I have an original set of 550 Maranello Wheels that I am about to donate to our local high school where our daughters went. I put them up for sale here, no takers. I am alright with that. My question is whether for auto shop class, would they find benefit from these wheels ? I am happy to throw on some Hankooks or something cheap, if they need that also. I don't want the brain damage of Craigs list or EBAY. Easier to take the charitable. Just an odd question, but I know some of you guys have a better sense of what they could use in a shop class. thanks.
If they are the original (recalled) magnesium wheels, I wouldn't give them to anyone; there's always the possibility that someone would try to get adapters so that they could drive around on "real Ferrari wheels." I wouldn't want any accident on my conscience regardless of whether I would be deemed legally responsible. If they are the later aluminum alloy wheels, "never mind" the aforementioned comment.
My car is a late production 2000 and delivered in 2001. I am 100 % sure they are aluminum. I totally agree on not wanting to give them to a high school project that could be on the front page of the newspapers. I would destroy them or turn them back to Ferrari. thanks for the heads up. Lance
Lance- First thing to do would be to see which cars use a 5x108 mm bolt pattern and I am afraid that may be rather limited. Those are pretty big wheel compared to most of the other vehicles with that bolt pattern you may find. Newer Ferraris use a 114.3 mm (4.5") bolt pattern, which has a lot more commonality. For a reasonable price of around $1K, I think your wheels would sell pretty quickly as spares or winter tire wheels. Great for the 456/456M, too. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Terry's right; there's an active market on ebay for used 550 wheels at around $1K/set, often being bought by 456 owners who think the 17"s are too small visually. (I almost went that route myself).