You can say that again :)
Stefan- In the US, nobody cares what wheels you use. If you tried to make a law like that here, all the aftermarket sellers would scream murder, and no law.
I prefer the standard 5 spoke wheels myself. Although the challenge wheels do look pretty nice as well.
right, unfortunaltely in Germany you have to bring your car to the Tüv inspection every 2 years and with 20" wheels you simply will not pass.....(and not be able to drive the car anymore)
Stefan- How would they know? Surely they do not go through a list of what was available for every single option on every car sold in Germany? Would look like the New York City phone book.
From what I understand Terry they do know. I suppose it is as simple as looking at the tire data sticker on the car. TUV is very strict about that. Our AMG has a sticker for every tire wheel combo the car could have come with. That is why AMG, RUF, Brabus and the like have manufacturer status. No mods allowed.
Brian- Affirmative, nobody cares what wheels you have here, unless you get in an accident and the lawyers discover she was modified.
what many people do is mount somerhing on their car, then remove ot for the bi-anual inspection and remount it again after. On rims pretty easy, but don't get into an accident, wheels are checked first.
That's unsettling. I have overisized aftermarket wheels on my 612 and have to decide essentially in the next week if I'm signing up for the track events at the national FCA meet.
My clutch started to slip when it got hot driving in Switzerland, lots of starting and stopping and in traffic, so now at every opportunity when I'm stationary I select neutral, to help rest/save it. Dont know if that prolongs the life, but I think it maybe helps the bearings?
Alistair- Whenever an F1 Ferrari stops, the clutch is open, regardless of whether she is in neutral or in gear. Also the throw-out (thrust) bearing is a constant contact type, so that makes little difference, either. That said, I am a coast to a stop in neutral kind of driver, because that is the same way I drove 3 pedal cars. In heavy traffic, I tend to coast in neutral a lot and, when traffic starts to move, hit the downshift paddle to get her into gear (too high), followed by a quick downshift to get her into a usable gear. This will heat up the clutch less than having her make all the automatic downshifts to 1st as traffic comes to a halt.
Stafan, I'm curious about the smell from your clutch. Is it still happening and can you describe the smell you experience? The reason why I'm asking is that a friend of mine experienced similar symptoms in his manual-transmission Toyota Supra some years ago and it turned out to be oil contamination on his clutch. The oil came into the bell housing from the engine. If your smell is a bit like oil mixed in with "regular" clutch smell, you may want to get your mechanic to inspect the area around the housing to see if there is any signs of oil seepage. The other thing I noticed is your mention of "a recurring engine control sensor light" attributed to a "rare ignition failure on one cylinder bank". AFAIK, you should not get any misfires at all in your engine. But I had that happen to my 540i6 when it was still under warranty. In my case, it turned out to be oil contaminating the spark plug. Misfires can be very bad news because they can lead to destruction of the catalytic converter(s) - and that's exactly what happened to my BMW. It had 2 cats and the misfires ruined one of them. BMW replaced both cats for me. Oil which can affect both the spark plug and the clutch may come from a gasket leak somewhere on the engine or perhaps someone was careless during a recent service and spilled oil over the area, into the spark plug well(s) and over the bell housing of the clutch. The misfire can also be caused by a fuel delivery issue and not by a spark plug fault. Of course, I am just mentioning these points in case they are related to your observations. It doesn't mean they are actually are but I do think both issues are not normal and you (or your mechanic) should not brush them off.
Thanks for the advise, but I am pretty sure there is no oil involved, smell is pure clutch, mainly when starting on a steep hill and the misfires are no concern to my Ferrari mechanic. 612 and 599 have so many sensors and are very sensitive, so it happens frequently to owners that the engine control failure light blinks. The readings on the SD3 are various as well, sometimes misfire, sometimes something which even my mechanic cant explain. I have no worries and my Scal drives like machine, never had any break downs, engine oil smells and feels always like new and the power still blows me away. B.t.w. cats are ok too since the German TÜV checks the emissions every two years and my car is now 10 years old with 37.000 km on the clock.
Stefan, I'm glad to see you have already eliminated these possible causes. When you mentioned unexplained engine misfires on top of detecting a clutch smell it set off an alarm from my personal experiences with "misplaced oil". As for the myriad sensors in our cars, I think battery issues are also sometimes the culprit; as when a weakened battery which is already under a heavy load is further stressed (hot weather, AC/V set on full + bursts of high engine RPM). A transient low voltage/current may set off a sensor. At any rate, it must be wonderful to own and drive a 612 in your part of the world.
yes, it certainly is a lot of fun, since those cars are really made for driving fast and you can only do it legally in Germany, I am always surprised how much better the Scal sticks to the road when driving above 250 km/h. You really feel that it was made for this, everything comes together and the car becomes one with the road, really fascinating, only had such a feeling when driving a Superbike on a track, but never with a car. My Audi also does 260 km/h, but what a difference to the Ferrari. Cheers, Stefan
This is absolutely true. If you haven't had the pleasure of driving the 612 'truly fast' you are missing out on how much this car shines.
