458 - LOWERED SUSPENSION SETTINGS...to much Negative Camber | FerrariChat

458 LOWERED SUSPENSION SETTINGS...to much Negative Camber

Discussion in '458 Italia/488/F8' started by speedy pete, Feb 10, 2020.

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  1. speedy pete

    speedy pete Karting

    Nov 1, 2003
    244
    darkside of the moon
    Full Name:
    Pete B
    I have Novitec springs on my 458 spider. Its lowered to the point that I can't get the alignment caster to ferrari specs. It has so much negative camber that the front tires are wearing on the insides. I have used up all the adjustment available front and rear. Anybody have a solution? Please don't say go back to the stock springs. The car looks and handles great on the Novitec setup. Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  2. FFan5

    FFan5 Formula Junior

    Jul 7, 2018
    533
    That's a good problem to have, I think. The outsides of the fronts overheat and melt when I track my car with stock alignment. :-D Rejoice in the responsiveness. :-D
     
  3. speedy pete

    speedy pete Karting

    Nov 1, 2003
    244
    darkside of the moon
    Full Name:
    Pete B
    cool...that what i thought but i wasn't sure if it would be better with the regular caster settings. thanks for the input!
     
  4. Llenroc

    Llenroc F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Jun 9, 2004
    4,770
    Colorado
    Full Name:
    Vern
    #4 Llenroc, Feb 10, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2020
    Inside tire wear is the problem that will occur with any 458 that has been lowered. Ferrari didn’t allowed for much adjustment on the suspension settings. Your CASTER isn’t the problem causing the inside of your tire to wear it’s the toe and then negative camber being a contributor. Ferrari’s specs on toe, even at the factory ride height, is set too negative for street use, at -0.12 degrees this setting and combining that with -0.7 degrees of camber will accelerate inside tire wear. When you lowered the suspension you probably double those numbers which will really take out the inside inch or so of your front tire and very quickly. A partial fix to the problem is to set the toe at 0 degrees or maybe at -0.1, you are still going have way to much neg. camber (I would bet it is -1.4 right now or more) but, this will help. since you removed all the shims which are/were on the lower A arm you have no more adjustment left but you can add shims to the top A arm which will push out the top A arm and reducing the neg. camber. I would assume the rear is going to have the same problem, make sure the toe is at factory spec IIRC there’s enough adjustment left to get the camber close to factory spec depending how crazy you were in lowering the suspension. I don’t know what these guys do that have done more than 1 1/2 they have to be keeping the tire companies in business. At that amount of lowering you have really messed up the factory settings
     
    mdrums and Carnut like this.
  5. mdrums

    mdrums Formula 3

    Jun 11, 2006
    2,172
    Tampa FL
    Take corners faster ;-)
     
  6. ingegnere

    ingegnere F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    Sep 12, 2004
    5,222
    Montreal
    ...because of the negative camber!
     
  7. speedy pete

    speedy pete Karting

    Nov 1, 2003
    244
    darkside of the moon
    Full Name:
    Pete B
    is it possible to space the upper control arm? I didn't look to see if that was a option when I had the car on the lift. I took out all the spacers on the bottom. With that I looking at a full degree off of factory setting of negative camber. Am I just chasing tire wear or will bringing the car closer to factory specs make it significantly less responsive? Unfortunately the roads here in Connecticut are still pretty ****ty from the salt so the car is a garage queen for at least another month of so. I'd just like to get it perfect before spring arrives.
     

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