FF handling in weather | FerrariChat

FF handling in weather

Discussion in 'FF/Lusso' started by RickLederman, Dec 21, 2012.

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  1. RickLederman

    RickLederman F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Sep 18, 2007
    2,837
    Swanton Ohio
    Full Name:
    Rick Lederman
    No snow yet in NW Ohio but a ton of rain yesterday. Driving down roads that have huge puddles and the FF (with SottoZero's) just goes through them without ANY pulling in either direction. My California would have pulled hitting a deep puddle on one side. FF suspension is really great!

    More impressions coming when (and if) the snow ever hits here.

    Rick
     
  2. eric

    eric Formula Junior

    Aug 3, 2001
    705
    Albion, CA
    #2 eric, Dec 21, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    We can attest to the superb handling of the FF with the Sottozero tires in all kinds of weather and inclement road conditions, including sheet ice, snow, slush, in everything form snow storms, to high winds and sun, and torrential downpours.

    We just picked up our new FF last Friday and drove it from Seattle to Santa Fe. We encountered lots of heavy rain and then lots of slushy rain, for a day. Then just snowy slush and ice over the Siskyou Pass in Oregon, followed by snow and ice over Donner summit in CA, a day of high mountain country roads on Highway 50 in Nevada that included high winds and snow and ice over many of the passes, and finally a beastly 50 miles on i40 from Gallup NM to Albuquerque in the heart of that beast of a storm that has hammered the whole midwest. For three hours we had heavy side winds, glare ice on the road and snow off and on with temps in the low teens.

    Through it all the car was stunningly composed and easy to drive. And i grew up in CA, where we never had to drive in snow, so I'm a total neohpyte when it comes to driving in snow. But the FF, with the Sottozero tires makes a hero out of simple people. We saw plenty of 4x4s, jeeps, and other heros slide off the road all around us, and got plenty of curious looks from folks as the big red Ferrari just cruised on by them as they spun merrily around in circles.
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  3. crinoid

    crinoid F1 Veteran
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    Apr 2, 2005
    9,957
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    LaCrinoid
    Awesome! Some of the best usage pictures I've ever seen.
     
  4. Stefan_009

    Stefan_009 Formula Junior

    Aug 10, 2008
    994
    Boston area, MA
    Full Name:
    Stefan
    Brilliant. Beautiful car, color, wheels....congratulations! Kudos to you for driving it as intended.
     
  5. eric

    eric Formula Junior

    Aug 3, 2001
    705
    Albion, CA
    #5 eric, Dec 21, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Thanks, Guys. This car is just so wonderful, and the answer to all our wishes should Ferrari ever have asked us how they should improve their cars.

    Here's one of my fave pics so far. The car looked like this most of the five day trip, and this is after I had washed the windows.
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  6. RickLederman

    RickLederman F1 Rookie
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    Sep 18, 2007
    2,837
    Swanton Ohio
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    Rick Lederman
    The PERFECT FF photo! :D Thanks for the photos!! Mine will follow but we need snow!

    Rick
     
  7. oxford

    oxford Rookie

    Oct 15, 2006
    27
    Fantastic post - thanks for sharing. A quick follow up question. What settings did you use for each section of the trip?
     
  8. eric

    eric Formula Junior

    Aug 3, 2001
    705
    Albion, CA
    I left the car in Auto mode almost the whole trip. Even when driving in a 'spirited" manner, the transmission reacts so quickly, and as I would wish, so the paddles become almost superfluous.

    I used every mode of the mannetino except to turn off traction control.

    Sport for any dry road: it shifts so quickly and aggressively and to a lower gear than in other modes when you want to pass. For rougher road, hit the bumpy road button to slightly soften the ride.

    Comfort when in cities so the throttle response is more mild mannered. makes less aggressive starts and stops a lot smoother.

    Wet for when the roads are wet and or raining, and in slightly slushy road conditions. Throttle response is feathered even more, giving much better control over acceleration and braking.

