458 - 2010 v 2012

Be aware that most '10s came with Pilot Sports. They switched to Pilot Super Sports soon afterward.

 

I admit to not understanding the suspension geometry of the 458. However, I have been able to "adjust" other cars for wet driving/racing, i.e. loosening or unhitching the sway bar and lowering tire pressure, etc. Is there nothing to be done on the 458? Best

 

I hope you resolve this so you are comfortable with your car. Again, having driven both specs, and several different cars across years, you are describing a much, much bigger gap than I could detect on the different model year chassis based on my experiences.

I believe you mentioned that you had your new car lowered; I would confirm how that was done, as the symptoms you describe have a very high correlation to a very high spring rate. Am assuming you've had your dealer confirm all the ECU's are functioning properly, and they have looked and confirmed in detail (vs. just looking for alarms and fault codes). Last, you did mention you had a race shop align the car; could be that they gave you a very aggressive setup that, coupled with your driving style, exacerbates the issue.

Just some final thoughts....hope you figure it out. I find the 2012 damn near the best street car I've driven, on street or track. It's far from being a race car, though it's definitely close to that mark right out of the factory.

 

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I must have come across as ******. I'm probably just just that but you guys know your onions and I want an opinion. Will investigate further and come back to you with findings. Pics first.

 

Question: Wouldn't turning off cst put the car in a dry setup? It would give you the most aggressive settings on the e-diff as well as the firmest shock settings. I imagine it probably activates a more aggressive throttle mapping strategy as well.

It seems that what you would want is the ability to turn off the driver aids and still retain a more appropriate wet set up. Not sure that Ferrari is going to allow this on a car sold to the general public, too much variation in driver ability and training.

I suspect the Ferrari engineers would tell us that they optimized the cst off setting for dry and don't really intend for this car to be driven in the wet at those settings... Not making any judgment here, but it would make sense that Ferrari does not really want this car driven in the wet without driver aides...

Cheers,

Ron

 

the 360 and 430 ferraris have flash card technology as this gentleman suggestes. A dealer can modem to the ferrari factory in Italy and down load different programs.

I assume the 458 is the same. But flash card technology is old and most if not all cars use chips now. If the 458 is that way yhe owner needs a new chip.

What man builds can be changed.

Lee

 

Yes the 12 is quieter. I seems slower. When shifting in race mode my head snaps more in the 12 than the 10. I liked the invisible shifts feels in the 10 n the track. Less car disturbance.

 

Seems like the bloke you are referring to is a talent (or has a huge budget), even though he does not understand the technicalities of the sport.

 

As a fellow-hobby-racing-driver i strongly suggest you try some different springs. As it seems impossible to re-program the dampers back to old spec. Schumacher invented for the Scud the setting where everything was stiff and sharp except for the dampers. That seeming not possible right now i point you towards the springs, probably resulting in more or less the same effect.

 

He is indeed talented. You don't need to be a chassis engineer to be a good driver. It does help to have an understanding though. Personally it is something I really work at, to help me catch the really fast guys!

Lowering the car doesn't increase the spring rate. For the record. I've got the set up sheet and its very mild indeed, could be described as fast road set up. Even that is perhaps not accurate. I got the team to check the car over basically and make sure it was pointing straight. The purpose of that wasn't to make the car more aggressive.

You are indeed right though, the more you dial out the aids the more agressive the car becomes in terms of settings. I am led to believe. You are also probably right in saying Ferrari don't expect their customers to drive the car in the wet with the aids off. Personally I think that is a bad approach from them. A good road car to me should be set up for a balance of performance in all road conditions. Sadly, cars are getting to complicated for their own good.

I will look at changing the tyres. If that doesn't help then I guess I'll have to just get used to it. The other more extreme option is to buy another 2010 car, which is a possibility but I am reluctant to do that. For financial and personal spec reasons.

 

Just hold onto the car and trade it in for the 458 Monte Carlo.

 

You mean the lightweight??

 

Yes. Monte Carlo name is just a name speculation at this point btw.