New 2015, what is necessary to keep it running long term with a good tune?

[sholxgt]

I would cancel every warranty that you can. If my math is right, you paid around $2300 for the aftermarket warranty. Not a good deal. Scrap it and the tire/wheel insurance.  Then shop for a Ford warranty.

You don't need wheel/tire insurance. They are covered under your standard auto policy.

Gap may be worth it if you financed the entire amount including TTT, etc. Dump those add on policies though and you're getting closer to not needing gap insurance.

[sholxgt]

Everyone has their own opinions and, hopefully, others on here with chime in, but here's mine...

When I finance a new car, I finance as little as possible.  This means no add on's, no additions, etc.  That alleviates the need for GAP insurance to a great degree.

I then pay it down as quickly as I can within reason.  Even just a few extra bucks each month.  If you can afford all these add on's, remove them and put the funds toward paying down the car loan.  When the car is nearing its end of the bumper to bumper warranty I then decide if it's worth purchasing an extended warranty.  At that time, you ask yourself...
- how reliable has the car been
- how much longer do I plan to keep the vehicle
- how costly are repairs

Yes, the warranty does cost more at that point, but much less than the cost of financing it for those first three years while you have no use for it and there's always the strong possibility that you won't even own it past the bumper to bumper period. (wants, needs, and wrecks happen)

I do believe that a warranty is a valuable thing to have for this particular type of vehicle, but a good one came with the car.  I see no reason to pre-purchase AND finance one now that you may not use/need.  The key to this all is to not finance anything more than you need at any given time.

I treat cash purchases differently.

FWIW, I have been a car salesman, have a degree in finance, have a wife who works at a dealership, and have bought/sold many cars.

[FoMoCoSHO]

I pay like a dollar and change/mo for gap coverage through American Family as a rider on my policy.

That of course can differ depending on company, level of coverage you carry, and number of items that fall under your policy. We have a bunch of products through them so the more you have the cheaper things get. A longtime spotless claim record and good credit helps.

SHOL gives sound advice about financing unless 0% financing is in play for you. Paying interest sucks. Paying interest on add ons sucks worse. Financial situations can change unexpectedly in a catastrophic way so I always try to plan for the worst case scenario.

I tell anyone planning to keep a vehicle longer than the B2B warranty to buy Premiumcare(or factory equivalent). New cars are very expensive when things go south and I have won everytime on extended warranties. I also lost big on some of my earlier vehicles I didn't buy them on. Doesn't matter make or model either, they all have year one, lemons, Monday and Fridays cars, etc. If you change your mind and sell the car all is not lost, its just another negotiation point on the trade as you can be sure the dealer will add that to the new buyer when it resells. If its a dealer you have a LTR with you can get damn near all your money back out of it.  The game was better when you could get the unused portion rebated but sadly that changed some years ago.

Financial situations vary widely so there's no one size its all answer. YMMV. You really have to game out all of your possible financial scenarios and choose the best options for your specific situation.

Shol is right, scrap that aftermarket POS and get a Ford backed warranty, I can't think of one thing Premiumcare hasn't paid over the years. That is a premium priced warranty you bought and them replacing defects with used parts is completely unacceptable IMHO.

[92BlackGT]

wow, the PremiumCare ESP from Flood Ford is cheaper than the crap warranty I got from the Chevy dealer I got my car from that I had refunded. I've got 2k miles left until 36k to decide.... hmmm

[purebe]

Thanks for the replies.  After running the numbers and thinking it through tomorrow I'm going to cancel the esp and the tire/wheel plan.  If I decide to get premium care I'll do it through ford directly when I'm within a few thousand miles of the 36k mark.

Not sure what I want to do with the gap insurance yet.  It's blowing my mind but if this car is only worth 32, and it's going to rapidly drop down to 22, which is what my banks gap calculator tool seems to think, then the gap will, after cancelling esp/tire&wheel plan, peak at 13k in around a year.  With that kind of depreciation I actually need over 150% coverage of the current value, because that would still leave me at over 2k out of pocket if something happened during that time.

With the dealership gap, and I'd need to double check this, the gap would be fully covered the entire time, and it's cancellable for a partial refund at some point down the line (well, he said it was, would also need to double check that in the fine print.)  Also need to find out how much the credit unions gap covers, but it seems like it's fairly standard around 125%?  Guess I'll find out when I call tomorrow.

Seriously though thanks again for all the replies, I'd be seriously lost without this forum!

[Quinid]

Good advice so far. I thought I'd chime in on the warranty. Definitely drop that BS warranty and get a FORD one. I would check  your current warranty about the turbos. Aftermarket warranties tend to forget to include turbos and superchargers. I have been through 2 Ford warranties on this 2010 SHO. The first for $1200 paid for itself 3 times over around 60k miles. I just purchased a new one right before it hit 99k for $2700 a month ago. It paid for itself 2 weeks later when they had to replace all my injectors at 400 to 500 a piece plus labor.  I just found out the hard way tho that Ford premium warranty does not cover cats. But it does cover darn near everything else. They will even cover the struts  when they wear out.
Something goes wrong don't give them ANY reason to think you have altered anything and play dumb.   Put the stock tune back and put all your stock parts back on before the dealership sees it and you will be fine.

[14SHOCAR]

I want to return to the question from the OP. I've had my tune installed for about 40k. I would suggest obviously regular oil changes, cleaning / changing your intake filter, new plugs no longer than every 30k, and a PTU flush every 30k. I'd check my brakes every 30k as well.

Here is my thoughts. To go fast, most of the time you need to stop fast. You'll eat through your brake pads a little faster than a non-tuned vehicle. When you get a tune, you will have a desire to go fast all the time. It's an addiction lol

For the PTU flush, some people do it, some people don't. Its recommended at 50K, but with hard driving, I'd suggest every 30k. Some people have good looking fluid, some people have dark well used fluid. The Power Transfer Unit sits right below the rear turbo, which means that the fluid has a tendency to heat up under hard runs.

I ate through my all season tires in 30k, but that's because I do a lot of 0-60-0 fun out here in Wisconsin. I'm a little more "hard" on my vehicles than the average driver.

I hope this helps!

[dappie99]

I want to return to the question from the OP. I've had my tune installed for about 40k. I would suggest obviously regular oil changes, cleaning / changing your intake filter, new plugs no longer than every 30k, and a PTU flush every 30k. I'd check my brakes every 30k as well.

Here is my thoughts. To go fast, most of the time you need to stop fast. You'll eat through your brake pads a little faster than a non-tuned vehicle. When you get a tune, you will have a desire to go fast all the time. It's an addiction lol

For the PTU flush, some people do it, some people don't. Its recommended at 50K, but with hard driving, I'd suggest every 30k. Some people have good looking fluid, some people have dark well used fluid. The Power Transfer Unit sits right below the rear turbo, which means that the fluid has a tendency to heat up under hard runs.

I ate through my all season tires in 30k, but that's because I do a lot of 0-60-0 fun out here in Wisconsin. I'm a little more "hard" on my vehicles than the average driver.

I hope this helps!

thanks for the suggestions on the PTU fluid intervals. I am well overdue.