Hello, I've been quoted of approximately $1,000 to lower and align the suspension of my 2001 Ferrari 360 to stock height. The previous owner raised it by an inch (not sure why). Around $400 for the alignment plus more if shims are needed and the rest is for lowering it. Does this look ok? Thanks!
That's insane! Is the 360 on stock coilovers? It's easy to lower it just turn the bottom seat with the spanner wrench. Firestone offers lifetime alignments for $150. You can go in for an alignment anytime you want for that flat fee. I've taken several high end cars there.
That's the same reaction I had but it was explained to me that the coilovers needs to be removed to compress it then it can be adjusted to lower. I've seen this in a thread somewhere. I'm just not certain about the $600 labor for it is correct. Also, alignment. I did try to send it a known tire shop and their willing to do $100 but they had no idea when I asked them if they had the shims if it ends up being needed. They don't even know that shims are needed. This is why I called an indy Ferrari shop instead and they know shims is potentially needed without any researching.
How much lower did you go from stock height? Mine's actually from a modified height lowering to stock height.
They should be able to compress those springs without removing them. That sounds kind of high to me. I would have thought around $500 would have been about right. You definitely want it done by somebody who has done this before because of the shim adjustments for camber and you want them to have a supply of shims. Maybe one of the pros can chime in on compressing the springs.
I have done it quite a bit and I'd never consider doing it for $500. I wouldn't be terribly excited about $1000 either. To start with you have a car that very inadvisably got raised an inch. How am I supposed to know what kind of idiotic stuff he did to accomplish such stupidity? Next it needs corner weighting. That takes time and requires expensive equipment someone needs to pay for. Realignment? That's going to be a mess for the same reasons. A grand is starting to sound cheap. Firestone for an alignment? That a good one. These jobs are a lot harder to do correctly than most know. My other half has never worked on cars and she has a very appropo saying. "It's always easy for the person who does not have to do the job".
Sounds very involved. Is the case because it's been raised so we need to lower TO stock height? How about for lowering FROM stock height, the same headaches? Thank you sir.
Brian- Thanks for the insight. Guess the compressing and lowering are more involved than I thought. Come to think of it, there would be a lot of fiddling to get both ride height and camber correct, since changing one changes the other.
Didn't do it. Too darned expensive. But I can see why you've not really got a choice if the car has been raised. Strange thing to do.
Having adjusted my own ride height, camber and alignment several times I'd be inclined to say that to pay $1000 to have it done properly, by someone who knows what they are doing, is a fair price. As Rifle has described above, there is a lot of time and effort (and specialist equipment) required to do the job right.
You go back and forth a lot getting ride height and corner weight correct. A race car that weighs 1500 lbs and very accessible shocks is easy but this is a different story.
Brian is right. He is the only one to reference corner balancing. I can assure you that corner-balancing is an art. $1000 is regular retail.
A friend of mine and I spent two days raising the front of my 360 to stock height. I did this mainly because I enjoy working on my car rather than to save money - actually, the Ferrari indy I use would have done it for free as part of a follow-up on previous work done, but I chose to have a go myself. I am most definitely not an expert but it looked very hard to do this with the shocks still on the car, so I didn't even consider doing it that way. There was quite a bit of trial and error and each test involved removing the shocks, compressing the spring, adjusting the two nuts, reinstalling the shock, and going for a drive to let the suspension settle. Also adjusting the nut on one side will affect the height on both sides, which complicates attaining a level ride. There's probably a smarter way of doing it than the way we did it but I don't think it'd ever be a 1hr job. And of course we only adjusted the height - I've already booked a proper four-wheel alignment with a Hunter machine at a specialist for next weekend (he usually charges £165 iirc, he's done it several times before on my car, and yes he knows about & has a large selection of shims).
