Hi everyone, I've done plenty of track days but never in my 458 - I am planning on tracking it pretty soon and wondered if anyone has any tips or tweaks to prep a 458 Italia for the track and any personal experience of wear and tear on the track too? Or is it good to go from factory? Many thanks!
Hi everyone, I actually already posted this in the track section but no one got back to me so I'm trying you guys in here! I've done plenty of track days but never in my 458 - I am planning on tracking it pretty soon and wondered if anyone has any tips or tweaks to prep a 458 Italia for the track? Or is it good to go from factory? Also - any personal experience of wear and tear on the track too? Many thanks!
Just got back from Circuit of the Americas. It was my first time tracking the 458, but I have completed 100+ tracks days over the past 4 years. You are going to love the 458 on the track. I thought I would miss the shifting experience of my GT3RS, but didn't really. The sound and speeds made up for the paddle shifting. I changed the brake pads to PAGID RSC1's and installed a set of 19" Forgeline GA1R with Hoosier R6's and had a blast! The factory alignment is pretty conservative with lots of understeer but other than that it is very capable in stock form.
Thanks for the update glad to hear it is pretty much good to go! Do you think the pads definitely need upgrading from standard? Thanks
Yes they do. Fronts are 8091 and rears are 4906. Perfect fit and great bite and durability. Plus only about 1/3rd the cost of oem. Changing pads is very easy on the 458. It will take longer to jack up the car and get the wheels off than to actually change the brake pads. Pagidpads.com
Good info. Wondering when oem parts for brakes would start to come down. Too high for too long on pads and rotors.
You won't need a new rotor during lifetime of the car, unless you visit the gravel-bed of a racetrack or are extremely unlucky... When I sold my Italia the rotors were 98 % after a couple of trackdays and nearly 20k miles... Don't know though how wear will be with other than OEM pads... The weak spot of a 458 (except Speciale) is the tyres. As there is a big amount of understeer built in the fronts tend to overheat when pushing too hard...
Agree with the other posters here. It performs very well on track bone stock, but after chunking my front MPSS's after 4-5 track days, I'm going to get a performance alignment and dial in some negative camber. Brake pads still look great, and overall, it's a blast as factory delivered.
Hey everyone thanks for the great feedback, I have heard elsewhere that under steer is engineered in from factory so I'll do a few track days to see how evident it is and adjust from there. I will post my feedback on here after my first few experiences if anyone is interested? Thanks again. Regards.
