550 maranello wheels on 348

hey mike , i'm up outside Scranton, pretty close to reading. i believe an ss has the same track as a spider. They do stick out a little, just like 360 wheels. Its tough tho, 348's have an unusual line to the rear wheel opening wider at the front narrower at the rear. look from the front down the side and they are perfect , look from the rear and they look a little wide as do most wheel options for these cars. sometime this winter i might have our machine shop take a little off them.

 

i sent the rear wheels down to our machine shop and machined 12mm off the mounting surface . they fit perfect now. i will take some pics soon and post them

 

just a couple pics after machining 12mm of the rear wheels.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Excellent!...huge difference.

 

Wow, that looks much better than I thought it would

 

now i just have to move somewhere they have never heard the term "arctic cold front " so i can drive it more often. 9 degrees here in pa today

 

Nice job! I just got spacers for my front stock wheels so I go with that for a while. And man do I totally know what you mean about artic cold fronts! Somehow I have to get mine to the shop for a clear bra and then down to Easton for the engine out. Only 3K on this 20 year old car so it's mainly timing belt but we'll see. I'm called ahead for the service in February and book the appointment a week or so in advance.

 

Thanks john. Good luck, the roads down this way are just caked with salt.

I'ts funny, i bought my car wrecked from an insurance company ( but it only had about 2k of minor damage) because i wanted one to just drive, rain sleet snow, whatever. i figured it wouldn't be so nice , so i wouldn't care about salt and chips and so on.

Then the car arrived and aside from the damage, the car is perfect in every way. the seats , the paint, everything.not a chip , tear , wear , nothing.

Now , guess what , I only drive it when its nice and i'm anal about the car.

 

Looks great, best rims for a 348 imo. The 360 rims look too spindly, these have the right look without going the 355 route.

 

I would have gone with 355 wheels , but they are just so damn expensive, living in northeast pa , the wheels around here just take a beating. so , i took a chance with the 550 wheels and , looking back , wouldn't have it any other way. It took some fidgeting with the ride height and machining on the rears . but i got it worked out. Now just wishing for spring.

 

One of the best things about 550 wheels is you can run wider tires for more grip.

 

Need mo powa to spin them also.

I hate that feeling when it falls flat due to not enough uuumph

 

A 348 is like a miata...it is a momentum car. By the way my light 348 racecar with stock motor and 2750lbs wet with me in the 348 was faster than 355's and surprised a few 360's. What the 348 needs is lightness. Those 550 wheels are not light by the way.

 

Certainly my experience also in the GTC matches up very well with stock 355's, 360's and also 430's (on slower twisty tracks.....bit down on power to compete on the fast circuits)

 

These wheels look great.
I think the rear may look a better fit with a F355 rear tire setup.

Ie: Currently on your car: 275/35/18 - Tire OD: 25.7"
Stock f355 rear tire: 265/40/18 - Tire OD: 26.5"... Almost a full inch bigger.

This is closer to stock diameters and fit the wheel well as per original design IMHO.

I really love the 550 wheel on your car!

 

Need a rear corner shot. Rears look beefy.

 

Very nice

 

Thanks , i'm not one to take alot of pics , but heres a few more , i think we lowered the front a little since that garage pic, these two are a little more recent ,but i'm unsure if these two are with the lowered front but i know the street shot is with thecar lowered all around


" serenity now "

 

Still waiting on my lug bolts for the rears. Looks ok now but show us a rear shot. I'm going the mesh look to follow the strakes. OZ Superleggera IIIs. What's your clearance on the front lip off the ground? I may dial mine down a bit too. Fine tuning driveways ramps tonight.

 

Front lip is low as i can go considering the crappy pennsylvania roads , i would say we dropped the front an inch .it scrapes now snd then , i think i've fixed and repainted it twice now , thankfully they made the front bumper from fiberglass and its easy to fix !
Will fo a rear shot soon , i also need to do a video , car sounds amazing with the high flow cats and nouvalari , i just keep getting side tracked by that thing called work , lol

" serenity now "

 

Hey Drive It, I found this thread again. What is your ride height measured from hub center to fender lip? I think mine without change from dealer is like 14 in. front 16 rear! Maybe a little less but looks like a crazy 2 inch difference. I am thinking I can come down a 1/2 inch in rear to start but I need to get the larger wrench. And compressing, you used a compressor or some other method? And 1 turn is 1.2mm in actual ride height? Say about 10 turns?

 

Just as an aside, Chris at Exoticar has new sets of 550 wheels for $1200 or so last time I checked. One of our V12 guys just fitted a set to his 456M.

 

I like the look john plus the wider wheels

 

I think that looks awesome

 

I'll get you that measurement when i get to the shop later


" serenity now "