355 Berlinetta cracks

I dont know Chris.

My car had a major done every 3 years from new. (I have complete service history from new) Car had last major in September 2004. I bought car August 2005 with no cracks on buttress. Over a year of my ownership, driving the car hard a lot, cracks appear LH buttress. So nearly 2.5 years after the major, the cracks appear. That tells me the engine out major has NOTHING to do with cracking the paint on the rear buttress. These cars flex, which is what causes this. The guy from who I bought the car from even told me they are suspectable to cracking from hard use and when it does happen, it needs to be spot welded to beef the area up to stop it happening again. This guy was the second owner of the car since the late 90's , was 55yrs old and drove the car like Miss Daisy. (He actually owned 4 348's, among other Ferraris)

Another reason why I know these cars flex is........the same side the cracks have appeared, my engine cover has been flexing/twisting and hitting the body chipping the paint off there. I have a feeling that this is only happening on that side, is because the little street track I normally power hard through has mainly hard RH turns. The car always flexes that way, causing the paint to crack and engine cover to twist and chip my paint.
I went outside and took some more pics. I am not too concerned, as I will get it fixed one day soon. My friend has been too busy to do it for me.
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I just went to the garage and checked my rear bonnet and there are no marks of any kind in the areas your car has paint chips.
The Ferrari dealer who has serviced my car is adamant about the cause of the paint failure at that panel and my paint did indeed crack after the first service in the same areas that your paint has failed.
My car has been most aggresively tracked as well and the paint cracking has not returned.
Now I do however have the 355 coupe which is the stiffest chassis of the bunch......the targa models I have driven could be made to twist going into a steep incline driveway (could hear the hatch shifting) which could certainly account for more paint cracks in that model. As well I recall reading that the 355 has a stiffer chassis than the 348 and this may contribute to the particular paint failure in your car.
In any case, I agree that the cure is to re tig (which reinforces) the weld, spot paint and its fixed for good.

 

When I originally bought my 355B at a year old, there were no signs of C pillar cracking. A year later and after no engine-out work, cracking became visible. At 3 years old, I had it repaired and understand from the current owner that it needs to be re-done every 2-3 years :-(

 

Do you remember what the fix ran you with paint and all?

 

The cost was added to the major service which cost around $7,400. ......so the repair was less than a thousand dollars.

 

RE: 348's, I kind of still trying to determine from this thread if TBs have as much of a cracking problem as TSs. Anybody seen enough of this problem on both to say for sure? Thanks.

 

Interesting question. TSs might have a sort of 'flex expansion joint' in the roof seams, whereas the TBs might be transmitting all that force to the C-pillars. Or it might not matter.

I'll pay more attention the TS/TB distinction from now on.

 

This problem is not all it's cracked up to be Sorry, couldn't resist.

I have a paint crack on my passenger side c-pillar (GTB). At first it bothered me, now I don't even notice it. I may fix it in a year or two...

 

100% correct mate!

TS are not as prone to it, because the open roof 'absorbs' the flex so to speak.
TB not as lucky. Ferraris flex and the TB/GTB crack the paint around the rear buttress.

+1.

Mine has been that way for over a year now. Couldnt be bothered with it just yet.

 

The 355 has cracks in other places, not just the buttress. Other Ferraris have cracks as well. Can anyone spot the cracks in these 2 cars?
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+1000..... if it happens, fix it.......sounds like a normal maintenance thing IMO....

.........now those pics are a case where crack 'does not' kill......

 

So this problem occurs on the spiders too?

 

Wow. 10 years old almost to the day. Cool.

The spiders do not have that buttress, so, no.

 

Obviously he's referring to butt cracks, not buttress cracks.

 

Oh. I missed that...

hahahahahahahaha

 

It’s a choice
I passed on a 355B because of the buttress cracks, and a couple other reasons.
So buy a spider and you can toss $1000s at the convertible top, to get it working properly .......like I did.
Also spiders are worth less than a B car, so in the long run ........
Cosmetic stuff is just as speedy as the mechanical stuff.

 

I followed the same thought process as you, and ended up with a spider. Its definitely a crap shoot. Other than topping up the fluid and replacing the elastic straps, I was lucky to never have issues with the top during 10 years of ownership with my F355 Spider. I had plenty of the usual stuff to throw money at though...crumbling catalysts, failed exhaust manifolds, sticky interiors buttons and switches, failed throw out bearing that leaked out all the clutch hydraulic fluid, leaking shocks, failed catalyst ecus, failed shock actuators...the list goes on...but all that stuff comes with 355 ownership.

I think in retrospect, I would have preferred the F355B and deal with the buttress cracks, get it fixed if it happened, and move on. (spot welding from underneath where the fender meets the C pillar, then repaint the car). I have to admit that at over half the F355Bs I drove or inspected had the cracks to some degree...that kinda scared me off.

 

Agree, thinking back the B car I looked at in the Seattle area was a 95, and yellow in color.
It had cracks all the way down on both sides.
It also had the carbon fiber seats (so now I am crying in my soup)........Waaaaaaaa
I am convinced driving it a lot, and racking up big miles (coming up on 43,000) keeps stuff from wearing out (?) and breaking
And being single I can lie to everybody about how much I spend on it.

 

I have a 99 no cracks so maybe only the early cars were bad. I do know early cars needed reinforcing at shock towers

 

It is entirely possible Ferrari figured out the problem and added additional welds to the fenders where they meet the C-pillar and body. Only a back to back comparison would tell for sure.

 

The cracks are very thin, hairline. Often very hard to see unless you go looking for them. The bigger issue is water penetration that will cause problems with the paint.