New owner of 2020 ST. Ext warranty VS mods (info in post)

Hey everyone, first post and new owner of a 2020 ST, I got such a deal on a 2020 certified I couldn't pass it up, 24k miles for $33.5k, it has a clean carfax and no open recalls, the 2 questions/ concerns are it seems some of the early 2020s had more issues than normal ( my build date is 2/20/2020 and has a "B" code) is this considered an early 2020?

Next is ext warranty VS mods, what did you go with and why? I want to do some basic mods CAI intercooler, exhaust, tune, but I am sure it will void my warranty. This is my daily driver and I put about 20k miles a year on it. Appreciate any responses.

Yes, its still considered an early build, C builds are pretty much the "ironed out" builds. Regardless, if warranty/recalls fixed already the issues, dont think you would have anything big outside of the norm.

If you cant afford to pay for the damage without warranty when you mod, then dont do it. MFG's will more than likely deny your fix, some places are more anal and will deny it on the spot for seeing a mod.

I do feel better that all the recalls have been taken care of. I am pretty handy I have a 1997 Camaro SS that I did a good amount of work on by myself, its just catastrophic thing like engine, and mystery electronics/electrical, possibly having a 500HP daily driver is tempting though, appreciate the response.

I don't think it really matters, early vs. late MY2020. No matter how they are put together there are still component issues with MY2020-2021 that didn't get corrected until later.

They cannot void warranty unless they can directly attribute the cause to the aftermarket part. That is when the aftermarket part warranty is important. Only thing that could cause warranty problem is the tune, so use depends if you want to bet on your car being a “safe” one compared to other lemons. CAI, exhaust, and intercooler couldn’t cause any problems.

Forgive my ignorance but I have never had a turbo vehicle before, from what I have been reading a tune would get the most power out of this car, you think it would even be worth doing CAI, Intercooler, exhaust without a tune?

Welcome to the forum.

Intercooler is a must even on stock tune, others will do nothing. Exhaust doesn’t even do anything with a tune.

As said above, the biggest boost comes from the intercooler upgrade.
The volume for upgraded ICs is ~250% flow capacity, so it is a HUGE flow restriction relief. (Also it's a much larger surface area, which means easier to cool)
Better than that, the stock IC is so small that it can quickly heat soak in traffic/high ambient temps/jumping on it conditions.
Even with no tune - do it, you wont be sorry.
High intake temps mean less air you can force into the engine but also, more importantly - hot air means pre-detonation. Sure, the engine has a knock sensor and adjusts for pre-detonation, but it does that by turning down the timing and knocking down performance.
(This is why you can run different grades of gasoline, but a tank FULL of high octane makes the vehicle feel snappier when you push it)

So the IC? Yea, it makes cooler air, which will ALWAYS help with the power of a turbo vehicle.

Welcome to the forum.

First off, welcome to the forum! There are a lot of things you can do to improve upon stock performance. You have to look at the big piture. Will changing to a 3" turbo back exhaust make a noticable difference (besides sound)? No! Will adding a CAI make a noticable difference? No! But when you start adding up all the little things BEFORE you get tuned it will make a difference when you do. It's not going to add lot's of Hp like a tune or upgrading the turbos will but it does add up. As was mentioned, the intercooler is the first thing you should upgrade. Then adding things to the weak points of the suspention like: Vertical Links, Toe Links, Sub-Frame Lock Out Kit, etc. will help keep the vehicle planted. Most shops aren't going to give you a hard time for bolt-on mods. If they think you are tuned though, well that's another story! Dealerships want the business. They can charge Ford more money for warranty work so they won't deny you over a CAI. Hell, I just went through a warranty battle with a dealer over my vehicle having a blown transmission and only showing 7 key cycles yet they still installed my CAI for me! They thought I had detuned the vehicle before bringing it it, (which I had done weeks before the tranny blew when I brought it in for a recall and tranny service) because it was only showing the 7 key cycles. However, while it was in for service they upgraded the PCM and that reset the key cycles. The short of it is, if you can't afford to replace a drivetrain component (engine, transmission, etc.) then don't get tuned. They will find out and once they know, you'll get flagged and it won't matter where you bring it. Your warranty will be no good. Yes, tuning makes a huge diffrence, but it is a roll of the dice. If I had it to do over again I would have done all the bolt-on and suspension upgrades first and then got the tune. That's my 0.02ȼ