driving my f430 in the rain

Go easy.
Don't show-boat unless you have a lot of space to spare!
Resist sports mode and think very carefully about even engaging sport mode.
Concentrate if pushing on and seek to anticipate everything.
Oh....

Engage windscreen wipers

 

Please post the VIN # so that when I'm shopping for my 430, I can make sure not to buy yours!!!

 

Yep, leave that sports mode alone. No sudden pedal to the metal stuff or you could end up in a ditch. Smoothly does it because ferrari's are a piece of crap in the rain.

 

I disagree. I've had my 430 as well as several other Ferraris in heavy rain, even slush many times and they are as fine as any car with good tires. Obviously, one needs to drive appropriately as one should with any vehicle on compromised surfaces.

Dave

 

hahahaha owned!

 

Your kidding right? I've put over 60000 miles in all weather conditions on my 360 and 430 including sessions at Moroso and Pocono in the wet with no issues.

Some of your guys treat your F cars like fragile cup cakes.

 

+1...they are cars drive them for god sake.

 

Exactly

The irony is that the constant washing we give them probably does much more damage than a few rain drops ever could!

I got caught in a rainstorm and left the top down until I got home..... shoot me. Since when did leather become non-waterproof!

 

I was on my way to the track, driving Scuderia on highway. Heavy, heavy rain storm caught me. Turned the manettino down a notch, wipers on and never slowed down (65-70 MPH). The car was just fine. There's nothing in the owners manual that says: Warning: Only drive your Ferrari when the temperature is between 65 and 85 degrees, sunny with light and variable winds.

 

Ah, but your manual doesn't tell you that the on board computer is secretly counting how many rain days, snow days and track days your car gets. Dealers can plug it in and subtrct 10K for each rain day, 20K for each track day and 30K for each snow day.

Dave

PS: My 430 is worth roughly minus 500K.

 

Some of us are in trouble My first true sports car was a 2007 911 turbo. I just picked it up from dealer in December 2006. Next night was out at dinner and while I was inside, it snowed about 4 inches. I brushed off the snow and started off for home, which included highways, 45 MPH roads and backroads. Umm, yea. How nice is it to be passed by a Ford Focus. I thought, hey, it's a car, just drive home. That was not fun. Won't make that mistake in a Ferrari.

 

to quote the manual " Only use sports mode in high grip conditions".

 

Regarding driving your 360/430 all the time, in every weather condition: sorry, I don't buy it. That's where the term "daily driver" came from. Something that you drive every day, to keep the experience of driving your Ferrari special, as it should be. One Fchatter on here made a great analogy - it's like eating fillet mignon every day. If you have it every day, it loses part of it being a special experience.

To all those on here who have the money for several Ferraris, so that one can be your 'daily driver', you have my congrats. Me, I had to work very hard a full year to get my Testarossa back when I was 29, and I've had to work equally long and hard to buy the 360 that I will be getting this winter. To me, the specialness of the experience of driving a Ferrari is lessened by using it all the time. For me, it will be taken care of with love and used when the weather's good, when it's a cold, clear Sunday morning and the only reason to wake up at 7am is to take the Ferrari out in the country, when my mood is great and the best way to celebrate a great day from my business is to go for a drive in the best car on Earth. But not to drive it every day, all the time, in all crappy weather conditions because "it was made for that."

I have 4 other cars that I gladly interchange for use as daily drivers. Regardless of my income level or how many Ferraris I can now or could ever in the future afford, for me driving a Ferrari is and will always be reserved as a special occasion.

 

Remember it gets wet when you wash it.

 

I drive in the rain and am not anal about keeping it clean but TBH if it rains i like the awd of my lambo better.