Ride height lowered on my 550

Let's see some pics of how she sits...

 

Well I'm in Redondo Beach. I could drive your car. Best would be to show up at a casual track day and you could test different ride heights and their effects. I have not bothered to lower on stock suspension but have done so on modified suspension. The problem could be dynamics changing when lowered, changes to the alignment when lowered if you did not readjust that, bottoming of shocks because you just reduced the shock travel 1", bump steer can come into play, you can even mess up how the sway bars work. It is very possible to lower a car and increase your laptimes and mess up your handling. You can't just drop a car 1" without thinking about the effects of that change then proving the results of the change with a stopwatch on track. You also need to think about the compromises Ferrari designed into the chassis and what effect your changes might make negative or positive.

 

My money would be on the shocks needing rebuilding. Have a look at their exteriors and see if they're wet or greasy from leaks.

BTW, you'll now need to be even more careful than before when going up or down inclines and speed bumps. The 550 at normal ride heights already scrapes a bit, but by lowering it an inch, you've increased the chances of doing some damage to the chin spoiler and under trays.

I had mine lowered right after I bought it, but I was scraping at every incline, so I went back to "nearly" normal ride height, plus a hydraulic lift setup like the 458 has on the front end to get me over the really high speed bumps we have here in TX (inclines and speed bumps here in Houston are designed for the monster trucks that the bubbas drive, not our sports cars ).

I also had my shocks rebuilt and put Dave's (now DeltaVee's) F&R rubber cushioned shock mounts on the car and the combination transformed the ride. I didn't have the dead body in the trunk sound either, but I knew I had one shock leaking in front, so I did all four.

 

May be its the pic but looks like you made a big change to rake? If so, will take a lot of weight from front axle which you'll notice at speed.
Philip

 

HA HA you painted your license plate from white to black. I do believe that will earn you a fine. LOL It does indeed fit the car however.

 

I agree, it doesn't look too low...it does appear that you altered the rake and that can have an effect on handling. Like what was suggested previously, see if any of the shocks wet and leaking and I would also replace the shock bushings. Like the look though.

 

I know this is an old thread but i'm resurrecting in the hopes that someone can help me! I knew the front end looked adjusted on my car so while it was in getting the dash done and a/c compressor rebuilt I had them check the current front end height up against factory settings - which they came back and said it was lowered 3/4 inch on each side. Which for some reason on my car is too low - I asked the AD to put it up a 1/2 inch on each side. And they are telling me that they will need to completely remove each shock form the car to to that, and you can imagine what that costs! I was under the impression that these cars can be adjusted WITHOUT removing the shocks?? SO, please - anyone that has done this let me know!

 

Compress the springs, turn the spring perches. Shocks relatively uninvolved in process.

 

No need to remove anything, I set mine with a simple shock absorber hook spanner.

 

Thank you both, that’s the same thing I thought we had done to the other cars and just wanted confirmation from smarter people than me before I hit the AD back. Thanks!