355 wheel specs

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8361

Modern offsets.

Note all non single lug ferraris have a 5x108 BP

 

Hi John,

I know someone who played a bit with the wheel spacer, ... on his F355 GTS. After some experience, he came back to the stock setup since he found the balance not satisfying. If you need further explanations from him, just contact "cinquevalvole". He is from Germany.

From what I know/read of the forum, the F355 balance (suspension, tyre width, ...) is very complex. It seams that any (even) small change to the setup seams not improving the fealing.

Regards,
Christophe.

 

I know two people who kept the rims stock and increased the tire size to fill the wells rather than spacers -

One did 225X40 and 265X40
The other did 275X40 and 295X35

Both look good and the speedo does not have to be recalibrated

 

I have been using spacers on the front and back of my 355 to bring the wheels outwards to form a better stance. I also use 225 front and 295 rear(p rossos). I have never had problems. Even with no spacers the 295s are still to into the wheel arch and of course the fronts are as well, which dont look right IMO.

 

15mm rear, 20mm front. The car feels great to me, and i do drive hard, i dont do track.

 

John,

To increase the cornering, I went for track type tires :

Pirelli P-Zero Corsa (225 x 40 x 18 in front and 265 x 35 x 18 on the rear)

These tires are mainly for dry track days. When they are tolerated on the open roads. I can tell you it's dramatically improving the grip!

If - like me - you are not planning to us the car under rainy nor cold conditions, go for these tires. You will enjoy their excellent grip.

Bye,
Christophe.

 

John - they don't usually visit this site...more the south beach cruiser types - lol.

Charlie - can you post a pix of your car? Would like to see what 20's on front look like.

Thanks
Frank

 

I almost bought some 11mm wheel spacers. I returned them because the diameter is too small to capture the rubber seal on the wheel. That rubber seal on the factory 355 wheels is there specifically to "seal" the bare magnesium on the mating interface from the outside elements.

Magnesium corrodes very easily and can weaken with enough corrosion. So if that spacer does not meet up with it, you are exposing the "bare" magnesium to moisture, detergents, brake dust and who knows what other bad stuff.

Needless to say I will be making my own spacers. I will size them to take advantage of the design purpose of that rubber seal.

 

Goth when i changed my old spacers to my current 11mm ones, i used the hill spacers and the rubber gaskit fits ok.

 

I belive you are getting confused with "Magnesium" and "Magnesium alloy"

This is a very interesting site that goes into detial on Magnesium Alloys:

http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=355


It is often said that Magnesium alloy wheels have low corrosion resistance - this is not quite so provided they have been manufactured correctly.

AFAIK the 355 & 550 were the only cars fitted with this rubber seal and yet the likes of the 512TR, 360, 430 etc have Mag alloy wheels and no rubber seal.

Even though Ferrari have done away with any seal on the latter cars with Mag Alloy wheels ,we could possibly look at doing something as a special kit for the 355 for people who want to retain the sealing of the ring.

Paul

 

Paul
The 360, 512tr & 430 wheels are "aluminum", and have a higher corrosion threshhold. Thereby eliminating the need for the rubber seal. The "355" wheels are magnesium or a magnesium alloy variant and is more susceptible to corrsion. I have seen some "challenge wheels" (magnesium) with high levels of corrosion because they "don't" have the seal by design. Because these are "racing wheels" they did not see the need for "long term" use and the added weight.

 

2 threads going at the same time !!

Rather than duplicating:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114440

 

Interesting

So the 430 wheel is aluminum... you're sure?

And the 355 rear wheel has an offset of 78 and another 12mm roughly for the rubber seal or is the seal calculated in the offset?

 

Good idea!

My info as I understood it, is from a combination of a few friends who together have restored/worked on a couple of hundred f-cars.

One of my friends that I spoke of now mostly deals in wheels for high end cars. He can make any wheel design to order. Sorry for the plug: www.eurospeedz.com

I will verify my understanding of the different wheel materials with him as I will be seeing him this week.

 

What about 308 wheels - Are they Magnesium Alloy?

 

Yes

 

I have a suspicion that 308 wheels are still terchnically an Aluminum alloy (if it's more than 50% Aluminum) but with a lot of Magnesium (like 30%) -- which is rightly "special" compared to a conventional Aluminum alloy wheel. The only F spec I've every seen calls them a "Light Alloy" material without explaining that term.

(Like debunking the 1200 Kg Boxer) we need an actual weight and volume measurement when someone has a bare 308 wheel handy

 

Can you take a pic of how that spacer fits on your 348 killer??