348 Thinking of taking the plunge 348ts belt advice

My recommendation: find a mechanic you trust who you intended to care for the car while in your ownership and ask them

Actual wrenches and engineers will have their own opinion and I’m sure they’ll share it here. In a sea of opinions, I prefer to listen to the person who has the responsibility for doing and warranting the work.

 

Personally Id have them done. They have been stood for 6 years! It not just the belts you need to worry about but also the tensioners.

You'd also want all the fluids changed; brake fluid for example is hyrdoscopic.

And check date on tyres as you will probably want new ones as they will have gone hard.

With that length of inactivity don't be surprised if you get a few other issues.

Belt service isn't stupid money here and you can use it as a bargaining chip when negotiating on price. Indie and some main dealers expect to pay £2-2.5k. Budget £4k total to cover other bits and bobs. Tyres are readily available from the usual places.

 

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There’s only one cam belt .
Two auxiliary, alternator and AC pump ( AC pump taken off above pic ) . You might be able to visually inspect the two auxiliary belts for cracking , age etc from underneath? Remove a panel ?

Personally I can’t see a show stopper issues with running your car another year considering its milage history .

What exactly has it had done maintenance wise since it’s last major in 2019 ?

Figure on dropping £3 K every 5 yrs for a pro to remove the engine and give it a proper Major , tackling those belts .

The in between lub changes , g box oil , coolant , and brake fluid , plugs , leads etc are like A N Other car that a John Doe DIY er can do @ home . I would do a lub + filter annually.

 

If you search for "348 timing belt life" here, you'll find 100+ results and links to a few threads on this topic. You'll find a spectrum of opinions. At least one user has gotten away with over 10 years, while some others discuss the consequences of a failure. If you can't easily afford an engine rebuild, it's probably a better choice to do the belt.

 

Really? Here in the US the only tires available in the factory size are all seasons.

Longstone has factory pirellis but I wonder what the date code is in them.

 

So true. I am convinced that if the 348 photographed better they’d be much more revered.

 

@“ choonhound “The go to U.K. performance tyre seems to be Michelin PS 4 s .Readily availability here in the U.K. in standard 17 inch 348 sizes F + R .

I run them on my daily boxster and can recommend . Just had a fresh set fitted on my new to me 348 SP .

Experienced F car Indy recommended them over Pirelli P zeros .Some Pirellis ( sporty versions ) have poor results on damp , pot holed , leaf infested cold U.K. roads . Although OEM on many brands guys who switch to Mich PS 4 never look back ….no pun intended. Bentley , BMW , and Porsches with far more Hp to play with than a F 348 l

Having said this whilst not making the top road sports car tyre , being eclipsed by Michelin, Pirelli beat the competition with the all season Pirelli scorpion Verdi . We run these on our SUV Macan and they grip incredibly on snow / ice / winter conditions.
I think Land Rover OEM fit them too .
Obviously completely unsuitable for Ferrari summer usage .

 

Interesting. We don’t get the rear size in the PS4S.

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You weren’t lying! Son of a…

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Here are my new rears ( U.K. supplied)
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PZeros are available here, new. I find them marmite; once warm and you push through the initial but that feels squirmy you can really lean on them.

 

There are a few of us around Bristol. I help run the Cotswolds FOC group, and the welsh group is very active.

For indies you have about 6 ferrari specialist within 1.5-2 hrs. Do ask before using as some are more suited to these cars than others. I use main dealer, Carrs in Exeter. Not much more than the indies, just more convenient logistics wise for me.

With regards servicing, in the Uk car price/salability is very sensitive to the service history. A stamped up history is well regarded. I get mine serviced annually, but do other stuff myself. just so i have that stamped up service history.

 

This is an impossible question to answer.

 

Looks like they might be discontinued in the front size.

https://www.michelin.co.uk/auto/tyres/michelin-pilot-sport-4?tyreSize=17

 

Let me rephrase this for you.

"What's my risk tolerance"

Only you can answer that.

I would roll the dice on it if everything -seemed- to correlate.

You might lose sleep over it, I don't know

 

I'd be less concerned about the new belt breaking, Id be more worried about the belt breaking because of prior owner issues. That is usually the cause of a belt failure outside of the odd actual high mileage, belts not changed, abused car type failure.

Personally in your position I would not be worried about it mechanically, the engines are far from brittle. I would be worried about prior owner issues more than anything.