HELP! OC Ferrari damaged my car fenders

I have a local guy that can come to you and correct the fenders pretty easily. Can’t do anything about the paint, though.

 

understood, but now, a problem, and not the dealers fault from what it seems. What size spacers do you have on the car if any? I just put 15's all around on my 355 w stock size tires and lowered the stock coil overs a bit, haven't driven it yet but hope this doesn't happen

 

I have been harsh on the OP, true. But he deserves it (see the paragraph below). It may turn out that this was all the dealer's fault, and somehow they put 255's on his car (although I am skeptical -- the story that the dealer just called up the owner and said "we're putting tires on your car" and he said "ok cool" and that was that -- sets off my BS detector, big time. To take one obvious problem with the story, dealers don't keep 355 tires in stock. They have to order them or receive them from the customer).

But the main reason for my harshness is that threads like this are unethical and childish. Even if the shop did screw up, you work it out with them privately. The only time it is ethical to flame a business online and damage their reputation is if they acted maliciously toward you or they screwed something up and refused to correct the mistake. Those are the only justifications. To attack a business's reputation before they've even had a chance to return your phone call is in my book appalling behavior. It speaks volumes about the OP -- entitled and bratty.

I've been on car forums for 20 years and these tales of woe almost always turn out to be BS.

 

Right off the bat, I can tell the OP is not adept in knowing proper 355 wheels sizes/offsets and tire sizes. You do have to know this stuff even for factory wheels. Even with me knowing, I still ended up eventually bending the inside fenders, but I knew going in there was a chance. Experimental.

No way I’d let a dealer put on tires on my car without them telling me exactly what they’re putting on.

255’s don’t belong anywhere near a 355.

 

I think OP seems to be not techy savvy and operating in good faith, he may not even know what he had on


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Allan, (355Baron), your profile page says that you are 34 years old; you’ve put 8000 miles on the car in 20 years? So, you’ve owned the car since you were 14? Ahh….

 

This is a common fender rolling issue with either incorrect rim offset (it has aftermarket wheels) which that car may have or with spacers which that car may have. Maybe it's me but this post feels a bit like a troll.

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i guess everyone is different with their car. to just drop the car off and say" change my tires" was a bit loosey goosey on your part..
at minimum some instruction on your part would be warranted.. put the same brand/size or make sure its the same sizes and i'm open to whatever brand you recommend etc.
on the flip side, the dealer is changing the tires.. and for whatever reason, they decide upon themselves, to put different sizes?
they are the ones removing the tires, we'd like to think they would be logical enough to put the same size back and if did not have the same size, at least a call to consult you.

so the onus is a bit on both sides..your lack of direction and their lack of attention.

that said, if you know the old tires sizes.. you may have some ground, now that the damage has been caused after new tire install, why they put those sizes..

all the best..

 

Maybe it's me but this post feels a bit like a troll.



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Interesting discussion to say the least. Several observation speaking from experience. I have stock 355 wheels/tire sizes on my 348 with spacers (15mm in front). I tagged my left front lip when I made a left turn into my drive at a speed that really compressed the suspension. It is not as severe as the OP but there none the less so lesson learned the hard way. As @Ferrarium stated, the solution is a bead roller with some heat to the paint. In the second picture it looks like an aggressive spacer was used with those non stock wheels. One thing not mentioned yet is even if the old tires where the same size as the new ones most of us have seen the differences the shape can vary between brands so that could also account for what happened. Kind of hard to put this back on the dealer given the variables at play and it is hard to visually see a problem with the car at rest with wheels pointed forward.

 

Yes, a bit strange….

 

As my girlfriend keeps telling me- "size matters" <levity>

Seriously though- Something has been bugging me about all this- I've stayed quiet since last post but just have to ask-

So from the pics these are Continental Extreme Contact tires- Yes?

From my experience with two large Ferrari dealers they don't even keep OEM tires in stock for 355s- much less non-OEM (I could be wrong but don't think Contis are/were OEM for 90s vintage Ferraris) both times I've had a puncture as well as replacing OEM tires on OEM wheels due to wear/age on my 355 they had to order them in.

IF by some chance they had tires in stock at all- for any Ferrari- and they are indeed a Ferrari dealer- chances are they would have Michelins. Pirellis or Bridgestones but pretty unlikely they would have Contis.

So did they order in the wrong size Contis and install them? Were you at least aware they were Contis (even if you didn't know the size)?

Lastly- what size is on the rear? If you had all 4 replaced and for whatever reason they either had or ordered Contis (unless you had Contis on before) I find it hard to believe they would install OEM size on rear and larger non-OEM 255s on the front.

Again- Some quick pics or quick video at the time you dropped it off would have alleviated all the drama and questions- We would be talking about water temps in Florida or something And IF the scenario is as you claim the recourse would be clear- conversation with dealer direct- and remediation quick.

Cheers

 

So factory spec at rear is 265/40ZR 18 - These are 275/35ZR 18 which are 19.5mm smaller in diameter and a 2.9% difference in speedo.

So they (you) put different manufacturer from what it had on and smaller than OEM diameter on rear and different manufacturer from what it had on and larger than OEM diameter in front.

I bet your speedo is in therapy! <levity>

Did they have the new tires in stock or did they order them in?

 

All very odd to me ...

Hope it gets sorted out- Take care-

 

You're not helping yourself here. You have no idea what tires they stock. And it is extremely doubtful that they stock a non-OEM tire size, which means they special ordered the tires for you.

 

285/30 rear, 255/35 front. Stock wheels. No problems.