I’m looking at $2300 ish out of my pocket. An expense I wasn’t planning for in my first year of ownership.

 

the thing that troubles me is why ford can't put a more heavy duty clutch in those cars.. is it up to par with the engine horsepower??? i hope it's not the same clutch as in the mustangs..

for i i knew the clutch in my T/A was a corvette clutch anyway it was the same engine combo in both camaro ss and trans am .. but as in the fords i cannot see any info on the clutch they use and who makes it for them..

at 2300$ it's a lot but maybe this one will handle all the track and everyday use..