de-stickering your wheels can void the warranty

[fivethirtyonepm]

spoke to the uk importers for campag yesterday regarding my shiny new campag bullet ultra wheels.

i asked whether the warranty would be affected if i was to de-sticker them (or perhaps change the stickers for the stealth versions). i was told that it would void the warranty (which i think is 3yrs).

does that sound fair?... i don't really know.

[5 8 5]

Seems strange as the decals are available as a spare part for a lot of Campag wheels.

If you had to warranty them with the new stealth decals fitted you could say the originals were starting to peel and looked very tatty so you replaced them.
I can't see how they could refuse. If they did I think Trading Standards should be the next point of contact.

I wonder if they are referring to the "Warning" stickers that I removed straight away from my Campag wheels

[mattyb95]

Could it be that they may argue you need to use solvents to remove the glue and this could therefore have damaged the wheel somehow and thus lead to its premature failure?

[madmole]

They would be breaking UK law to claim that invalidated the warranty. They would have to prove that you removing the labels fundamantaly affected the thing you were claiming for to get away with that. Trading Standards would come down on them like a ton of bricks

[fivethirtyonepm]

I've just taken a look at the Campag warranty (3yrs which i think is applicable on their wheels).

There is the following clause in the exclusions section:-

"products whose identification markings have been removed (serial numbers, lot numbers, product code etc)"....

My first thought on this would be that removing the decals does not remove the serial numbers etc, but the fact that the warranty terminology includes the use of "etc" at the end, seems to imply that they can mean any form of indentification markings which can mean the rather large and unsubtle "Campagnolo" and "Bullet Ultra" decals.

hmmmm...

I would much prefer an email on file from the UK importer (in this case Chicken Cycles) stating that removal of the decals would not invalidate the warranty unless the warranty claim was linked to failure directly linked with the removal of the decals (such as usage of improper solvents for the removal of the glue etc)... I think that would be fair.

On a £1k set of wheels which are brand new, I don't really want to risk anything without such clarity.

[musk3t]

I'm not a lawyer in the UK, but I would be highly surprised if you can contract (assuming a post hoc warranty doc would be construed as such) on terms less favourable than those mandated in statute. That is to say, the Campy warranty booklet is only valid to the extent it complies with the law of the Jurisdiction in which the warranty pertains.

So, returning to an earlier post, unless you've done something to fundamentally affect the worthiness of the product or the ability for the warranty to be validated, you should be covered.

So, remove stickers, but leave the mini bar coded serial on (perhaps cover with a small piece of black vinyl?).

[ajxd]

I've always kept all my stickers on a sheet just in case something happens and I need them. You never know!

[Zigmeister]

TS, are the stickers just on top of the clear coat? Or does it require sanding of the CC to get to them? If latter, well sure. Otherwise, that is silly, they are just stickers and could easily get rubbed off somehow over time.

[roshea]

They might be load bearing decals!

[civdic]

Could it be that they may argue you need to use solvents to remove the glue and this could therefore have damaged the wheel somehow and thus lead to its premature failure?

I've never had to use solvents to remove stickers. A hair dryer works great. Heat them up and pull them off assuming they don't have clear coat on top.

[giant man]

Don't blame you for wanting to remove the Bullet stickers, they are quite hideous imo ...

[stephen@fibre-lyte]

They would be breaking UK law to claim that invalidated the warranty. They would have to prove that you removing the labels fundamantaly affected the thing you were claiming for to get away with that. Trading Standards would come down on them like a ton of bricks

I'd be curious to know if that were true. As they have stated that removing the stickers would invalidate the warranty, if the rider removes the stickers, then surely, in the event of a failure, it would be up to the rider to show that the failure had nothing to do with the stickers. I find it difficult to believe that the rider would lose such a claim, but the manufacturer/supplier might rely on the fact that the rider might not have the time nor inclination to pursue it through the small claims court.

[thisisatest]

They might be load bearing decals!

that was the longest, most ridiculous of topic thread ive ever read. i want a refund on the last two minutes.

[stephen@fibre-lyte]

+1

....yet for some reason I found it vaguely amusing. I guess it's like being asked to go and find some rainbow paint. Some work it out straight away, yet others....

[CharlesM]

email Campag directly.

Tell them specifically what you want to do.

Save their reply if it's a "go ahead" and let us know.

Ask them for an explanation if they give you a "no" and post that...