458 Speciale Brakes Don't Seem to Bite

If you haven't driven the car for a while or hard for a while, then this feeling is common. Consider next time you go out, once the engine is warmed up, do about 3-5 braking events from around 60 mph, starting with mild pressure and then gradually increasing pressure in each subsequent braking event. Wait 15-30 seconds in between each event. This will help to clean off the surface of the rotors and the pads and also start to bring the system up to temperature. The exact number of times, speed and pressure may vary based on the condition of the car.

If the pads are severely glazed, a thorough rebedding procedure is in order. See this thread for an example:
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/scuderia-brake-pad-bedding-in.457824/

Once warmed and clean, the brakes on these cars are phenomenal and should feel that way. Generally, the harder you drive them, the happier they are (of course once warmed up). Overly light braking tends to glaze the pads or cause inconsistent contact patches with the rotors.

YMMV.

 

As John mentioned...first thing came to my mind was brakes are glazed, perhaps need to be bedded.
Second thing is to maybe have brake fluid changed.
My Speciale has good braking, but it’s interesting how different ceramics have different “bite.” My MurcieSV bites too much, CGT have to stomp on them to work....


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Sounds like they need bedding in and a proper thrashing.

Also consider having your brake fluid checked. Brake fluid is hygroscopic and it will attract moisture and diminish performance. This happens more in cars that are not driven more than in cars that are used.

Cars don't like to sit. Get some miles on it.

 

My Speciale felt the same from new. It wasn’t until after doing ~5 reasonably hot laps at a track did it change. Now the bite is instant and aggressive.

 

Or, a detailer contaminated the rotors with something. Always apply tire dressing to a sponge first and wipe on, don’t spray. Unlike iron rotors, carbon ceramic rotors can be permanently contaminated with some shine products. Braking performance doesn’t just go away from non-use. New brakes do need to be bedded with hard use, followed by cool down.


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I would tend to think, even if some of the chemicals were to get into the carbon ceramic rotor compound, elevating the temperature of the brake rotors through hard braking would probably cook most if not all of it out. Also, with only 3K miles, I would wager a guess that neither the motor, nor the brakes, have fully been broken in

As others have said, these cars like to be driven pretty hard. I've owned several Ferraris where the previous owners must have been very tame with how they drove their cars. Once I got a hold of them - and usually after about 5K or 10K miles - they were like a totally different machines.

To me, a car is like a hand tool; it's there to do a job and it had better be able to stand up to hard use and a little abuse now and then - or it's gonna risk getting replaced to make way for something that can.

Ray

 

Agreed, but it depends on the chemicals. Some can actually fuse with the ceramic material with high heat. Still worth trying to bed them, though.


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I can believe it

Ray

 

After a 15.000 Euro lesson learned, all I can say Ray is that you’re absolutely right as always, although heat alone won’t uncontaminate the rotors.

Beware of chemicals. Don’t spray them. Carefully apply on a clean, soft cloth first.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

Believe the Speciale uses a harder more track oriented pad than F12 though I am uncertain. This results in the brakes needing more heat in them to maximize effectiveness.

Remember the Speciale is meant to be driven harder and is engineered that way; F12 more street oriented.

As others have said the more the car sits the less well it drives ...

 

Quite sure the Speciale and 488 share the same brakes. Nothing special about them.

Fwiw, Ferrari branded Brembo brakes are not exactly the best of the best. Heck, a lot of these OE CCM rotors are laminated rather than solid CCM rotors. That's in part why they have such a ridiculously low lifespan when pushed.