2008 430 Spider Ride Height

I just got delivery yesterday of my new 2008 430 Spider. The car seems to be riding very high on its tires and there is a huge gap (more than a fist) between the bottom of the wheel arches and the top of the tires. My 360 Spider with 19" wheels looked fine with very little space between the top of the wheel arches and the top of the tires. What gives here? Perhaps I need 20" wheels and tires or even bigger to fill these huge gaps or perhaps a set of lowering springs to bring the car down to a more agressive stance. I need some advice from you suspension experts on what modifications I should'consider to lower my car down onto its tires. I'll bet that the 430's delivered to European owners do not sit this high. HELP!!!

 

American spec cars are higher than European ones. Best is to lower the car to European ride height. If you want to go lower then go ahead, but I wouldn't buy different wheels. Find out with your dealership first because mine said that it will cause a void to the warranty with anything related to suspension, etc. This void thing I think it also extends to aftermarket wheels.

 

I know every forum says use the search, but I have to say this search gives a hell of alot of answers

type in lowering / ride height /


I typed in lowering yesterday and got pages on what to do, you want to take the car in and have the suspension lowered, they can do it no problem as the suspension is adjustable, if you want it lowered to much, you will have to roll the fenders, make sure you get an alignment as the specs will be off once lowering, this is an easy fix

 

Like Toshiba said.........no need to change any suspension parts. The F430 springs are adjustable. You can easily adjust the ride height at any Ferrari service.

 

Barry, these two threads should answer most of your questions....
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110574&highlight=lowering
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71933

 

Just have it lowered 14mm and re-aligned and you'll be happy. Anything more than that is pretty low for anything other than a track set up. Lowering easily done by any alignment shop.

 

Wait awhile until you put a few thousand miles on the car.

I know from experience that the 360's settled quite a bit quite quickly, and if you were to lower it this early you may regret it.

 

My 430 never settled enough to make a noticeable difference. And spiders are set higher than coupes. 14mm drop is still the solution if you don't like the gaps in the wheel arches.

 

I should have added that in the event that you do decide to lower the car now, be sure to entrust the job to people who will give due consideration to maintaining the current corner weight aspects of the car, otherwise the handling balance in cornering may be affected.

 

This is not relevant prior to lowering the car.
After lowering and alignment allow the chassis to 'settle in' for a minimum of a few hundred miles and then return for another alignment check.

 

Why isn't it relevant?

I'm not talking about " chassis" settling.......I'm talking about the steel temper of springs.....so why lower now......when it will lower itself pretty soon...if it is used.

Then look at lowering to where you want it to be.

Don't take my word for it. Ask any technician (not supervisor) in any dealership worth it's salt.

 

why not simply adjust now to desired ride height, then adjust later as required? It's a simple few turns on the spring adjustment ring, then 4 corner align, done. Most Ferrari dealers will do it for you.

 

My advice............don't go below Euro ride height for the F430. Anything lower, IMO is a nightmare but looks great .

 

It's not as simple as that!

Every time you alter the ride height, (even by a relative margin), in addition to altering the wheel alignment, you also alter the 'weight corner balance'.

You can't just screw, (up or down), the spring perch nuts, a bit her, or there, and leave it at that.

It's adjust, lower the car, measure the side height. raise the car, adjust some more, lower the car, etc., etc.,......and we still haven't mentioned four weighing-scales under each wheel, and ballast weighting the car to certain prescribed areas. in addition to going through all the aforementioned adjustments.

If you don't go through the procedure correctly would you wonder why the car would not behave correctly?

 

When I mention chassis settling I'm also referring to the springs which are in a constant state of degeneration, due to time and or mileage. With that in mind I can't comprehend waiting. Waiting until what? Which is why its necessary to routinely check the suspension and alignment specs.

 

Drew,

My point is that the spring degeneration, (for the most part), occurs early, and is not progressive, unless the car is freuently and aggressively track driven.

Since the set-up procedure is very time consumming, it can run up a very considerable bill at the dealer, or specialist workshop, even though absolutely no parts, or materials are involved, so I would prefer to let the car 'settle' first, and then do the set-up once only.

 

I'm pretty sure Ferrari don't do unique corner weighting for each car and its own set of options (different options = different corner weights).
Ideally you'd corner weight for perfect chassis balance with you in the car. I agree that just lowering the springs platforms could upset the balance and handling finesse, not to mention tire wear if the geometry isn't reset correctly after lowering.

Its a bit of an art form to do well really. I am not sure even main dealers are the best place to do it! Get it wrong and the handling is terrible (and what a shame that would be).
I'd prefer a race team who have the professional corner weighting scales, etc. You can get the recommended alignment settings from the workshop manual's. I've also posted them before.