355 Suspension Question

Do you guys feel any diff in handling esp under high speed hard braking, when you fit the FHP? Cornering?

I had a bit of a scare last weekend when the nose started to veer a little left-right when braking from 270 to 120. Felt unsettled. Road was not unusually bumpy. ABS light also does not come on for self test when I turn the key. Anyway she is going in for the doctor to check.

 

I have standard shocks and slightly uprated spring, nothing drastic. I dont think you will upset the car in any way. I think you will find the upgrade worth the money and effort...

 

As I have written before, the major difference I noticed was much better stability under high speed braking and general high speed stability. It was quite drastic actually. The difference in cornering was not as noticeable but it is there. How much that actually does for performance will probably best seen on the track...

 

Johan, just to confirm you have standard shocks, uprated springs and challenge sway bars??

 

Yes.
The springs are H&R. They are slightly stiffer but are more of a "lowering spring" than performance upgrade and didn't affect ride comfort very much. The car feels pretty much as before butt is now lower...

I wouldn't worry about the stiffer sway bars upsetting the car. My previous 355 had the Fiorano HP on it and the springs on that felt very much like the standard springs. I think it will only do the car good. And to be honest, it will not transform the car to something completely new, the changes we are talking about are pretty small (however noticeable) ;-)

 

Thanks Johan.

 

Johan:

Are you using polyurethane bushings in your control-arms and sway bars, or just your sway bars? I have a Ferrari front end kit I bought on eBay that includes control-arm bushings, upper and lower ball joints, and tie rod ends.

 

I am using PU bushings in the sway bars, the original CH bushings are just ridiculously expensive, or at least they were. www.superperformance.co.uk now has them today at reasonable price

When it comes to the control arms and ball joints I have original bushings. Tested energy suspension, powerflex and hard rubber PU bushings but they were all WAY softer than original. Trust me in this; stay with original A-arm bushings. The construction is VERY stiff and the only tougher solution is to go for solid Delerin or aluminum bushings, which is race only in terms of comfort…

 

OK here is the answer. I was talking to someone at Ferrari today who worked on the 355 challenge cars.

He said the best thing to do was to only replace the rear sway bar as it is 22mm thick as opposed to the stock being 17mm in diameter. He also said you can do the springs and leave everything else as is but definately do the rear sway bar.

He said leave the front sway bar stock.

 

The sway bars is going from 22->24 mm in the front and from 17->19 mm in the rear...

I tested to change only rear, and I tested another recommendation, only uprated in the front. Either way didn't feel right for me. It was when I got both bars in place it all came together...

Stiffer only in front or rear is one way of moving grip from on end to the other. The stiffer the less grip you get on that end, at least in theory... I guess it depends on chassi rake and a lot of different setting what you really "should" do... My feeling is that most racing people recommend stiffer only in front as the 355 is said to benefit from front end stiffness. But in the end it probably depends on what the driver really wants. I am by no means an expert but from my experience I would definitely recommend you to change bothe bars. Why not by both and try it out for your self ;-)

 

Just to confirm what Johan said on roll sizes, 24mm front and 19mm rear.

Regards