Can BMW prove you've tracked your car?

paddy

paddy

paddy

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A friend of mine did a track day over the weekend and now his BMW is (quote) "sick". I've no idea of the details I'm afraid.

He says he hopes BMW will cover the work under warranty (he plans not admitting to the track day obviously).

Is there anyway BMW can tell it's been tracked, does the ECU store the last XXX hours of input data allowing BMW to see his "vigorous" driving a few days earlier?
 
Not as far as I know?

Could have just driven it hard on the road. What is the problem with it? If it's something relatively minor then I wouldn't even think about it. If it needs two new turbos and a new engine, they might look into it a bit more, but even then I very much doubt they have any way to tell.

If he has any track related mods I would encourage him to remove them to lessen suspicion. In another words if it has 6 pot AP brakes, stripped interior, lightweight magnesium alloys and CFRP panels, he may well have some explaining to do :D
 
Depends on the model but Im pretty sure they do store how many times the rev limiter has been reached and maximum engine speed.
 
It shouldn't matter either way, unless he was down shifting over the limiter or trashing the gearbox it shouldn't break anyway.
 
rare said:
Depends on the model but Im pretty sure they do store how many times the rev limiter has been reached and maximum engine speed.
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Can they? They'll be angry when I give them their 600mile 320d courtesy car back then. ;)

Seriously though even if they went looking for this, then even if they could find this, there's nothing telling them it wasn't on the road.
 
Cheers, I'll wind him up some more.

I think he says the message is camshaft and vanos related.

Could be interesting
 
Even if it was tracked - So what?

"Sorry sir this BMW can not be driven near the limit of its capabilities or it will poo itself".

There is nothing to worry about, provided 'sick' doesn't mean stacked it into a wall on a track. Make sure there is no evidence of tracking it though i.e. a bucket seat and rollcage will be a giveaway :p.
 
OpenToSuggestions said:
Even if it was tracked - So what?

"Sorry sir this BMW can not be driven near the limit of its capabilities or it will poo itself".

There is nothing to worry about, provided 'sick' doesn't mean stacked it into a wall on a track. Make sure there is no evidence of tracking it though i.e. a bucket seat and rollcage will be a giveaway :p.
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BMW warranty specifically excludes trackdays or competitive driving.

Op, what car is it?
 
Really though, does that include all BMW cars? Seems a bit of a **** take that they produce cars like the M3 and the old CSL then tell you they effectively won't cover it for driving fast :p
 
shauncr91 said:
"The Ultimate Driving Machine...on public roads at low RPM and slow cornering"
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:p

It's fair enough really. Everyone knows track driving can put much more strain on components and this can lead to premature failure. After all, these are road cars and not track prepared or approved. If you bought an M3 GTS and it excluded track driving it would be a little more confusing, but a 320d or whatever was never designed for the strains that track driving has on the car is fair enough IMO.
 
shauncr91 said:
Really though, does that include all BMW cars? Seems a bit of a **** take that they produce cars like the M3 and the old CSL then tell you they effectively won't cover it for driving fast :p
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It's not saying you can't drive it fast. It's saying you can't blat it round a track, drive it off road or partake in some Fast and Furious street racing and expect a warranty company to fork out for very expensive parts.
 
Drangueos said:
Well the car is German, they have Autobahns without speed limit, so I don't see the point why not cover under warranty.
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Because driving on an autobahn at a constant high speed puts significantly less stress on the vehicle compared to track driving. Where you're hitting the redline in each gear and braking at the limit of the car for probably 20 minutes each hour.
 
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