Hey guys, Lookin to repaint my vents in the fenders, mine are pretty faded out. Does the factory use a flat black or a gloss black. TIA, DPA360
DPA- All the black screens covering vents plus those next to the tailpipes on my 2004 are gloss black. Taz Terry Phillips
DPA360, On the 550, the engine compartment vents screens are gloss black and the screens surrounding the exhaust tips are unpainted. Barry Mine's been cut and is slightly wrinkled as Tubis were once mounted. I'm back to stock mufflers now. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Barry- It is easy to fabricate new screens or even straighten the ones you have. We made a set of four for my Novitec system, now gone. They are attached with three bolts, as you probably know. Better than paying $400 for a new set. Just noticed the 550 and 575M use the same tailpipe screens. Wonder if mine were painted or yours had the paint removed? Anybody else notice how theirs are finished? Taz Terry Phillips
Grant- They are attached with two bolts each on the inside of the fender. See Ricambi's drawing. Taz Terry Phillips Image Unavailable, Please Login
Grant- Beats me. Have never tried removing them. It always looks easy in an exploded drawing without all the other stuff. It looks like the easiest way to reach them is to remove the rear lower front wheelhouse, which is attached with 7 bolts, according to my 575M WSM. You do, of course, have to remove the wheel to do this. The pieces you need to remove are numbers 28 and 29. Another drawing courtesy of Ricambi below. Taz Terry Phillips Image Unavailable, Please Login
Terry, Mine might have been black at one time, but the car has about 63,000 miles on it and I'm sure heat has taken its toll. They're probably dirty too. I'm not ready to replace the screens yet. Who knows? I might put the Tubis back on. Are these screen painted black or are they anodized? Barry
They appear to be painted as I can see some bare metal in mine, be kinda hard to wear off anodizing there.
Barry - Mine are painted. Dave says his are painted, too. 63,000 miles is great. Car looks beautiful, too. Hope I end up with that many on mine. Taz Terry Phillips
Then the paint on mine has degraded to the point where the screens look gray. The Tubi tips have left their mark too. Some paint on the upper aspect of the valance above the tips has burned away too leaving the undercoating visible. I can see why the SA tips are double-walled. Barry
Thanks, Terry. It has its imperfections, but that's OK. It still looks nice at concours or at the track. Barry Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Terry and Dave, I took a close look at my valance exhaust screens last night. They're not dirty and show no signs of ever having been painted. A picture in the Automobilia Ferrari 550 Maranello shows a 550 with similarly unpainted screens. So perhaps these screens varied in appearance depending on model year. Mine is S/N 115816 May, 1999. Barry Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Barry- Could be. Here is a photo of the pre-production 575M from the sales brochure and 2004 press kit. They appear black here since they are in the sun. Almost too low res here to see. Easier with the high res version and the sales brochure. There are two other photos of the rear in the sales brochure where they really look black. Guess we could always ask Daniel what color the spares are. Would not prove anything, but another data point. Taz Terry Phillips Image Unavailable, Please Login
Terry, I just returned from Classic Coach (Elizabeth, NJ - Authorized Ferrari Repair Facility) where I asked this question. They've known my car since new and did the cutting of these original screens to accomodate the Tubis. They said they've seen some early Euro 550s with unpainted screens. Perhaps the Factory ran out of black screens that day and mounted these. Who knows? Anyway, I'll be sure to look at other 550s now that they're coming out of hibernation. Barry
Barry- With Ferrari, who knows is exactly correct. No paint that day equals unpainted screens? Early screens unpainted? Corrosion showing means paint them? Probably no way to know for sure. Especially since the part number for all the Maranellos is the same. Mine look pretty painted, and yours look pretty unpainted. Close enough. If anybody out there has a 575M with unpainted screens, let us know. Then we will be thoroughly, rather than mostly, confused. Taz Terry Phillips
Right, Terry. Maybe they just ran out of black paint that day. Anyway, here's a detail of one of my screens taken on track day last October. You can see where the screen was cut to accomodate the larger Tubi exhaust tips. Again, the car has stock mufflers mounted now. Another interesting thing to note here is how the outboard exhaust tip shows some gold hue. Not so with the flapped inboard tip. Barry Edit: Added detail of the right exhaust screen. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Barry- The original 575M exhaust on my car with ~!5K miles had the outer pipes silver-gold and the inner pipes bright stainless because of the exhaust bypass valves. The SA HGTC exhaust on mine now has the Snaps-looking tailpipes with an outer shell and I do not think they will discolor as easily. Will find out in another 10K or so miles. Taz Terry Phillips
Terry, When I bought my 550, Classic Coach asked if I wanted them to polish the toned outboard tips when they prepped it for delivery. I told them to leave them the way they were. By the way, I asked them about the size of the HGTC mufflers in comparison with the SA muffler bodies. With all the cars that come their way, they've yet to see a 575M HGTC. You'll probably not see any toning of your double-walled tips. The air insulation/intercooling between the inner and outer walls is very effective. Barry
The screens by the mufflers in my case are painted flat black and a small piece is missing ( not sure why) showing a silver color: I suspect steel mesh with flat black paint? I suspect the non-valved tip gets most of the exhaust and heats more / faster hence the faster oxidadtion / discoloration. Nothing a little metal polish ( I use Mothers') and a trick of my own cant fix: 1) Get old long sleeve cotton shirt. 2) Cut 2 inch sections of the sleeves perpendicular to the slevees ( i.e. you get 2 inch wide rings) 3) Put polish paste / cream on tips 4) Run 2 inch sleeve ring over muffler tip and other side over power ball (which you previously mounted on a power drill) so that both the tip and the power ball are inside (thing of a tank / snow-mobile's tracks and the two large wheel on each side). 5) Run the drill ( slowly at first) and get that polishing action evenly around the tip. 6) Add more paste / cream and use a new ring. 7) Let dry / hand polish, and repeat as necessary for more / stubborn / older discoloration / oxidation. And yes, as 308 GTB mentioned, one of the pluses of having double-walled tips is that the air insulation/intercooling between the inner and outer walls is very effective at preventing this ( I had borlas on a very-tweaked Eclipse GSX Turbo (one of the first ever sold in the States... am I dating myself here?) and they held up very well ). Cheers
Claudio, I like the toning on the outboard tips. As I mentioned, Classic Coach offered to polish the tips when I bought the car. I told them to leave them alone. I think they look nice that way. It shows me that the flaps are working. Some American Muscle Car owners actually feel that toning or blueing of the exhausts is a desired effect. Barry