    Ice mode when snow or ice started to appear in the roadway. Often we'd be cruising along at a fairly fast clip (65-90mph) when we'd see ice and snow appear on the road, so i''d switch it over to ice mode immediately on spotting snow in the road ahead. Once you realize that the snow is really slick, or icy, use paddle to drop down to fourth gear to give you all wheel drive. Tranny will shift no higher than fourth in this mode on its own, and will only shift down at really low speeds, like 20mph or so. But when you feel like its just slushy, maybe not too icy, and tire of hearing the engine rev at 3500 rpm at 60 mph (hard to hear some classical music when the engine is whining at you :)), use the paddle to shift up a gear or three and it'll allow you to do that. Just gotta remember it now is only two wheel drive. Next sighting of ice, or feeling of slightly slippery driving, hit downshift paddle and it smoothly drops down to fourth and hold it. Deceleration and acceleration in ice mode are very smooth, but you still gotta really feather the throttle: there's still a ton of torque available.

    But the tires are the real heros here. I only ever really felt like the awd was working once in a really icy and slushy corner when I went to accelerate at about 45mph and the throttle felt really heavy and the traction control light came on. Apparently i had not spotted some glare ice but the car had sensed it and wouldn't let me nail the throttle and just kept going at a more reasonable rate of acceleration until it noted better conditions, the traction control went off and we accelerated more rapidly as I had originally told it to do. And once when I deliberately tried to break the rear end loose on a deserted icy street at low speeds. Tried to make the car spin out on acceleration from a start into a corner and the front just pulled it out like they said it would, and then took off like a scalded rabbit. Amazing how quickly the car can accelerate even on ice.
     
  9. eric

    eric Formula Junior

    Aug 3, 2001
    705
    Albion, CA
    Ain't it a kick, owning a Ferrari that you wish for bad weather to drive in?
     
  10. FJerry

    FJerry Formula Junior

    Dec 1, 2004
    933
    United States
    You nailed it. The car is terrific but the tires are where its at. Literally.
     
  11. YellowF50

    YellowF50 Formula Junior

    Feb 15, 2007
    840
    UK
    Full Name:
    K B
    The 3rd picture down in your set, (the long straight open road heading straight into the mountain) looks so inviting.

    Thanks for sharing.

     
  12. eric

    eric Formula Junior

    Aug 3, 2001
    705
    Albion, CA
    Yeah, that whole road is simply stunning. From just east of Fallon NV to Ely, it's about 150 miles of several of these long inviting straights with 5-15 mile sight lines connected by nice bits of twisty mountain passes. We did get a chance to stretch our legs, so to speak, once. The invitation is so hard to resist...
     
  13. Modificata

    Modificata F1 Rookie

    Apr 27, 2003
    2,654
    Hampton, England
    Full Name:
    Andy Rasool
    Eric

    Really enjoyed that read of what sounds like an epic journey. I guess you pretty much had the pleasure of all road conditions on the route home. How many miles did you end up covering?

    Is the car all you expected it to be?
     
  14. eric

    eric Formula Junior

    Aug 3, 2001
    705
    Albion, CA
    We're only half way there at 2300 miles. We'll be here vacationing in Santa Fe for another 12 days, then put at least another 2500 miles on it getting home to Seattle.

    This car is everything we've wanted in a Ferrari, and more. Too many things to cover here in a thread about the handling of the car in inclement weather (sorry to hijack the thread, Rick). I'll write up a more detailed trip report and post it in another couple weeks after we've put another few thousand miles on it and are back home in Seatle.
     
  15. Doc458

    Doc458 Karting

    Aug 7, 2012
    131
    Thank you for sharing your experience. You've posted valuable information about the FF and will help many forum readers recognize what a wonderful automobile it is.
    You need to drive the FF to appreciate it. I was fortunate to drive one and was blown away.
     
