My first mod! (360 CS steering wheel)

Some of you may remember my post last month about celebrating eight years of 355 ownership. Well in all that time, I kept her stock. Until now, that is!

I was never a big fan of the stock steering wheel, thinking the airbag looked too big and the rim felt too skinny. Thanks to this forum (my wife might say you guys are corrupting me), I learned that it's possible to replace it with the much racier wheel used in the 360 Challenge Stradale. Before making such a large purchase, I wanted to see and feel one first, so I visited the local Ferrari dealer. They didn't have a CS handy, but the CS steering wheel is basically the same as the one in the F430, just without the start button and rotary knob. I think the salesman was a bit disappointed to learn the real reason I was sitting in the F430 in his showroom, but he was nice about it.

A few days later I called Ricambi and placed my order. When I finally got the wheel, I decided to have it professionally installed since I don't have any experience working with airbags. As soon as I saw it when picking up the car, my first impression was "now that looks more like the wheel an exotic car should come with!" The three spokes instead of four, smaller airbag, sculpted thumb cutouts, and somewhat squared off top section (with stitched "straight ahead" marker) all contributed to that impression. The improvement wasn't just visual though -- driving her home on some twisty roads, the handling actually felt more responsive. Part of the reason might be attributable to the smaller diameter (slightly increasing steering effort and quickness), but I think it's mainly the improved connection between the hands and the wheel due to the thicker rim and especially the thumb cutouts, giving a better feeling of "becoming one with the car." The only negative is that the rim blocks the topmost warning lights and part of the speedo (specifically the marks in the 80 to 100 MPH range).

Bottom line is that I'm very happy with it, and it has definitely boosted the already high fun factor of driving the 355!
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I agree. Not only that, but it also added a bit of new car smell (already fading though).

The wheel itself was about $1200, not too bad, but unfortunately the airbag is an additional $2200 (and it has to be shipped by ground). One thing that helped was to remember that the original 355 airbags are supposed to be replaced after ten years anyway, so I've now reset the clock on that. And if you don't care about having an airbag, I've seen some non-Ferrari aftermarket wheels that look pretty similar for a lot less.

The paddles are attached to the column and don't involve the wheel at all, so this would work just as well on a stick shift car.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the horn buttons on the rim work very well and have a nice "clicky" feel.

 

Yes, the regular 360 wheel is another option. It uses the same airbag, so the overall cost is probably similar. But it lacks the cool sculpting of the grip areas, one of my favorite aspects of the Challenge Stradale wheel.