Hello Folks, Well, we got our first set of 458 parts in to refinish. Lots of laser work needed on these. As all of what we do, parts are taken fully apart and then the work starts. It will be a couple weeks before these are done as we need to replicate all the graphics and test laser them. We will be sure to post progress and videos along the way. Stay tuned Image Unavailable, Please Login
I didn't know that the 458 also suffered from the sticky problem. Ridiculous. Maybe they should hire someone at Ferrari who can read english, let him read this forum and give him a job title such as 'quality engineer'. Will be probably be the first with such a job at Ferrari and should lead to a quick solution. Or they could just ask around and copy the finishing of plastics as done by many other car companies.
One thing to keep in mind folks: Ferrari sub contractors do this, not Ferrari. Of course Ferrari must approve the coatings. We know for a fact that different coatings have been used. Some hold up better than others but all seem to fail at some point. We have access to some excellent soft touch but have no plans to use it as it's not worth the risk.
I noticed the new Lusso had harder plastic switches for signalling, not soft touch. Perhaps Ferrari has caught on.
Well, thank you but we've not done anything yet (just disassembly) Stay tuned for the after photos and videos
John - I agree. I really don't know why they continue with soft touch aside from it being beautiful when new. Great advances have been made in coating technology and I am told that failure resistant coatings are on the market but again, who is going to be the first to take the risk? Our hard touch coating looks as good IMO and it won't fail so that's what we are sticking (no pun intended) with
[sarcasm /ON] You're new to Ferrari, right? [sarcasm /OFF] Sadly, I bet none of us in the Ferrari parts business (Dave included) are surprised to see this in a 458. When Ferrari produces a modern car that lasts more than 20k miles without sticky interiors, bubbling dashboards, cracked manifolds, cooked alternators, busted door locks or window regulators, please be sure to send an ambulance to my office.... I will likely need resuscitation. At the level of performance/excitement/amazing driving dynamics that Ferrari manufactures, it'd be reasonable to expect certain "compromises" in reliability -- but these same issues have been ongoing for nearly a quarter century.
Daniel, In a way (not a big way), I was a bit surprised to see this given my buddies 458 is perfect. For the record, I told him about these parts and he wants to kill me as I lied to him when I brokered his 458 for him He would have never bought one if he thought the interior would fail. But, along with that little white lie comes free refinishing for him People ask me all the time "why does this happen - what causes it?" The answer is complex and I don't have the full answer. My Maserati (2008) GT was fine before the winter storage in my climate controlled building. I got a call from a dealer who wanted a 2013 refinished - I asked them to send me photos and the parts where totally failed. So, I uncover my car to find mine are starting to go also. I know have another chore this winter
I understand the variability. Sometimes we get brand new trim pieces that are already crap. Other times, we buy stocks from dealers around the world just dumping old stuff, and the trim pieces look perfect (on 20 year old parts). There *seems* to be no rhyme or reason, but I'm sure there is some kind of specific supply chain weakness: supplier batches, packaging, storage, whatever, that is at play. The truth is, that in my little corner of the business, I don't even try to sell that stuff. We almost always recommend our customers have those pieces refinished instead of buying new. If they have a *broken* piece, we recommend they buy a new one and have it refinished before even installing it. (how sad is that?) I'd like to simply blame it on an Italian manufacturing ethic, but that's a weak excuse. I've got two Italian bikes with outstanding quality, which are ridden as hard as I can possibly muster, in all kinds of inhumane conditions, and they stand up to the abuse beautifully. In other words, this issue isn't an Italian thing. It's a Ferrari thing.
Well, it's not. It's a soft touch thing. Ferrari is not alone with soft touch that has failed. I was in Miami in October and stopped at The Collection with a friend who is a Porsche guy. The 1/4 million dollar Porsche did not have any soft touch - all hard touch. I've been told recently that Porsche is going back to soft touch. I guess I'll be in business for a while
Exactly.and let's not forget about short lived water pumps, fuel pumps, ball joints....and on and on.
WTF are the three of us doing on this damn website on a Saturday afternoon in the summer? CYA later, gents. I'm going to do something in the REAL world.
When I was employed full time in the car biz we were constantly looking at new materials & finishes. It's not that it can't be done, as soft touch finishes have been around for quite some time and are used by every major mfg. on the planet. I have no idea where Ferrari is failing in the process as to whether it's taking their eye off the ball regarding the suppliers or just not having a robust test process in place. Whatever it is, their process is broken and it needs to be fixed. My 355 Spider started to develop a gooey console and I was in total disbelief when it developed. Sold the car and made the wrong assumption that Ferrari/Fiat would deal with the issue. Evidently they haven't. I'm on my 5th one since starting with a 328 many yrs ago. This kind of stuff get's people fired in most organizations. That it's been happening since the 355 is very difficult for me to get my head around. Having said all that..........it's a great business opportunity for you 2 guys.
Yes. Had customers with Mercedes and Jaguars contact us. I'm doubtful any GM customer will contact us based on the cost vs. car value BTW, not too long ago I posted a pic of my Rotel hifi remote as sticky as all get out
the remote for one of my 'high end' audio components also got sticky........I wrote it off to a non automotive mfg not having enough $$ to do the proper research/development who knew..
Id be curious to see if the laferrari will.have the same issue. It is simy unacceptable. Ferrari should have to pay for this.
