If you have a question to our technical or customer service team, please get in touch with us and we will be pleased to assist.

 

Question: Are the parts on your website road legal? Do they come with certificates like TÜV, ABE safey certificate or similar?

Many of the parts sold are for off-road or racing use only. All installations are at the customers own risk. Customer is responsible for having a road-worthy car. Tuning Empire expressly does not accept any responsibilities for any road, design rules or specific state law violations due to these specific performance and race track performance upgrades. If you want to be 100% sure if the items purchased are legal in your country or state, please consult with your local authorities, inspection officers and traffic departments.

With regards to certificates and documents we are supplying manufacturers certificates with the products, therefore it needs to be checked with us if such certificate exists, usually it does not exist and if it exists it is mostly from our German suppliers and also then valid predominantly only in Germany or the European Union. Please get in touch with us if you want to know more about this topic and documents supplied with the products which are of interest.

A common procedure done by our customers is the so called ‘single road worthy certificate’, where the purchased item is presented to the traffic authority inspector who will confirm in your papers that the item is okay to use on public roads. If you are in doubt, please check locally before you purchase. If you have any questions get in touch with us and we assist as good as we can.

Do the products violate my manufacturer’s warranty?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions we are receiving and we see that there is not really a YES or NO answer.

Firstly, it is important to see what parts are in question. If you add a front lip spoiler to your original front bar it will certainly not jeopardise any manufacturer’s warranty. If you upgrade to a performance exhaust system and something in the engine fails, it certainly cannot be related to the tuning part. To our knowledge it is always the duty of the dealership to prove to you that the upgraded part caused the damage. If you however install a supercharger on the engine and something breaks or gets worn out much quicker due to the extra load and tension, than it will be difficult to argue with the dealership that it’s not the upgraded item which caused the issue.

In our long experience the warranty questions mainly come from customers who purchase a performance upgrade like an ECU software tuning or an additional, external power module.

With an ECU software upgrade, the original software will be overwritten by the tuning software. This is in most cases visible by the diagnostic equipment of dealerships, so they know that the original software has been overwritten.

With Plug & Drive power modules it is different. These modules function ‘on the fly’, while you are driving. The original software remains untouched and co-works with the software on the module. The car can be serviced normally and the module can be removed without any trace that it has ever been installed.

In general, the following can be said about tuning parts and warranty:

In our 15+ years of experience we see that it does depend a lot on the car dealer who sold you the car and is also servicing it. It does also depend on the Service Manger, if he ‘accepts’ any modifications or if he has a strict order from the dealership management to categorically decline any changes on the car and therefore threatening with loss of warranty.

What we advise in such cases is to have a nonbinding and general conversation with the dealership and service manger how they see the enhancement upgrades in general on their cars. It will give you a first impression what to expect if you come for service with your modified car next time.

Alternatively, you can select an accredited service centre which can service your car while still maintaining the original manufacturer’s warranty. In selected countries like Australia exemption regulations are in place which allow other independent service centres to service your car while maintaining the warranty. That way the main dealerships have no longer monopoly on the car servicing industry.

In the last instance and if possible due to the nature of the upgrade, you can always change back to the original parts, go to service and change back to tuning parts after the service.

Again as a general rule it needs to be pointed out, that it is the dealership which needs to prove that the tuning part caused the claimed damage. If you have a body kit or lowering springs installed and a fuel pump brakes down, it is of course not related and should not violate your warranty.

If at all, we see constructive conversations between our customers and the dealerships when it comes to performance upgrades like supercharger or turbo upgrades.

Are you offering products from manufacturers not listed on your website?

Yes we do. We are connected with all major tuning companies world wide. With over 200,000 tuning parts we carefully select the best of the best and after we know the quality matches our high standards we include the supplier in our portfolio. Most of the times however the supplier’s products are already part of our range, yet we take extra care with uploading them with all details on the website, which takes time. Contact us if you have any questions about any part or supplier not immediately visible on our website.  

Are you offering installation services for the parts?

No, we do not run a workshop or a body shop, however we will gladly assist in recommending an installation workshop for performance and enhancement parts or a reputable body kit shop for fitment and paint of body kit parts. Ask us for details.

Do the parts fit well on my car? Especially body kit parts?

All body kits, aerodynamic accessories, carbon parts etc are essentially designed and fabricated utilising the original mounting points, replicating and remoulding original parts and shaping new spoilers and wings to fit original trunks or bumpers.

These are not original manufacturer’s parts and therefore a 100% fitment accuracy is intended but cannot be guaranteed at all times. Every mould is a bit different, raw materials used are different that the ones for OEM parts and there are also differences in the manufacturing equipment of each and every manufacturer.  Although the quality and fitment accuracy of the body kits is good, we strongly recommend using a professional body paint shop / smash repairs which specialises in custom work and body kit installations. That way the installation of the body kit becomes a smooth task as professionals do the work and, if needed, they know how to make them fit properly.

Your question not answered? Get in touch and we will assist with pleasure.