Bought a 2015 458 spider 3.5 years ago, it has been trouble free. Had 17k when purchased and had reportedly been thru the full workup incl "20k service" as a CPO car with a 2 year warranty, now expired. I now have 23k miles, and all I've done are oil changes once per year. What do I need to start worrying about ? what would you recommend ? This is a street driver for me, no track duty just northern michigan scenic rides. No dealers within 3 hours drive, but good local mechanic who works only on exotics and seems very efficient with small repairs. Lucky to have him - what else should I be having him look at ?
If its liquid change it. I have followed this instruction since I was a teenager. In the case of the 458; DCT fluid, power steering fluid, gear oil and coolant. Might not be a bad idea to change out the coolant reservoir; preemptive maintenance on that one based on time and mileage.
ignoring oil and oil filter.. 1. DCT fluid 2. Gear oil 3. PS fluid 4. Coolant 5. Brake fluid 6. Pollen filter 7. Intake filters 8. Battery - go with Lithium
You may also get more answers in the 458 section generally but perhaps specifically via the sticky at the top since I doubt you are the first to ask
The best maintenance/prevention for a 458 seems to be regular driving. Switching to a lithium battery has been a game changer for me. 458 is so sensitive it’ll let you know when something is up. I recently found the fix for all my electrical gremlins by replacing a single brake sensor suggested by another thread on here.
Chage the DCT fluid often. I have fixed many of these gearbox problems with a double or even triple flush of fluid. Its not cheap, but much better than stairing at a 30k repair bill.
I often dreamed of owning a 458 ... These threads give me second thoughts. I think I'll stick to the older Ferrari.
You can find plenty of posts either way on this topic. 458 was actually a big step up in reliability and many owners report trouble-free experiences. It is a 10-15 year old model now though, and F cars in general are not going to be like Toyotas. As long as you have reasonable expectations there are a lot of benefits to ownership.
In addition to above, I would change the serpentine belt. When replacing tires, replace all TPMS monitors.
You can look in the warranty booklet that came with your car and it lists all of the recommended things to be done during scheduled maintenance. One of the recommended procedures was to pull out the ignitions coils and blow off the coils/spark plug boots. I don't think that anyone at the dealership ever did this. After the coils and spark plugs have been in an engine for 10 years, they are very difficult to remove. If I owned a 458, I would add a spark plug replacement to the list of things to be serviced on a car that was 10 years old even if it was not at the service interval for milage.
