Lowered my F430 This Weekend | FerrariChat

Lowered my F430 This Weekend

Discussion in '360/430' started by martiy1971, Aug 23, 2015.

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  1. martiy1971

    martiy1971 Formula Junior

    Jun 2, 2015
    647
    Alberta
    Full Name:
    Robert Martineau
    #1 martiy1971, Aug 23, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Well, after reading the countless threads on lowering the 430 and taking all into consideration, I decided to proceed with lowering the car by about 15mm or 8 turns of the castle rings by removing the coil overs and utilizing the factory springs.

    The process of removing the springs is relatively simple, but there is a proper order of operations in order to simplify the procedure. This is the order I have found to be the most user friendly

    REMOVAL

    1. Jack up the car and remove the wheels.
    2. Remove the 10mm bolt which holds the electrical connection to the top of the strut and disconnect the plug.
    3. Insert second jack under the wishbone of the suspension and lift up just enough to take the pressure off of the suspension.
    4. Remove the two top bolts from the strut (16 or 17mm I think) and this will take the pressure off of the lower bolt that slides through the A arm so it can be pulled with ease.
    5. Remove the bolt from the lower strut connection (18 or 19mm I think) and leave it for the moment.
    6. Remove the bolt from the drop link to sway bar (16mm or 17mm).
    7. You'll want to pull the ball jointed connection from the bottom of the sway bar first. If it still feels tight, you'll need to add some extra height on the wishbone until you can move it with ease.
    8. Lower the second jack and then all tension is off the bottom of the strut and you can pull the other half of the sway bar ball joint connection from the wishbone and strut with ease.
    9. Slide the strut down into the space in the wishbone and then up and out of the car.
    10. install spring compressors onto strut ($26.95) from most auto parts stores and use an impact wrench to compress. try and use the lowest and highest spring coil to attach the compressors to
    11. Compress springs evenly until there is space between the spring and lower shock platform.
    12. squirt a little PB Buster on the castle nuts and with a little tap with a punch the lower slides free. Turn upper collar as many turns you require (I used 8 full turns all around)
    13. Loosen the spring compressors making sure that the upper and lower parts of the strut are lined up (with compressed spring they can swivel independently).

    REINSTALL

    1. Slide the coil over back into place starting with the bolt that slides through the strut and wishbone first (lightly grease), but do not try to connect the sway bar end at this time. Thread the nut and washer on and tighten to 85nm.
    2. With the second jack carefully raise up the wishbone again until the two bolt holes at the top of the strut line up. Apply blue threadlock to these and torque to 60nm.
    3. At this time you'll have to lift the wishbone up at bit further until the sway bar bolt lines up with the hole. Insert the threaded end into the sway bar end and torque to 50nm (I used blue threadlocker here as well).
    4. Lower and remove second jack.
    5. Reattach the elctrical lead, insert tighten the 10mm bolt to 25nm.
    6. Reinstall the wheel and lower the car - One out of four done.

    Repeat 3 more times. Total time for me was about 5 hours as I really took my time. Alignment comes next week.

    Before Picture is on top and After is the lower two - Final measure from the top of rim to the bottom of fender (I know that's not the exact way to measure) 3 1/2" front and 4 1/2" back. Drove 60 miles today and no rubbing or scraping. Handles great still.
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    Grande Fiume likes this.
  2. atl_boy

    atl_boy Formula Junior

    Oct 16, 2014
    335
    Atlanta
    Full Name:
    Raj
    Awesome. Nicely done buddy.
     
  3. dlee888

    dlee888 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Feb 19, 2015
    39
    Nice write up… Thank you!
     
  4. ar4me

    ar4me F1 Rookie
    Owner

    Apr 4, 2010
    3,114
    Southern California
    Full Name:
    Jes
    Looks great!
     
  5. gandalfthegray.

    gandalfthegray. Formula Junior

    Jul 18, 2006
    692
    Pinewood, MN
    Full Name:
    Steve
    #5 gandalfthegray., Aug 23, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Looks much better, Bob! You've got a good taste in color as well. ;)

    Great write up. I had my car lowered before ever even seeing it. I love the aggressive stance. The tech that worked on my car said he lowered it to Euro spec height. So I can't say for sure how much of a drop that is.
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  6. supratime

    supratime Formula Junior

    Mar 22, 2006
    597
    One of the first mods I did when I had mine!! Looks fan bloody tastic!!
     
