430 F430 Shocks rebuilt and shortened (lowered)

I was referring to 360 rims at 19" as an improvement, John.

Sorry about not clarifying that aspect

I used the AFCO 23400 springs which a re hard to find now. Perfect for the 360/430 front ends.

They are about 12 mm shorter than the OEM so ride height has to be adjusted

They offer about 15% more pressure which is perfect

AFCO offers a similar spring but it is chrome plated rather than yellow

 

all 360's came from factory with 18" tires and huge sidewalls.

terrible for suspension control

19" rims make a world of difference especially with Michelins

 

Performance Shock, Inc recently stopped servicing ZF Sachs shocks. According to the service manager I talked with today, ZF Sachs retracted service center certificates from their partners due to supply chain and delivery issues. I have reached out to Leo at Madeno to determine if he is also affected by this situation.

If anyone has had a recent rebuild experience with Madeno, please let us know.

 

Very much depends on the individual in question. I wouldn't trust some people to change a light bulb! On the other hand with appropriate money invested, not to mention time, research, training, experience and data points pretty much anything is possible. Just that all of this comes at an "opportunity cost"...

Q. Do you really want or need to become an expert on the finer points of damping technologies? Certainly its not something everyone should or could do but yes with appropriate modelling software these days you can crunch through a lot of simulation data (that wasn't even available 20 years ago) and even make improvements to handling too but that's a whole different story and huge amounts of data logging and track testing is essential to verify your modelling.

When a technology is sufficiently complex to outsiders its indistinguishable to black magic, this is one of those area's. Very detailed math involved to really understand how this all comes together... certainly not for a man in his shed. Personally I wouldn't hesitate to let the pro's rebuild such an important element of my vehicle. I would however come to them with loaded with data points of my own including static weight loading over each axle and various data logs from track driving. For instance did you know there are multiple different rated versions of the springs from Ferrari too? They fit different spring rates based on the options weight the owner spec'd their car to. To do it scientifically and to refined fast track spec you'd really need to match it to many different characteristics.

 

Leo did get back with me with further details. I agree he seems entirely unaffected by any recent decisions by ZF Sachs.

Thanks for telling your story about your damper rebuild. I consider Madeno to be our best choice for 430 damper refreshing. Leo's solution is superior to any aftermarket option I am aware of.

 

just asked my local guy.
As long as I can provide the parts, rebuilding each shock takes literally less than 20 min and I'll be charged US$100 for each shock.
so im going to start shooting emails to the Netherland company now.

 

so when you got your rebuilt shock, does it "rebound" after you press it down?

 

cool. It gets me thinking. I showed the dyno machine to my local guy.
He says that, to rebuild the shock, we probably only need the seal part. He doesn't see the need for that dyno machine.
I am inclined to think that the dyno is used to verify the resistance level for a better quality work compared to my local and swift "disseamble , swap , assemble" job.
thoughts?

 

I wanted to thank @colorfull for his post on Madeno Racing and Leo in Netherlands.

Long story short, I have had my 2007 F430 since 2019 and after getting the F1 converted to manual using one of the last OEM (supposedly the last one ) at EAG I decided to go all in on the car because I loved the way it felt, so analog and what a wild rev-happy FPC engine.

After replacing the steering rack which had some play (thank you Eurospares for excellent pricing, was 50% more new than rebuild) I decided to change all the bushings and flamblocks on the suspension because car felt loose and would give an occasional clunk. I also swapped the stock Pirellis for PS4S hoping to further improve steering feel and response. Despite all this, car just didn't feel right over bumps and I decided the last component that hadn't been replaced was the shocks. I was about to purchase new ones then ran into this post and reached out to Leo at Madeno Racing to inquire about refurbishing my shocks.

That was the single best decision I have made with the car.

Leo was super responsive and helpful and shipped off the shocks/coils and Leo did a diagnostic which showed they were not completely worn but proceeded with a complete rebuild along with replacement of the stock rusted coils with same lengths stock but 10% stiffer KW springs. The process took a few weeks during which Leo send updates and finally the final product returned and my trusty indy put it all back together and what can I say... It's been transformed and feels like a brand new car. The damping is perfect, the shock are responsive to the mannetino settings and the car handles like a dream, no more strange suspension noises and the ride and response to transients and bumps is perfect.

Couldn't be happier and A+++ to Madeno Racing and Leo for getting back from the brink of selling my car and getting in back to like new condition.

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Must....resist....join group of better suspension

How many miles were on your stock shocks prior to the rebuild?

 

It had 27.5k miles and shocks were not shot it's just car didn't feel like new a little off over bumps and my hunch was correct...

just do it, it's money well spent

 

Incredible option!

 

I might go down this path this winter when I'm dong my conversion since the car will be down. Might be worth seeing if they'll do a discount for multiple units and we can save on shipping since we're basically in the same location. If you can wait that is

 

I might be interested in joining you on this -- but would prefer to find a used set to send out so the car isn't stuck completely disabled for a few weeks. Will take a look through eBay for some used ones.

 

I have 4 complete oem shocks if anyone is interested. Came off a ‘09 430.

 

pm sent

 

Leo and Judith at Madeno are top notch !
Enjoying my F430 and its handling thanks to Leo and his team's meticulous work