458 not stable at high speeds

Amen to that. most of my high speed runs have been on the Autobahn.

 

My 458 spider came back from the annual service at the dealer with 34 showing for all 4 tires when cold. (They were all 30 when l took her in) Seems to handle fine. Have not checked with a manual gauge YET.

 

Goonthree...at the speeds you are talking about, you MUST get it checked out by a competent expert. All this board advise is great but you are playing with fire.

My 2013 458 is stable as a rock at the speeds you are talking about. Something is wrong. Don't guess. Get it checked out. Your life is worth the money.

 

I'm not sure why everybody is talking about vibration when the OP never mentioned it. He said steering wheel and car were moving around at over 130 mph. His tire pressures are ok and not the cause. It could be wheel imbalance but he says nothing about vibration. The car moves around at high speed. He needs to have the suspension checked right away, and if no fault is found with the suspension or alignment, then a check of the tires to see if there is any internal damage (like a belt separation).

 

+1 I've had that on more than one vehicle. Either a front tire is wearing wrong or it's out of balance.

 

Smart. And I think the dealership in your area has a good reputation.

 

what you are describing might be tramlining....

where were you driving? At Sebring, or on the banking at Daytona, I can attest that the bumps which may not be noticeable at 100mph can really make the car feel different at 150+. The surface (eg. concrete, asphalt, et al) and aspect (eg. crown) can have an amplified effect. On a few local highways, our Speciale would "dance" in the right lane at about 70mph as the wheels went in/out of very subtle ruts.

Sounds like you're checking the usual (and correct) things - tire condition, pressures, wheel balance, alignment and suspension operation (eg. a blown or leaky shock won't damp as well and you'll notice it).

At relatively high speeds, crosswinds, even mild, can have an effect.

the 458 platform is very stable at high speeds, as with most/all cars, at uber high speeds (eg. 130+) front end lift becomes noticeable AND any steering inputs at all will be emphasized (i.e. steering gets light, and touchy).

 

If my girlfriend was bent over my motorcycle like that I would balance my own tires also....

 

Check tires and wheels. I have been 204 mph in my last 458 (sold it) and it was about as solid as it could be. Front end comes up and wind does interfere, but it was very comfortable for the speed and didn't give me any reason for concern.

Balanced and perfectly round wheels... along with Michelin PS2s, both are a MUST imo.

 

My car in bumpy road mode wobbles from side to side but not movement of steering wheel, it is very strange. In bumpy road mode off it is very stable but yes these cars are light in the front at high speeds.

Are you driving with bumpy road mode on or off?

 

Some place I have a photo of her licking the rear tire of that bike

Just coming back to this thread...

My 458 felt a bit unstable above 125 and the front tires seem to be out of balance as near as I can tell. Even at 75 or 80 MPH, there is mild vibration coming through the steering wheel, which (to me) suggests a poor balance on the front tires.

I've since lowered the front of the car 15mm by turning down the coil-over collars. That seemed to help reduce the "light front end" feeling somewhat, but I think a better balance on the front tires is needed.

I have decided to do a static balance myself on the front two tires of the car, to see if that makes any difference. I have plenty of experience doing static balances on my motorcycle tires. With my Carbon Fiber BST wheels, I built my own tire mounting fixture and mounted the tires myself manually. I then balanced both the front and rear wheels to about 1/4 to 1/2 of gram by using my static balancer.

So what I have decided to do where is to buy a few parts and see if I can't use the motorcycle static balancer to just do a static balance on my front wheels. I picked up a large cone axle fixture, which I guess is used for balancing certain motorcycle tires. It appears I might be able to use it to hold my front 458 wheels. I've also bought some 5x114.3 hub centric wheel spacers (67.1 mm center hub diameter), which are 38mm thick. I think I should be able to secure this to the inside of the wheels and between that and the cones, I think I will be able to get the front tires/wheels up on the static balancer. I may need to fabricate something a bit more involved, but I am hoping the cones and spacer together will hold everything fine.

I'm also thinking about balancing the wheels/tires and the CCM front rotors as a unit. In fact, I came back to this thread because I was searching to see if anyone has done a static balance themselves.

Anyway, my original question was this:

Has anyone either done a static balance on their wheels/tires themselves (using a motorcycle type balancer, not a car spin balancer) and if so, what were you results.

2nd - has anyone ever gone to the extent of balancing their wheels/tires with the CCM rotors attached? If so, again, what was the outcome?

Any input welcome, thanks!

Ray

 

Never a dull moment with my girlfriend around, that's for sure

Ray
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This^^^

Mine very stable all the way through 186 mph, even with the top down. My guess is it was the road as Entropy said.

 

Get it aligned and corner balanced. They should check for and correct any loose suspension parts prior to the alignment. Make sure the tires are rated and good for that kind of speed. Personally, I wouldn't drive that fast without using the active yaw control just in case things get squirrely.

 

Great Ray !!