It actually makes sense on some extent. No rubbing around on speed bumps or going sideways going off a plaza to the streets. This might be the reason why it was raised by a bit. Plus, it doesn't look really higher unless you take a good look at it. I could have lived with it (I almost did) because it's not too obvious and no need to really slow down or go side ways on bumps BUT seeing other stock 360 photos convinced me start searching around to bring it back to stock height. It will look meaner because of the lower stock stance. Since I'm getting this done, any ideas how lower I can go from stock height? I may want it to be lower than stock as well in the end. : )
I have lowered my 360 to CS specs 110mm Front 130mm Rear. It is a very time consuming job. I had made 110mm and 130mm spacers to use on the chassis locations Ferrari notes as ride height location marks. You will need to perform a handful of tasks before you start to even lower the spring perch. Crucial to remove the sway bar end links. Doing it right with scales had taken me 4 Saturdays (4-6 hours each day) to get it right. This is at a shop with everything needed to perform the job. It took me a bit longer because I used sand bags in the drivers seat to simulate my weight when in the car at 190lbs. you can drop the drivers side a 1/4" or more with just you in it. Everytime I drove the car after making an adjustment the cars height changed a few MM. Took a handful of minor 1/4 and 1/2 turns to get it right. Turning the spring perch is the easiest thing in my opinion it's everything else that's a time consuming pain in the ass. Kind of a waist because now i'm planning on changing wheels to the center lock F430 challenge wheels and changing out springs. So ill be at it again in the near future. A $1000.00 is cheap and if you can get it done right for that price don't hesitate go for it. Firestone for alignment? that's laughable. You need someone who understands suspension set up not just how to operate an alignment machine. Getting it right is crucial or the car is going to ride and handle like crap!. Also how do you know the car was raised an 1" if the old owner put on bigger wheels with low profile tires and did not match the factory diameter then you may be seeing the cars fender gap bigger then stock and throwing you off on the ride height. A member here Fatbillybob, recommended Westend Alignement I spoke to Chris, very nice guys out of Gardena. https://plus.google.com/105013652567737037073/about?gl=us&hl=en
I had my 430 put back to original height and realigned afterwards for $500 through a shop in Orange. It was lowered about 1.5 inches by the previous owner.
You do not need to remove the shocks to lower the car. You will need a proper spanner wrench and patience. Remember 1 full turn of the spring support is 1.5mm up or down. There is no way you will corner balance the car by removing the shock every time. Also removing the sway bar end links will remove the pre-load. You will have the wheels on and off quite frequently short drives will help settle the springs. Corner balancing requires small adjustments on each corner. Lowering a car is easy, lowering these cars properly is not. I can see you are eager to work on your own car but lowering these cars can be dangerous if not done correctly. Small adjustments go a long way. And going to low will have you scraping over every driveway and speed bump you come across. Also proper alignment caster/camber and toe are crucial to have you driving safely. Before I had my car aligned after lowering it the car felt all over the place kind of scary at HWY speed getting to the alignment shop. Once aligned car felt stable and responsive.
Removal of shocks is often required. The cars are getting old. Debris, corrosion and just plain old sticktion of the rubber to the adjustable perch often requires removal and compression of the spring and or cleaning of threads /corrosion etc to move the adjustable perches. A nice clean low mile car that has never seen anything but California weather is not representative of many cars out there. At the dealer on newer cars I never pulled shocks. That was 15 years ago on 360's.
What do you guys think about lowering it challenge specs? It is unforgiving to drive and scrapes on speedbumps and plazas?
Great point, I had removed my shocks (all 4) to replace the worn out lower bushings. In doing this I cleaned the shocks with a bristle brush and a lot of shop towels. Threads had a hand fulls of small rocks and full of road grime. I used the WD40 straw to lube up the rubber seats. Gave the shock body a nice spray and wipe down with WD40 then installed the shocks and started the lowering process. For those who have never worked on coil over suspension. The lock nut can be a knuckle buster if working on them on the car. I'm sure every car is going be different in its process. Working with clean parts always makes the job much easier.
Agreed! Looked better lowered but I never have to worry about speed bumps or driveways at normal height. Looked kind of high at first but you get used to it...
