F430 Actual Repair Costs Long Term

i have an '06 F430 that had 6,800 mi on it when i bought it 4 years ago. 26,000 on it now and in the shop this week for a clutch, exhaust brackets and headers(3rd set for the car/1st for me). up to this point it's cost me less than $2k/year. will need to re-wrap the dash this winter too.

car has been rock solid other than a fuel pump seal. i would say $.70- $1.00 (on the high side) per mile is about right.

good luck with your search~

 

I've had my F430 for almost two years. So far I have spent $7K in maintenance and about $12K in modifications. The big driver on the maintenance was a leaking water pump that is also an oil pump. $4800 for parts and labour that also included fluid changes. Had it not been for the failed pump I'd be on or below par for what is considered normal. The bulk of the mod budget was spent on exhaust. I have a full Fabspeed exhaust from headers to tips.

 

Do you mind sharing how well the consumables faired with track use, e.g. tires/brakes/misc items? I've been tracking an Exige, which obviously is extremely easy on tires/brakes/etc (6-8 days on a set of brakes/tires). I'm looking at a 360/430 to supplement the stable and for very occasional track.

 

That's a tough question to answer since it varies from track to track, driver to driver and tire to tire. At Road America, I went through pads in two days, maybe 2-3 hours on track per day. That track has 3 very high speed sections followed by heavy braking. They last much longer at a more "normal" track. The original Pirellis wore pretty quick. Michelin PS were much better. I'm waiting to get a set of Michelin SS which I expect to be better still. Pirelli corsas wore fast as expected. For the last 6 years, I've tracked a Cayman S and Cayman R mostly but I do like to get the 430 out once in while since it is such a beast and fun to track. I would expect brakes to last longer on a 360 simply because you have as high straight away speeds.

Dave

 

I bought my 02 360 spider last year with 2400 miles on it. 200 miles/year. It was a nearly perfect car in every way with clear provenance from new and meticulously maintained despite the low miles. Even had original 2002-dated Pirellis with plenty of tread! I was buying to drive it, and wasn't looking for a queen because I didn't see the point of "ruining" a museum piece and taking all the depreciation hit. But I fell in love with the car and came to appreciate the idea of essentially driving a car off the showroom floor in a time machine.

New tires and CS TCU right away. After about a year and just topped 5500 miles, I couldn't be happier. I had one CEL just recently that required flatbed and turned out to be a faulty thermostat $1200 parts & labor and back driving great.

If you like the car, buy it. Yes, there's a risk of low-mileage issues but that's offset by other factors such as the car probably being well maintained and not misused/abused as some. Yes, a 2-owner 3000 mile car might have been abused, but far more likely that a 6-owner 25,000-mile was abused or neglected at some point and by one of it's many short term-owners. Plus you get a car in great visual/aesthetic condition.

I hope that once you own it you decide to drive it and enjoy it more than your P-car. Good luck.

 

Thanks much for all your thoughts, very helpful. I'm giving second thoughts to the lower mileage car now. I do think time is on my side, as I believe that prices will drift another $20k lower over the next 1-2 years, so I'm not in a huge rush. Just looking for the right one. Glad to see how everyone is enjoying theirs!

 

The answer is 'simple.' They're simple.

No power steering. So the PS pump isn't going to break.

No ABS. So the actuators aren't going to act up.

No F1 transmission. No need to worry about hydraulic pumps and clutch position sensors.

Manual convertible top. Won't fail and get stuck half way up or down.

No alarm / immobilizer to lock you out in the rain because the battery in your key fob failed.

The key performance parts don't tend to fail. With the exception of things like headers which weren't redesigned quickly enough to keep up with the engine performance enhancements, and motor mounts which again didn't keep up with engine design.

So why are the older cars less likely to break? Less stuff to break. Simple.

 

If I only put on 300 miles a year I would probably just rent an exotic a couple of times per year. Costs too much to just have it to look at

 

2 years later do you still own this car? what repairs have you made since this post? and how many miles have you driven..?
thx
David

 

Let’s revive this thread.... my view on this is most people do not use these cars enough and things go wrong. They differ maintenance which causes issues... once I sorted out my car at this point there is not much to do... just maintenance and consumable parts.. bushings, filters, even fuel pumps come into the equation. On my car I had one issue that was major (Caused by a poor service by a dealer before i owned the car)...taking that out Of the equation plan for $3k per year in maintenance.. from what I have seen.

f1 system is flawless when maintained.. when not maintained or used goes bad quickly... I would rather have higher mileage then lower.. lower means bad seals, fluids, etc..

 

I have owned my 05 gated 430 Spider for nearly 5 years now. Every year regardless of mileage I take it to my dealer for service and check and fix whatever needs to be fixed.

My costs have been minimal. Outside routine service, one sensor replacement for the equivalent of $1k. It’s cheaper to run than my 2015 Mercedes AMG wagon.

There’s always tomorrow though.

 

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/2006-f430-f1-service-history-since-new-over-19k-miles.588519/

 

Might not need to replace the leather even if it pulled back and popped out the vents. The plastic vents are the weak point and the plastic retainer posts snap. It can be a DIY restretch despite many saying it cannot be done but several of us have successfully done it and there are photos and descriptions of the process here on FerrariChat. Mine started with just one end post popped loose and I procrastinated a couple of years before pulling the dash. By then all the posts were out and the vents were totally loose. Puckers will appear around the temp sensor along with long lifted areas in the dash that flatten when in the sun. The fact that the bumps flattened when heated led me to believe that the leather could be restretched and I was right. You must have the billet vents on hand as they are an integral part of the restretch procedure. Even if you pay ~&4K for new leather, that will eventually stretch as well unless billet vents are installed. The billet vents come from Rizzo308 from Perth Australia. If you are willing to pull the dash yourself, which is not as difficult as you might imagine, you might as well do the restretch yourself as well. I should add that I live in a year round relatively warm and humid area so maybe my dash was not as bone dry as one from desert areas? Maybe that made my restretch doable?

 

I just looked at your service history. Did they tell you the issue On the clutch? 2 times in 20k is a lot.... my first clutch lasted 31k... dealer didn’t replace throw out baring but charged for it... jammed at 40k. Clutch had 80% left... did you have the same issue?

 

no issue. i just opted to change it.

 

I would say — do not buy a car from someone who simply put gas and oil into it. There are some critical pm’s req’d.