458 458 Spider Convertible Flap issues

Hello, fellow 458 Spider owners! As our cars age, issues may arise with the convertible top. One such issue is the plastic mechanism that pulls the flap as the convertible top goes back to crack and break, rendering the top unable to complete closing.

This is a pertinent issue as Ferrari does not sell this piece. They will only sell you the entire roof mechanism.

I am just another Ferrari 458 owner such as yourselves but I worked with a team to find a solution. I had a local 3-D printing shop reverse engineer the part. After a few iterations and lots of time with engineers, we have successfully re-created this part.

Just making this post to document the issue a little better, there are others on this forum who have discussed this issue in the past but no real remedies discussed or expounding on the issue itself. Will be creating a separate post in the sell section with a link to a listing to start selling these parts so other owners can benefit. Feel free to reach out to me with questions as I feel well versed in this issue now haha

 

Here are some pictures of the issue and the fix for better documentation!
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It’s already done! I have been testing the latest one for 2 months now on my personal car and safe to say we are good to go! Still trying to figure out how to post the for sale link here but if anyone needs it, just search Ferrari 458 flap string mechanism. But rest assured if you ever need it, the work is done