any pics of a lowered 348 or 355 out there?

Just got my 348 challenge yesterday!!!! Drove it 80 Miles on the street, full race set up with track exhaust. Yes it is very very low, and mean. I will post pictures soon.

 

Go to Cavallino motors out of miami, look at sold cars, there is one there. I was interested in that car, but it feel off a flat bed truck. Also, you can see the same car if you go to Southern California under regions, type in 348 under search, or go to the post from around oct, november to jan, feb this year and look for the Crystle Cove pics.

 

Here's one that I think is lowered. Looks mean.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I coud be wrong but it looks stock to me.

 

Could be Ryan; I just thought the rear looked lower than usual. But again, I may be wrong.

 

Check with Byron

I think he is under Bmyth. You can find him under the So. Cal section.

 

Lowered using iding (eibach) springs - stock shocks.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

JDAVID: I too have a 348C race car that I occasionally drive on the street (mostly to and from the track)- see profile photo. Do post photos of yours.

 

Here is my 348 Challenge... it is lowered with the challenge suspension...

 

Very nice... are those F50 wheels?

 

I like the height with the Eibachs on the red one. Nice job. How's the ride quality?

What does the Challenge suspension lower to? Can anyone comment on the ride quality comparison vs stock? TIA.

 

Do you guys not have a problem with hitting the wheel arch mine was lowered 25 mm and it hit when cornering hard I have race springs fitted.

348 TS

Andy.

 

I think there's a young Ferrari owner on f-chat that just got a F355 not too long ago and lowered his car. He posted a picture before I think.

 

don't appear to be. F50 wheels are quite different. i've attached a pic of them so you can compare.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I'm not sure if the Ferrari tuner Iding is still around. Originally from Japan, then when Japanese market tanked, he moved operations to Germany 96/97 and then European market tanked. He did some really trick stuff to the 355. Lightweight engine parts, etc... He also tuned an E36 M3 as well. Dazz Motorsports was the importer for Iding for a couple of years.

 

Why?

Isn't the way the factory sets these cars up good enough?
If you want a boulevard cruiser, get a Honda.

 

I don't know. But we can ask the thousands of people that do.

 

Uhhhhh enzo4re,

Noooooo. The way the factory set the car up sucks. The cars handle way better when they are lower. It drops the center of gravity. The other problem the early 348's had from the "factory" was a high speed stability problem. But that was due to the rear wheel offset more that the height. Lowering the ride height of the cars helps with this problem. Alot of these kids on the street lower their cars because it look "cool", yet don't even have the car realigned after it is dropped. Yes the cars look more agressive lowered. But the real reason you drop a car is to improve the handling, especially with a 348. The looks are secondary.

 

Thanks for the compliments!

The ride quality was perfectly fine - worked well as a daily driver and as a weekend track car! I'm not sure how much it lowers it to, but my front lip was 3.5" off the ground... compare that to the stock 6.5 inches. But the car still sits only about 4 in. off the ground for ground clearance. The suspension was significantly tighter (perhaps dampening) than the stock suspension.

Also, ANDY - there was no rubbing... only scraping of my fiberglass bumpers against the asphault!

Byron

 

All this lowering depends really on your wheel tire combo. Here is a littel comparison. As an example Byron and I have cars set up pretty closely. But Byron's 348C wheels are not ofset as wide as the 355C wheels on my car. He ran 35 profile tires in the rear I think 255's and 225 or 235 in the front. So with the inset offset he is able to sink the tires within the fenders and get really low. I think his car was average 95mm from the frame to the ground. I OTOH run the wider offset 355C wheels and 245 fronts and 305 660 18 rears so I can almost hit the rear tires to Fenders. You can't stick your pinky between my tire and fender and I am average 118mm off the ground. I can get lower in the front but then I upset the chassis rake. Interestingly the 348's are set up well for lowering. There seems to be no bumpsteer with these cars at any height. So lower away and get a 4 wheel alignment. Often times you have to do the compromise that Byron and I have taken narrower tires for more lowering vs wider tires and a higher chassis. On the track we are very even. Byron says I'm faster than he is on the track if I can get ahead of him but I can't seem to get past him so I don't really think so. The cars are basically the same so the differences must be driver and suspension. I'm not sure how hard Byron is pushing on the track. I push maybe 80% another secret to my car's long life and minimal maintenance issues running as a track car. Also, I'm a chicken so I take no chances. Our straight away acceleration seems dead even dispite the large differences in tire diameters but I am a bit lighter. We ran similar exhausts. He had a challenge exahust and hollow cats. I ran a copy of B's challenge exhaust from cannibalized Ferrari exhaust parts and one hollow cat one filled cat. That's another story. I do not street my car but the problem with lowered 348's is that they scrape everything. I run really stiff springs and revalved shocks for racing from Rob Shermerhorn on this board and the ride is very streetable. In fact if my car would handle better with even stiffer stuff the chassis would have a long way to go before it would feel like a late 80's c4 corvette...no teeth rattling here.

 

Iforgot one think if you stiffen up your springs you can lower the cr more because stiff springs are harder to bottom. It you run stock soft springs and your car bottoms in turn you will upset your handling which is worse than beeing too high.