New F430 Spider Owner - For the benefit of others | FerrariChat

New F430 Spider Owner - For the benefit of others

Discussion in '360/430' started by gaxor, Nov 9, 2017.

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  1. gaxor

    gaxor Rookie

    Jul 19, 2017
    27
    Surrey - UK
    #1 gaxor, Nov 9, 2017
    Having become a recent F430 Owner (I bought a 2007 F430 Spider in August this year, previously had a Porsche 991 TT) I thought I would share some of my experiences.

    I have had Porsche Turbo's for the last 10 years 996TT 997 gen 1&2 TT 991 Gen 1 TT but each iteration of the mighty Turbo seemed to me to be becoming more "sanitised" as it were. I was yearning for something a bit more involving as a driver.

    The car is my Daily driver, which I know will horrify some owners, with about 20 miles per day to and from the office.

    So this summer, I made the jump to my 430 F1 Spider - a beautiful looking car! I bought it from a performance car dealer, but not a Ferrari specialist.

    The car had done 18,000 miles, but only about 6,000 miles in the last 4 years.

    I took the car to a UK Ferrari specialist in the SE and asked for a baseline check on the car. Regardless of any warranty the original seller gave with the car, I opted to have any niggles rectified by the Ferrari specialist. Work included replacing the front bushes with Hill Engineering replacements, a new Active Suspension ECU and some welding to the silencer to prevent some rattling. Other than that all very good!

    However, often when I started the car it would throw up a CST warning, or active suspension warning (triangles under each wheel) and sometimes the dreaded Slow Down warning. More recently it refused to do anything on the start button for about 6 or 7 attempts, then started, and all sorts of warning lights on the dash. After some reading I suspected an ageing battery was the culprit (I hoped). I purchased a new Bosch battery as recommended by Aldous Voice about 3 weeks ago, and it blooming well worked! The old battery was 2010 date coded. Since the new battery no warnings and starts perfectly.

    Other things I have done:

    1. Replaced F1 Relay with the Scud Ing solid state replacement
    2. Replaced Flasher Relay with Scud Ing Solid State replacement (I can now hear the beeper)
    3. Replaced the head unit with a Blaupunk Toronto 440 B/T unit, with iPhone attached for Apple Streaming
    3. Perhaps the most transformation of the car was to replace the tyres with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S

    The upshot of this is that the car now drives amazingly well. It handles brilliantly in all conditions, the engine is as sweet as a nut. My daily commute is a pleasure! In my limited experience I would say these cars can and do behave impeccably as a DD as long as they are kept well maintained.
     
    2bf360, whatheheck, JustinNY and 1 other person like this.
  2. 338Lapua

    338Lapua Formula Junior

    Sep 5, 2015
    802
    Michigan
    Full Name:
    Tony
    #2 338Lapua, Nov 9, 2017
    It's great to hear things are working out for you. It is amazing what a bad battery will do! Likewise, it is amazing what a good battery fixes!
     
  3. TAILWAG

    TAILWAG Karting

    Apr 8, 2007
    167
    OP/Olathe
    Full Name:
    Angel
    #3 TAILWAG, Nov 9, 2017
    Amazing what a new battery can do...yes, mine is only about a year old but I plan to replace it every 3 years no ifs or butts...
     
    F1Spider and whatheheck like this.
  4. djempire

    djempire Formula Junior

    Apr 30, 2012
    613
    Toronto
    Full Name:
    Serf
    #4 djempire, Nov 9, 2017
    The F430 does have a magical flair that few others can follow. Akin to old vs new with the right amount of rawness. As a former 911 owner (both air and H2O cooled) I can see where Porsche has ironed out the driver involvement and made it more appealing for the masses to drive around town.
    How was the installation of the Blaubunkt Toronto? Did you need to perform wire surgery for the install or have a pro fit it?
     
  5. Need4Spd

    Need4Spd F1 Veteran

    Feb 24, 2007
    6,646
    Silicon Valley
    #5 Need4Spd, Nov 9, 2017
    Somewhat related story. Home alarm was going crazy, indicating motion in empty hallways, windows opening and closing by themselves, etc. Poltergeist? Haunted? Turns out it was a bad backup battery!


    Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat
     
    whatheheck likes this.
  6. gaxor

    gaxor Rookie

    Jul 19, 2017
    27
    Surrey - UK
    #6 gaxor, Nov 9, 2017
    I had the local Car Audio shop do the installation, they have a prestige car division. Tomorrow having the speakers changed for JL Audio units. I chose the Blaupunkt as it has a retro look front panel
     
  7. tonyl8281

    tonyl8281 Karting

    Jul 1, 2014
    101
    #7 tonyl8281, Nov 9, 2017
    Hi,

    I’m also UK based and bought a 430 Spider in March this year. May I ask how difficult it was to replace the flasher relay, the stock item is very quiet and difficult to hear when the engine is running.

