Hey everyone - what’s the general thought on modifying leases? What’s considerations go into your evaluation if one should/shouldn’t do so? Do you return to stock before turning back in?
I’m not advocating for modding a lease - just wanted to see where everyone stood. Personally I’ve only ever tinted the windows on a lease but wanted to get others takes.
I have in the passed purchased wheels with high end tires that lasted the length of the lease then put the factories back on and sold the wheels. I no longer purchase vehicles that need wheels. What I would avoid is any mechanicals that cannot be corrected with a simple adjustment. ex. DO Not CHip your BMW 5 series, that may not be a good idea.
Easy, as long as you know how to un-mod it, go for it. Then un-mod it before you return. But if you’re gonna go full respraying of the car with a flame effect, then don’t do it…
Pretty much what he said.
I had a friend who put an exhaust system on his leased car. It didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense to me, but to each their own. Didn’t know if modding leased cars was fairly common or not.
most modding voids the warranty, if something goes wrong and you have to take it to dealer to get fixed your screwed. I would not advise to do it on a lease. Think of it this way, you don’t own the leased car, you’re only renting it, why pay more $ to do something to a car you don’t own and in the process lose the warranty?
I modify every car i put my hands on. My last lease was a 335i. I had an intake, piggyback computer, and an exhaust on it. Ran pretty good and nothing ever broke. Except for the exhaust it was stuff i could remove or swap out in a matter of minutes. I do however feel like if you’re going to mod the car to make more power and something breaks, it’s kinda your own bad, and you should pay up.
I will say that with most cars nowadays, especially forced induction cars that gain a lot of power with relatively cheap aftermarket tunes, it is practically impossible to hide the fact that the computer has been modified. Even if it’s a piggyback that doesn’t flash the ecu, they sometimes look at the pins on the wiring harness to see if they’ve been tampered with. Ecu flashes are basically impossible to hide.