lowering a 355 stock adjustable coilovers

I was told it can be done, just make sure you a front end alignment after---thiking about lowering mine also

 

I had mine dropped by the Ferrari dealer in Wash DC. based on specs from Imola racing. It took them a while to get it all done correctly.

 

I dropped mine by 10-12mm approx 4 years ago. Take care to drop each corner by the same amount of collar turns. The car sits at a better looking high and better stance. The handling isn't really that more noticeable than standard, and the tyre wear is no different from the standard setup.
The only down side that i found is that the cars front bumper underneath, caught undulations on the road surface. My remedy for that was to remove the 10mm of lip and the factory skid pads (the Hills skid pads would usually mount to them), when i had it repainted. So now i have the Hills skid plates mounted in place of the factory fiberglass skid pads.
The problem with lowering a 355 and having after market skid pads on is that you effectively lower the natural ground clearance of the front bumper. So like i said i replaced them with after market units.
Hope this makes sense

 

I did look into this when i was doing it. I measured two of my friends 355s and concluded that not all fender to wheel measurements are the same, there is no standard model. Even though a measurement from a level floor to the side sills can be taken as a reference point before and after. I simply turned the collars the same amount of turns to get the right balance. The only measurements taken was when i had the tyre alignment checked. Turning a collar one rotation at each corner takes of very little, so doing the same on all corners works wonders.
The method i used is not mathematically a science but 4 years later and thorough comparisons with my friends other 355s, i can tell you every thing is fantastic.

 

I noticed more of a change when we dialed in more negative camber on the rear wheels, lowering it is probably more for looks. The lower you go the more you will hit on driveway inclines so don't go overboard. If you want I can measure my lip to tire clearance, it is a good comprimise right now ... looks good, but does'nt scrape too easily. The biggest difference in handling / ride was when the shocks were rebuilt. I only had 10K mile on it but some of the shocks were semi shot. BIG diff in ride when I got them re-installed ... like a new vehicle

 

It does. But properly designed skid plates should only add about 5mm in thickness...mine do. Mine are designed with a front lip that is about 10 or 11mm thick, but are machined out, to the rear, so they only add about 5mm of total thickness to the existing fiberglass "pad" that exists on the bottom of the front bumper. Also, the front lip of my skid plates have a beveled edge to assist in them sliding over stuff and are made from a high lubricity black nylon type plastic.

 

Valid points every one, but dont forget we are talking about skids on lowered cars Also if you read what i wrote i did say that i was using Hills skid plates, which are as proper as you are going to get. They measure 6mm in height and are also bevelled. Although at the time of me buying the alloy plates that Hills make, the plastic ones were not yet available.
But facts are facts, any skid plates add to the cars bumper ride height, which can be crucial especially when one is lowering the car. Mine WERE catching more frequently so i removed the original factory fiberglas skids for the Hills alloy types. A small mod that is done while the bumper is being repainted. Most cars with out after market plates have the fiberglass skids ground away anyway. So thats the time to remove them completely, and affix after market gear.
What you say applies only to standard ride heights. But when lowering a car by say 10mm. After market skids on top of factory skids makes a big difference to clearance.

 

I believe your undertrays will take a beating...

Mine do, and I recently had the center tray reglassed....and it already has a new gouge in it. My car appears to have been either lowered by the previous owner, or just came that way from the factory...it is not a lot lower, but perhaps 1cm to 1.5 cm. Enough that a scrap in places where my friends do not scrape with their 355 spiders...

 

You will be fine for road use setting the ride height with a tape measure. If you are concerned about the best handling, you should corner balance it as you make your height changes. Either way you definitely will want to let it settle (drive it for several days) and then realign.

I have not lowered mine for the same reasons mentioned here: the nose scrapes enough now, I just don't want to deal with it lower.

 

Hummmm interesting. How did this pan out? I'm looking into lowering my car too...so was just curious.

 

And when lowering shouldn't I be lowering by the same amount of turns on each wheel?

 

As a follow up to my previous post in this thread....I actually measured my car, and it was spot on, in the rear, but two centimeters lower than spec in the front. I had it raised back up at a local race shop, who also aligned it, and no more scrapping everywhere! But the front fender gap is pretty large too. If I was to do it all over again, I might have only raised it one centimeter. For those of you considering lowering....I would not lower the rear and only lower the front one centimeter. That should help even up the gap on the front, to more closely match the rear, without lowering so much that you scrape too often.

 

Ok but what is the factory height ...front and back? and whats the delta between front and back that I need to maintain if I drop. Lets say 1"...

 

No. The rear lowers more per turn than the front

 

A couple of points:

Lowering the front::
A) there is a bump steer issue if you lower (or raise) the front
B) there is a high speed instability under brakes if the front is too low

Lowering the rear::
No real issues

Lowering the car in general:
A) due to the way the roll centers move wrt lowering, AND due to the way the roll axis changes the effective roll stiffness of the front/rear. You cannot lower the front and rear the same and not alter the oversteer/understeer relationship.
B) If the car oversteers more than you like, lower the rear couple turns.
C) If the car understeers more than you like, raise the rear a couple of turns.

D) do get the car corner weighted after lowering and before alignment of the wheels

Measuring ride height::
A) ride height is measured from the flat and level road surface to the center of the rear bolt on the lower A-Arm.
B) amy measurement wrt the spacing between the tire and the fender opening is a measure of the factory fittment of the metal works and indicates nothing more.

 

is there any documentation on this somewhere? like the procedure. Instead of me asking all these questions on here like how much each turn lowers in the front/back.. and annoy the living crap out of you guys

 

Thanks man very helpful info...

 

I had mine lowered on the factory setup over 1" but I recently had it raised a little so I'd have a little more suspension travel.

If you raise or lower the car any significant amount, I would highly suggest corner balancing, as well as the aforementioned wheel alignment.