    Tony
     
  8. gaxor

    gaxor Rookie

    Jul 19, 2017
    27
    Surrey - UK
    #8 gaxor, Nov 10, 2017
    Hi Tony

    It took literally 5 minutes. The relay is under the glove box, you will need to slide into the footwell, and the relay is on the wheel arch. I unplugged the cable from the old one and using double sided stick pads fixed the new relay onto the fron of the old one and reattached the cable - job done. Its recommended to keep the old relay "just in case"
     
  9. whatheheck

    whatheheck F1 Rookie
    Owner

    Mar 27, 2006
    4,138
    Seattle, Wa
    Full Name:
    Dan L.
    #9 whatheheck, Nov 11, 2017
    The flasher relay on an F430 is very very easy to replace. Literally takes 2 minutes.
    It is located on passenger side footwell area right under the glove compartment.
    Disconnect the connector of the original turn signal relay, plug in the new relay, velcro the new relay to the side panel and you are done.

    I too have Scud Ing Swiss turn signal solid state relay and I am 1,00% happy with it.
    And I have upgraded all my lights to LED's also from Scud Ing Swiss and it really transforms the looks of my F430.
    Scud Ing Swiss / Stef makes great products for our F430 and provides excellent customer service. Highly recommended. Just do a goggle search and it will lead you to his website.

    Hope that helps.

    Dan
     
    F1Spider likes this.
  10. F430_Mikli

    F430_Mikli Rookie

    Jul 17, 2017
    40
    Vancouver Canada
    #10 F430_Mikli, Nov 11, 2017
    Thanks for sharing! Definitely would look at the battery when the time comes. I got the Kenwood X998, Audison & Focal audio setup. I still keeping my 997.2 they so troublefree.
     
  11. tonyl8281

    tonyl8281 Karting

    Jul 1, 2014
    101
    #11 tonyl8281, Nov 11, 2017
    Thanks for your advice guys, really appreciated.

    I intend making the change on the turn signal relay, sounds as though it shouldn’t be too complicated.

    Tony
     
  12. tonyl8281

    tonyl8281 Karting

    Jul 1, 2014
    101
    #12 tonyl8281, Nov 13, 2017
    Hi,

    One further question please. What is the exact description I would need provide in order to purchase a Scud turn signal relay? Just want to make sure I don’t order the wrong unit as there seems to be more than one option.

    Thanks


    Tony
     
  13. Themaven

    Themaven F1 Rookie

    Nov 2, 2014
    4,254
    Eastdown
    Full Name:
    Darius
    #13 Themaven, Nov 13, 2017
    Gaxor, nice to hear your story from a fellow SE UK 430 Spider owner. I also think the 430 has a perfect balance of rawness and driveability. Not many agree with me but I actually think the 430 is a better car at non-superhuman speeds than the 458, around our crowded part of the world.

    I have one question: how come you didnt take your car to the supplying dealer to fix this problem?
     
  14. whatheheck

    whatheheck F1 Rookie
    Owner

    Mar 27, 2006
    4,138
    Seattle, Wa
    Full Name:
    Dan L.
    #14 whatheheck, Nov 13, 2017
    Hi Tony,

    Stef, owner of Scud Ing Swiss provides excellent customer service.

    Go to his webpage and on the bottom of his web page is "Customer Service - Contact us" .
    Just click on that link and send him a message and he will tell you exactly what you need for your specific car.

    https://www.scuding.com/

    Mention to him Dan Loyola referred you to him and he will take very good care of you.

    Hope that helps.

    Dan
     
  15. whatheheck

    whatheheck F1 Rookie
    Owner

    Mar 27, 2006
    4,138
    Seattle, Wa
    Full Name:
    Dan L.
    #15 whatheheck, Nov 13, 2017
    And to the other new owners, my experience with 360 and F430 is they are very sensitive to voltage fluctuations.
    Low voltage will throw all kinds of weird system faults and over voltage can destroy ECU's.

    Thus it is recommended that you replace your batteries preventively every 3 or 4 years. And never jump start your car if battery has died.
    Lots of threads on batteries here.

    Dan
     
  16. klointheridge

    klointheridge Karting

    Jun 5, 2017
    219
    Westchester Cty, NY
    Full Name:
    Kevin Long
    #16 klointheridge, Nov 13, 2017
    Congrats! You and I are on similar paths...most of my "winter work" will involve very similar upgrades.

    Did you replace the Active Suspension ECU with OEM or is there an aftermarket solution (like the Scud ing Swiss stuff)?
     
  17. F1Spider

    F1Spider Karting

    Jan 8, 2013
    199
    Austin
    Full Name:
    Stuart
    #17 F1Spider, Nov 13, 2017
    Dan is spot on. I too have Scud Ing Swiss LED wiring and LED's and it makes a HUGE difference in look, power drain (not prevalent), brightness, and all four brake lights illuminate when turned on (running lights) and are bright as heck when applying the brake pedal.
     
    whatheheck likes this.
  18. tonyl8281

    tonyl8281 Karting

    Jul 1, 2014
    101
    #18 tonyl8281, Nov 17, 2017
    Hi Dan,

    Thanks for the help, really appreciated, and I’ll mention your name to Stef at Scud Ing when I make the purchase.

    Tony
     
    whatheheck likes this.
  19. dvb247

    dvb247 Karting

    Nov 4, 2012
    235
    #19 dvb247, Nov 18, 2017
    Fellow UK F430 owners, I would love to see your upgrades in person, would love to meet up with you or drive over to you with my 430 so I can have a look, I’m really interested in doing a few mods to keep my interest but my list is crazy and haven’t started yet!! I live Cheshire and an FOC member.
    PM me !!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     

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