Lowering the 458 Italia?

I understand how you feel, but look at it from their side. There is no end to these mods. Many people will go to the extremes and some of them will damage the engine/chassis/suspension, etc and these may lead to accidents and very costly damages. So like many other car manufacturers Ferrari also says no to any kind unapproved 3rd party mods.

Yes, they are a bit over the top compared to others. 2 yrs ago we had the Ferrari Racing Days in Istanbul and I had my Speciale there to drive on track. All the cars were supposed to be inspected and approved by the dealer before they were allowed to go on track. Many cars with crazy mods were rejected. Our regional "by the book" after sales manager from Italy complained a lot to the dealer about my exhaust (Novitec) and my Trofeo-R tires. I could understand the exhaust but why the hell the tires. I wasn't there when he was *****ing about them otherwise I would have told him the Ferrari itself puts Trofeo tires on Speciales during their courses in Fiorano

 

Has anyone lowered their 458 Italia with the H&R sport springs - the H&R springs are a single spring design like the OE design unlike Novitec's stacked spring design?

 

Wow, 4 springs for $7,100 just to lower 1 whole inch. I think I'll pass. I have a Spider and thinking of lowering it, plus wheel spacers. I'd rather spend $10K on new exhausts.

 

I did, it looks fantastic, rids more stiff - with the wife in the car, I use 'bumpy road mode' and I also used 17mm spacers all around, those also are H&R

 

TAG Motorsports

We have lowered countless 458's, and to be completely honest, the best way to go about it IS to use the Novitec springs. A lot of the times when we lower on OEM Springs, the vehicle tends to ride a lot rougher than on the Novitec Springs so we really do recommend going that route. For many of our clients, we recommend putting the springs on, and then turning the callers about 10-15mm lower than factory. Novitec states go down about 20mm for their recommended drop but the 10-15mm is a good starting point. Even at a 20-25mm drop it is surprising at how good the car rides. Add a set of aftermarket wheels or a set of Novitec 10mm front and 15mm rear spacers and you're set!

For pricing and more information, feel free to CLICK HERE or feel free to call me directly at 877-891-4463 x198 or PM Me!

Here are a few pictures of 458 Coupe's/Spyders/Speciale's & even an Aperta we have done on Novitec Springs, Most of them have 20/21" wheels or 21/22" wheels ​

Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Thanks for the feedback - the H&R route is significantly more cost effective (both springs and spacers) and H&R's reputation is excellent - I wonder why everyone on Fchat seems to go the novitec route???

 

Anyone find a lowered car to kind of sway side to side on bad roads with bumpy road?

 

1,795.00 plus labor and alignment. Not sure where you get the $7,100.00 figure.

 

The Novitec springs are made by h&r iirc.

 

My bad, it's a set of 4 springs. That's more reasonable

 

Actually not true, they Novitec suspensions are manufactured by KW to Novitec specifications.

 

I can't speak for everyone but I can speak from the experiences that we have had...

The Novitec setup just overall rides significantly better than the H&R setup, it is built to retain ride quality and give superior performance than the factory springs compared to the H&R who just lower the car in this case.

Also another reason is because Novitec offers 10mm, 15mm and 20mm spacers where the H&R only offers 17mm (if I recall.)

In most cases I would tell you that the H&R product is the way to go, however there are some applications such as Ferrari's, where Novitec makes a superior product and the price difference isn't huge. Another example is the TechArt springs for Porsche and AC Schnitzer Springs for the BMW's.

If anyone has ANY questions at all, as always please don't hesitate to call me directly or send me an email/message.

 

Words of wisdom

 

My H&R springs cost me $550 on Amazon, vs Novitech $1700 - and ride is fine. More stiff than it was, but I like it - press bumpy road mode to soften it up. Novitech cost triple.

 

Thanks Secondsole. Where did you get it done to lower it and how much lower did you do?

 

"Money talks, bull**** walks" is not always a fair way to evaluate the merits of a product, meaning the more expensive product may indeed be the better product. In this case, however, I really wonder whether the price difference isn't a function of successive markups by KW and Novitec and retailers selling Novitec at full list -v- H&R sold through discount channels like Tirerack. The cost to engineer a spring to perform well is exactly the same as the cost to perform poorly - H&R certainly have as good a reputation as KW. The KW/Novitec stacked spring is obviously a slightly more complex design but does added complexity really provide a benefit or is it unnecessary??? Ferrari could afford to build the car with stacked springs but doesn't - is that of significance? Keeping things simple with a single variable rate spring also has its merits.

 

Has anyone on this forum done this with their stock shocks? If I don't have to buy new ones, why waste the $$$.

 

You raise an interesting question. The consensus is that using the stock suspension (springs and shocks) and merely winding down the lower perches will result in a very poor ride and that the amount the car can be lowered is very limited. Moreover, it is said that doing so will seriously reduce the life expectation of the shocks. That said, the ride height of all the 458s sold outside the US (eg Europe) is significantly lower but the part numbers for the shocks and springs used for European delivery cars is identical to US delivered cars which begs the question: Isn't the factory simply raising the perches on the US delivered cars to raise the cars to meet Federally mandated bumper height requirements. If this is indeed the case it would put the lie to the theory that the cars can't be lowered by merely winding down the spring perches and doing a fresh alignment - surely the most cost effective solution with the added benefit of remaining 100% OE and precluding Ferrari from denying any potential Warranty claims due to the installation of aftermarket parts.

 

How much can you drop the car's with factory springs? Anyone know? Im about to buy 21/22 combo for my car and want to lower it as well.

 

I completely agree. I like that the people at Novitec have figured out a spec that works with the rest of the factory setup. You pay for this "R&D" by Novitec, but I think its worth it.

 

Okay. Good to know...thanks
I'm happy with the Novitec springs.

 

I would not recommend lowering the car on stock springs if you want to go lower
than 25mm as there is not much thread left on the coilovers if you go lower
which could potentially cause the shocks to bottom out under heavy load,
also turning the coils on the shock sometimes results in the ring getting stuck in
the thread which leads to having to replace the shock.

Just to be safe I would put either KW or HR springs without turning the coils, this
would drop the car 30mm from the get go and there would be still plenty of
thread left on the shocks.

best

 

Don't go over 25mm on the stockers, beyond that the thread on the shock starts
to wear thin, if you bottom out (however unlikely) it would be very dangerous and
expensive..

 

+458

 

Baan Velgen - Novitec Rosso lowering sport spring set | Ferrari 458 Italia spyder

Is this too good to be true? It's $700 cheaper than all the others I've seen.