Best place to service 97 F355 Spider in Seattle area

Ferrari of seattle or alfa of tacoma (they service all italian marques and have been around 30+ years-great reputation)

 

I would totally recommend Ferrari of Seattle. The guys there (Roberto, Pasquale and Tino) are great! You can reach them at 206-329-7070 or at www.ferrariofseattle.com

Plus they do a lot of activities throughout the year for owners in the area.

I wouldn't hurt to check them out.

 

Those are some very reputable shops, and while I know it is a bit out of the way, don't forget Ron Tonkin.

They really stand by their work, please read this post:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111515

 

My advice... Don't take it anywhere yet!!! Unless it's in need of something to keep it safe or from damage enjoy the heck out of it until the weather changes... Having mine in the shop that last time I did for about a week with all the good weather killed me!!! Wait until the rain settles in.. Not that I won't drive it in the rain, but it will be easier to be without it for a few days...

 

You might want to check out Gerber Motorsports near Ballard. They have a mechanic that works on "F" cars, I believed he used to also work at the Seattle Ferrari shop. They are a performance auto repair shop I have had good results with on my GT3.

Gerber Motorsport
4021 22nd Ave W.
Seattle WA 98199

Ph 206-352-6911

 

My first choice would be Ferrari of Seattle, especially if you are dealing with a "check engine light" issue or anything complicated. Second choice would be Tonkin from a purely logistics stand point. Both dealers do good work and want to please and give you an estimate before the work is begun. Anybody can change the oil in one of these things as I do it routenely myself. I would advise you have that done right away if you don't know if its been done recently or has more than 2500 miles on it. Use a top grade synthetic purchased from a local auto parts store - I use Valvoline 5W-40 Full Synthetic as its properties match the Shell Helux and costs 1/4 what the dealers charge.

 

While I also change my own oil, I've been watching the modern 12 cyl threads on FerrariChat and notice there have been problems when changing the oil filter by home mechanics. Apparently the filter must be torqued down to specs.

 

I don't know about the 12 cyl cars, but the Oil filter used on F355 has a nice soft large diameter "o" ring. The sealing force is set by the ring itself and typical hand tightening is sufficient so it doesn't vibrate off. The filter sits upside down on the threads so it is empty when you remove it.

If there is any trick to F355 oil change its following the instructions in the owners manual to measure your oil level with the engine at 150 degrees oil temp after just shutting off the engine. The quantity on my car is always 8.5 quarts with the filter change. You need to drain the sump on the engine and the oil tank.

As for brakes - Dave Handa is the expert - I put the R4S pads on my car myself that he recommended - its easier than changing an American car because you don't remove the caliper to do it. You squeeze the pistons to relieve the set pressure and flip the retainer springs up and slide out the old pads and put in the new ones. If you want to get exotic you can surface the rotors with crocus cloth so the new pads bite better and develop their own set.

If you have anything other than a pad wear problem then you need to take it to the dealer.