RoyalPink

Follow up. Cost for 2yr/20k service was $1257.65

Items done: oil and filter, 2 cabin filters, wiper blades, key battery and brake flush.

Service writer agreed no need to do plugs and air filters this time around with only 7,500 miles. Doing it next year will be fine. As I already stated the car was put in service on 10/2018 and I took delivery (car sat unsold at dealer) on 9/2019 with 87 miles. So those plugs and engine air filters are fine until next year which is what I suspected all along.

RLNTL3S

I think you should have done the engine air filter. I changed mine with less miles than yours (I changed it myself), and it already collected rocks and leaves.

SToronto

That's about right for the cost and timing. It's the 2 year service.

I just did mine at the dealer. Sure I have a couple go to Indies but also keeping the relationship with the dealer as I track my car, for warranty and track inspections. There's some value in that.

chance6

that's my biggest issue with the GT3/RS tbh. 2-year spark plug intervals, I think it's there to protect when you have heavy track usage. IMO it is indeed overkill. But then again I hear folks that swear by the time interval.

I haven't seen the responses to this yet, but I'm betting somebody may have commented "you have to pay to play". Which to me is hogwash. 2-year plug intervals are garbage to me.

3Series

It sure is. So is $2400 for basic maintenance stuff. But that's what it costs to keep the service departments going and what the market will pay. There are suckers everywhere with money to burn.

venom51

The time interval is more about protecting the cylinder head. If you have changed the plugs on one you can feel the difference in the amount of effort it takes to removed the used plug and what it takes to thread in the new one. Carbon build up and any build up of corrosion around the threads could lead to a plug coming out while taking all the threads in the cylider head with it or possibly snapping off. Both situations that given the working area would likely cause the engine to be dropped down to fix.

Having seen the wear on some 4 year 20k plugs the likely hood of a plug needing to be replaced due to wear is prettly unlikely. The failure point of a worn plug is possibly going to show up as a dead coil. As the plug wears the resistance goes up causing the coil to have to work harder to fire the plug.

bulldog_YYC

Im not going to say "pay to play" but there is a certain amount of maintenance thats required to keep the car operating per performance spec/safe spec is there not?
The alternative is to risk stretching the maintenance intervals - what is the benefit and consideration of doing that?
Do the benefits outweigh the risks in that scenario?

Buddhamonk

991.2 GT3 here. My 2 year service at 8K miles was $1500
- sparks plugs
- brake fluid flush
- Cabin air filter
- oil change and filter

Yes it's expensive but I didn't want to DIY while the car is still under warranty

chance6

That's a good point, I didn't consider the cylinder head. Does that point ultimately to a design weakness in the GT3 engines? Maybe it points to a cost inefficiency at least.

venom51

No. It's just the nature of aluminum cylinder heads. They all suffer the same potential disease. Ask Ford Triton owners about Ford's recommended 100,000 mile plug change intervals or just do a little internet reading about it.