  16. London John

    London John Formula Junior

    Sep 7, 2010
    560
    London & Melbourne
    Full Name:
    John
    #16 London John, Dec 23, 2012
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2012
    Drove mine 300 miles this weekend in horrendous rain and partially flooded roads, shod in Sottozero's fitted last week. It didn't miss a beat, no crisis of confidence when driving quickly.
     
  17. Cariad

    Cariad Formula Junior

    Jan 1, 2006
    445
    Any F1 Circuit
    Eric pm me. I am at our house in Santa Fe for 10 days from December 27, sadly without our FF
     
  18. XP1LM

    XP1LM Formula Junior

    Nov 28, 2005
    738
    Montreal
    Full Name:
    Truong
    The people who says they dont get the FF should take a look of this thread.
     
  19. Modificata

    Modificata F1 Rookie

    Apr 27, 2003
    2,654
    Hampton, England
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    Andy Rasool
    Well enjoy the holiday and the car. Look forward to reading more about the car when you get a chance.
     
  20. RickLederman

    RickLederman F1 Rookie
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    Sep 18, 2007
    2,837
    Swanton Ohio
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    Rick Lederman
    That is exactly why I started the thread Eric! I was hoping someone was having more fun with their FF than I was. Still no snow here and just checked, nothing significant this week, so sad :D. I have photos in the California threads from the last few years driving down snowy roads in it ... I think I will be smiling MUCH more in the FF under the same conditions.

    Keep the driving impressions coming!

    Rick
     
  21. YELO T

    YELO T Formula 3

    Jul 2, 2012
    1,193
    Long Island, NY
    Full Name:
    Jonathan
    Awsome! Great to see someone really using their Fcar. Mine has never been out in the rain.....
     
  22. ttforcefed

    ttforcefed F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Aug 22, 2002
    19,256
    r there any other wheel options...OEM wheels are like 10K right?

    i dont like having tires mounted and balanced every winter so thats not an option for me.
     
  23. RickLederman

    RickLederman F1 Rookie
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    Sep 18, 2007
    2,837
    Swanton Ohio
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    Rick Lederman
    Yep, OEM are about $10K or a little more as I remember when I bought mine. For my California I found a FChat person a few years ago that happened to buy her California with standard wheels then decided to move up to the star shaped wheels (like I had) and after getting the new wheels put her standard wheels up for sale ... and I bought them, including used rubber. I still have the used rubber (Bridgestone's) but immediately put the SottoZero's on the wheels and drove the Cali's three winters with them.

    I guess I would ask on FChat if anyone is upgrading their FF wheels so you can get a set at a lower price.

    Rick
     
  24. RickLederman

    RickLederman F1 Rookie
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    Sep 18, 2007
    2,837
    Swanton Ohio
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    Rick Lederman
    It hardly matters what your rain car is, your FCar would be way more fun! I have a CL550 that only gets driven to the airport when I have to travel, otherwise, no matter what the weather I drive a FCar. We did have 60 MPH winds earlier this winter and on that day I drove the CL550, too worried about a garbage can lid hitting the Fcar. But rain or snow, rather be having fun in the FF!

    Rick
     
  25. Statler

    Statler F1 World Champ

    Jun 7, 2011
    17,389
    Awesome thread.

    What do you guys do about salted roads? Just wash underneath more often?

    I am not in a financial position to be bothered by it so I drive my truck in the salt and the mondial the rest of the time, but it is fun to think about "practical" Ferraris versus weekend Ferraris when $ is not as much of a consideration.

    It's interesting that the magazines (even Evo) want it both ways... they decry more practicality, which lends to actually being caught up in the romance of the badge, but they swear they aren't caught up in the romance of the badge and judge cars regardless of mark (cough, BS, cough)

    It's the "should they be practical or should you have a range rover for those days" issue.

    Thank you all for sharing experiences... the pickup and mondial drivers are having fun in the reading.
     

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