Ferrari 458 Italia Break-In

Can't say 'yes' or 'no' at the moment because the car has not arrived but I will be following the break in period

 

Not really.

 

Yes.

Friends of mine being race mechanics told me to do so. The machine and especially the GEARBOX should last longer. Stick to always pulling through ALL gears up to 5,000 rpms and avoid going downhill in low gears and uphill in high gears.

Use it, but don't abuse it.

Enjoy !
Ulli

 

No..
Cheated quite a few times..

 

no

 

Yes.

 

It would be hard to not to go above 5k..

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No

 

nope - - you have a warranty

 

I personally believe the "break in period" is there not because of the car but because they are trying to put a limit on the "enthusiastic driving" of owners for a while until they get used to the car (ie: Don't put your foot to the floor until you have a few hundred miles under it).


Ah, lawyers.......

 

You do.... and they have black boxes.

 

I followed the break in, but a few times I went past 5k. It was hard to do. I am now at 800 miles and good to go. Love 9k rpm song she makes!! Beautiful

 

When most owners put under 2000 miles a year on there Ferrari and keep it two to three years 600 miles of put putting around is a lot to ask. Like 20 % of the miles I'll put on the car until my next one arrives. This is my eighth Ferrari and I've never had a warranty issue from giving the car too many revs but to each his own.

 

Oddly enough my dealer when asked about the break in told me that the car was delivered new and broken in. The whole Ferrari driver at the factory story. I know it's been discussed here a couple times whether true or not, but that's just what I was told.

 

Yes. But it was easy for me - I drove 800 miles on the first day down to Italy. At the Italian border the first 1000kms were done and hell could be unleashed!

It was a good way to get acquainted with the various onboard systems too.

FWIW - I don't believe blatting the engine from the first mile will do any damage. If I had been driving only short stints in the first couple of weeks, I would certainly have broken the rule.


Onno

 

Just a couple opinions, perhaps informed (or misinformed) over years of cars, engine rebuilds and race cars

1) generally speaking, all mechanical devices (engines, gearboxes, diffs, brakes (bedding), sticker tires) require some initial running in to seat things, establish working tolerances, et al. Generally, the more precise and tighter tolerance, the greater the need. Putting an engine into maximum stress prior to that can create issues; whether break in is 10 miles or 1500 is a varied and often debatable point. Full heat and load cycles are likely better measures than miles. (refer to the threads about brakes that have had improper bedding, can make a huge difference on certain brake systems)

2) it's likely conservative, and advisable, for any truly new machine to go through some break in; it could be part of normal operation, or a specific schedule (eg. 2 stroke kart engines require a stepped, multiple heat cycle break in). This can also be as much for the machine as the operator.

3) What I do as a practice is make sure everything is warmed up before getting "on it"....even if the engine has idled and is warm, the gearbox, shocks, diff...are cold. They warm only through use.....so I'm always careful about warm up.

 

+1 - it does not hurt and may help to break in and agree regards warm up always. Best

 

Lawyers....

 

Forgive me but I'm interested to know how lawyers would stipulate the break-in period? Excuse my naivety.

 

As I've mentioned in a much earlier post...when I did the Ferrari Experience this past spring we used brand new 458's (less than 200 miles on them) and knocked the snot out of them for 2 days touching the redline coming off virtually every corner. As far as I know those cars end up back at a dealer as "slightly used" with a Ferrari warranty on them. I'm probably never going to use my 458 that hard in its lifetime so sneaking in a few runs up past 8000 rpm after a couple hundred miles seems like nothing to me.

 

I'm guessing those cars that have been abused early on will show problems later - but beyond the warranty period- or at least have a much likelier chance of it?

It's interesting, I'm presently doing a masters in child health and determining if you are going to have hypertension or diabetes or an allergic disease/condition in the future (sometimes 40-50 years later) can be determined alone by eating habits in the first 6 months of life...

Similarly I do think an engine when it's starting out life - should be nurtured a bit.

Having said that - I do also believe and have read a couple of posts on here and I think in magazines saying that these modern engines have had quite a decent run in period before leaving the factor and in fact before marrying with the body at the factory. A question I forgot to ask at Maranello when I was there.

If people here don't think that the cars will have problems in the future if driven hard why are they not driven more?

I plan on definitely easing the car in for the first 1000 miles like I did for the R8 and Conti GT and 911, then start unleashing its potential and really drive it for a lot of miles. I imagine I will cover the first 1000 miles in the first week no problems. Can not wait!

 

I did as well. Tried VERY HARD to keep it under 5k rpm and was mostly successfully until 600 miles. At 700 miles I have only tagged 8K rpm so far as I find the right road to let if fly on....