  7. RonnieRenaldi

    RonnieRenaldi F1 Rookie

    Aug 16, 2004
    2,685
  8. martiy1971

    martiy1971 Formula Junior

    Jun 2, 2015
    647
    Alberta
    Full Name:
    Robert Martineau
    TY for the kind words. I think it is a perfect height now; it doesn't looked slammed, doesn't scrape but it doesn't have that 4x4 look to it anymore. subtle but effective.
     
  9. mah_hai

    mah_hai Karting

    Jan 29, 2009
    192
    Canada
    Looks Great !
     
  10. martiy1971

    martiy1971 Formula Junior

    Jun 2, 2015
    647
    Alberta
    Full Name:
    Robert Martineau

    Yours looks great Steve.
     
  11. since-15

    since-15 Formula 3

    Nov 26, 2008
    1,142
    Nicely done!
    All this time I thought 430s were on coilovers.
     
  12. Carbonio

    Carbonio Formula 3

    Dec 1, 2009
    1,142
    Very nice! What suspension setup did you go with?
     
  13. martiy1971

    martiy1971 Formula Junior

    Jun 2, 2015
    647
    Alberta
    Full Name:
    Robert Martineau
    They are....I used the word strut a couple of times to try and articulate what particular part I was working on. Based on my understanding that coil overs are essentially a spring and strut joined together whereas in most cars they are separate entities.
     
  14. F430Rod

    F430Rod Formula Junior

    Feb 17, 2007
    482
    Orange County
    Full Name:
    Rod
    Very nice!
     
  15. ncm6cabrio

    ncm6cabrio Formula Junior
    Owner

    Jul 28, 2011
    303
    Fayetteville, NC
    Full Name:
    Mike M.
    Looks great!
     
  16. martiy1971

    martiy1971 Formula Junior

    Jun 2, 2015
    647
    Alberta
    Full Name:
    Robert Martineau
    Decided to try factory springs first. I have white dot in the rear and yellow in the front. I do see some HR springs in my near future though.

    The handling appears to be good with the stock setup during spirited street driving but I know that they'll never do for track although I never drive my car on the track. Springs are such a cheap mod that I may as well put them in over the winter
     
  17. howl

    howl Formula Junior

    Apr 10, 2011
    505
    Chicago/Boca
    Full Name:
    Tom
    Does anyone know if Euro and U.S. Springs are the same? If they are, then I am guessing the car and suspension was optimized for Euro drive height. Thoughts?
     
  18. ncm6cabrio

    ncm6cabrio Formula Junior
    Owner

    Jul 28, 2011
    303
    Fayetteville, NC
    Full Name:
    Mike M.
    This write-up would be a good addition to the sticky on the main page...Moderators?
     
    Grande Fiume likes this.
  19. blackbolt22

    blackbolt22 F1 Veteran

    Sep 25, 2007
    5,751
    Boca Raton, FL
    Full Name:
    Mr. Anderson
    I could be wrong but I would be shocked if they used two different springs?
     
  20. howl

    howl Formula Junior

    Apr 10, 2011
    505
    Chicago/Boca
    Full Name:
    Tom
    That's what I am thinking and trying to confirm. If true, why wouldn't you lower the car. I am guessing if components are the same it was optimized for European ride height.
     
  21. martiy1971

    martiy1971 Formula Junior

    Jun 2, 2015
    647
    Alberta
    Full Name:
    Robert Martineau
    After two weeks of "testing" the new ride height, I believe that it is indeed at the perfect level, the car handles exactly as it did before the mod, no bottoming out or scraping up driveways but now it looks "right".

    There's a slight negative camber (very slight) but that'll get resolved with the alignment / corner balance which is coming soon.

    All in all, this was an easy DIY mod; however I would strongly recommend the use of spring compressors and removing the coil-overs from the car. It does save time and frustration (potential damage).

    These are what I used

    Powerfist Strut Spring Compressor | Princess Auto
     
  22. George in NH

    George in NH Formula Junior

    Oct 11, 2013
    424
    Ricambi doesn't differentiate between US and Euro on the springs, so maybe they're the same everywhere???
     
  23. Edward Feinstein

    Mar 20, 2019
    2
    Full Name:
    Edward Feinstein
    I know this thread is like 100 years old by now, lol... Anyway, just got started on my ‘06 F430, drivers side front wheel. Here’s my question, I used calipers to measure 15mm and once complete (I know it’s only 1 wheel so far) the ride height only dropped about 7mm. Is this normal at first and would the car need to be driven for it to settle to the proper ride height? Thanks In advance for any input.
     
  24. GVS1999

    GVS1999 Rookie

    Mar 29, 2020
    5
    Full Name:
    Michael
    Nice nice red spyder.
    Errrr, how come i couldn't quote?
     

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