575M Shopping - Independent Inspection

There is a good pdf attachment in a post by John Cribb somewhere here on a thread…. @Cribbj
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/attachments/550-maranello-checkover-pdf.2411122/

i had only the link to the pdf download on my phone

plus since you showed yours….I’ll show mine from a few weekends ago…..#love it

P.s. that was in the South Bay north of Boulder creek on Hwy 9

 

Hello everyone,
I will be watching this thread closely because I am considering a 550 or 575.
I'm a novice, never owned a Ferrari, always wanted one. I have fewer years in front than behind.
My life stage, maturity and mechanical aptitude is fueling this. I'm reading all I can from the community.
I will have one, love it, work on it, drive it respectfully and pass it on when I go.
Don

 

Compression test - 355 thing
Headers and cats - 355 thing
Cat temp ECUs - do fail, but it's quite obvious as the car will be in limp mode
Common mods - exhaust and suspension (usually suspension ECU swaps) as the 575 is a bit softer in sound and feel than people expect

 

575 are pretty robust

i can;t recall any systematic non cosmetic issues

 

As a long term 575 owner, 17 years/105,000 miles, it's a pretty reliable car but even minor issues are $$$$. The only recurring problem has been issues with the cam belt system. I've had four (five?) belt services and at three there have been issues with worn bearings. The first was at 10k miles still under warranty. Both fuel pumps replaced at 100k miles.

 

I just dropped of my 550 for service with Carl at Blackhorse. He is super knowledgeable, honest, very reasonable! Super hard to find here in LA. Good luck

 

Last year when I was on the hunt there was a black 575 west of chicago a few hours and I had considered paying the fee to have an independent from chicago go do the PPI for me. Depending on how remote the one is you are looking at you could always go that route and send someone to the car.

 

Hi Chan, I remember your lovely F355 and the memorable driving video you had of it. We met once at a mutual friend garage when I was considering F355 to buy. After much research I decided to buy 550 partly because it is so much more robust than the F355 and more in line with my driving preference. I wanted a V12 up front with stick shift in my "affordable" range. That limited my search to 456 or 550 models. The 575 addressed a few of the 550 weak points such as engine mounts and primary coolant hoses. Both are easily upgradable in the 550. The HE timing belt tensioners should address the weak OE tensioner issue.

 

"These are the tensioner bearings, right?"
****
The 10k mile failure was the right cam drive "sprocket" bearing the other two were tensioner, at 70k miles several other components needed to be replaced; can't remember exact details. This is obviously a sample of one but something to think about since a complete failure in this system would be catastrophic.

 

I wish I could help with personal experience but almost nothing has gone wrong with my 575 in the six and a half years I have owned it. (yet!)

The only issues I have had, which seem pretty universal, are minor, if a tad irritating:

stickies - like roaches, always with us

leather trim around the tailgate loose and needing fixing

bonnet (hood) strut weak in cold weather

A couple of the 575s I looked at had corrosion on the inside front edge of the bonnet/hood, and the dash leather shrinkage and waviness, as well as leather trim issues elsewhere, which can add up.

All in all one of the most reliable cars I have owned. So far.

 

Mine still has the original water pump at 27,000 miles and 18 years. Unless leaking......

But she has had the coolant changed every two years for 14 years, at least.