So, I had my 1st experience with my car at the shop today... I finally got it in to get it lowered. For those who werent aware, at some point, a previous owner raised the ride height on my car for whatever reason... When I 1st got it, the bottom of the front airdam was 7.75'' off the ground!! When I put the Highline wheels & low profile tires on, it lowered it to 7.4'' because the 19'' wheels & tires actually had a shorter overall diameter than the stock 17'' wheels and tires. It turned out to be a MUCH bigger deal than any of us expected... they estimated 1/2 hr to an hour... it took 4 hours. The mission was to lower the ride height 24mm (11 turns front / 13.5 turns rear)... enough to improve the handling AND appearance, and still high enough to clear my steep driveway and your average speed-hump. According to my calculations, the front airdam would sit at 6.25''. The rear collars were the most cooperative, but they were a bioch to turn, the collars moved about 1/8-turn for each application of the spanner wrench and the swing room within the wheel-well... so it took a while make 13.5 turns. The fronts were a different story... they ended up having to remove the shocks completely and use a hydraulic spring compressor to take pressure off, to turn the collars down. The rubber ring at the bottom of the spring would not let go of the spring! Anyway, we got'er done... and all my calcs were correct, and it doesnt look like a 4x4 348 anymore! A million thanks and my compliments to Gary & Cal at Italy Service in Las Vegas!
Yeah those front ones are a pain in the ass. I had to remove one of the a-arms to be able to get the spring compressor on enough to compress the spring. There is just NO room up front.
As for my car, a BIG improvement. Since I lowered it the rear end doesn't want to come around so easy. Before the chassis rake was WAY off. They had the back end too high, and the corners were all uneven. The car was kind of tilted, looked like a stink bug. So if I was going around a corner a little to zealous I would spin out. Pretty embarrassing in the middle of an intersection. But now that has been eliminated. It does have a little bit of push to it, but I don't mind it so much, it tells me I need to let off the throttle some. I think I'll lower the front a couple of more turns to try and get the handling a bit more neutral. On the highway the handling is a bit more twitchy. Before the rear end wanted to wander around now its the front, and at a lower speed. The back would start to wander above 110, but now it's fine. However now the front starts wanting to do it at around 80, when it was just fine before the lowering. But I think that is due to the extra negative camber in the front tires. I haven't had it realigned yet. Over all it was an improvement, plus the car looks so much better. But those dips in the road are an even bigger pain in the neck to get over now. Oh well, such it the life of a lowered Ferrari.
I'll get some pics up in the next day or 2... it was dark when I got home so... The only difference I noticed right away was a MUCH softer ride... not so much bangin around. Before, if I hit a cigarette butt, I could feel it... now it rides more like a Cadillac than a Go-Cart, but still very tight and responsive. I didnt get much past 60 MPH coming home on the freeway, it was rush hour. I have to put a few more miles on the car to see where it settles, but there is a pretty good chance i'll need to go back for some slight tweaking... a few mm's here or there before I take it in for the alignment. Plus, I think my rake may be off a tad too... I want it to be absolutely perfect. When its all said and done, it'll be a bit expensive for all this, but i'll be ready for summer, and at least I only have to do THIS, once!
Awesome glad to hear it was easy to lower your car I'm sure it looks way better. Question you said you lowered your car to 6.25" what is the original height suppose to be?
I had trouble moving the spring perches on the front with the whole assembly off the car! I guess 16 years during which they were never moved took their toll and I had to apply quite a lot of heat to get them to budge.
Now that you have it lowered, do it on the track-the only sensible place to go around. Nothing looks better than a lowered 348. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Read my 1st post... it wasnt easy! I have no idea what the original height was, or was supposed to be... A while ago, I asked everyone here what thier front airdam height was... I got answers from 5.25'' to 6.5'' and everywhere in between.
