Being in similar shoes, it's a fun new adventure - that's for sure Mine definitely has quirks, she feels needy but I keep coming back for more. Needs trickle charger, AC is arctic blast or nothing, I don't know how to actually put my 488 in park other than shutting off in 1st gear like you, but man what a thrill. Just getting back from a 2hr drive on a Friday night myself. Every time I take the car out it feels like an escapade... these Italians, one can even choose between topless or no panties. Forza Ferrari
Bianco Avus best colour on a 458 IMO despite the fact that mine is in Grigio Silverstone..I, like Soulsea have owned Porsches for 20 years and finally scratched my 40 year Ferrari itch last Xmas by buying a 458..When driving it as i did last night it actually feels like the car's alive at all speeds..Porsches especially the GT ones are happier going flat out or even better on a track. The 458 needs a long time to acclimatise to especially for a serial Porsche owner..When you do gel with it it becomes second nature..Even the over enamoured steering wheels becomes 100% intuitive after a while..The trick with the 458 when driving is to rely on muscle memory when operating the indicators,wipers,horn,light dipping and not apply too much thought to these actions..When you do it becomes like tying shoelaces in that you manage to operate the controls without thought.. One advice i can give regarding the ECU playing up when starting the car after its been sitting for a while..On the OEM Odessey battery it came with the parasitic drain would confuse the ECU if the 458 hasn't been driven for 10 days or so..I bought ans Antigravity 40Ah Lithium battery about six weeks ago which isn't affected so much by parasitic draw and the ECU now behaves impeccably with no CELs whatsoever. I wish you thousands of miles joyful motoring in your stunning 458 Spider and hope you post on a regular basis to keep us entertained.. PS i still own a 981 Spyder and have a new GT3 RS WP coming next month so i'm still a Porsche man but my 458 is a keeper.
Enjoy in good health ......had similar spec just sold her car was great for 2 years no issues rock solid. Used mine at Home Depot Image Unavailable, Please Login
Loved reading this....loved how "fast" cars don't really interest you any more.....very interesting. Welcome to the 458 fam!!
Thanks for the welcome. I didn’t actually say that i’m not interested in fast cars any more, I said that I am not interested in non naturally aspirated fast cars for my special sports cars. I love my M5C as my daily, and E63S wagon before that, to also have those engines in my sports cars adds nothing to my car experience.
So this one? https://antigravitybatteries.com/products/starter-batteries/automotive/ag-h6-rs/ How many amp hours do I want? Is the standard Ferrari charger compatible with a lithium battery? Also any recs for a non baller level battery would be appreciated. Thanks.
For a car with high parasitic draw such as a 458 for the sake of an extra $40 and 2,7lbs i'd go with the 60AH battery. I got the 40Ah a few months ago as the 60Ah wasn't available then.. The standard Ferrari charger is only for lead batteries and should never be used on any Li-ion battery..I don't use a charger on mine and unless you leave it undriven for months then its not needed IMO.
Thanks John. Out of curiosity ... I have a Porsche lithium battery tender with a cigarette lighter plug. Do you happen to know if anyone makes a lighter plug to 458 plug adapter?
Sorry, i can't help you there as i have no idea..It would be the ideal solution and i imagine would be a simple mod..
So almost a couple of months in and I have to say that I love this car way more than I ever anticipated. After several very fast but unremarkable cars it has unjaded me. What started out as me dipping my toes into the Ferrari world has ended up being an incredibly rewarding driving experience ... I can't believe I'm saying this but I might end up keeping it for a lot more than six months, which would be a record for me and my automotive deficit disorder. It's going in for its annual service in January and the only thing I'll ask them to do other than standard maintenance is give me a new battery and lower it as much as possible on the stock suspension with front lift. If someone can link me to the correct front/rear spacers to flush out the wheels I would appreciate it. The one thing I have noticed is that I'm getting no exhaust volume or note change between any of the driving modes, and I'm also getting some wonderful burbling and crackling which apparently was more indicative of earlier years. So I'm guessing the previous owner either disconnected the valves, or might even have installed an aftermarket exhaust. No way for me to tell but maybe you guys can tell me what's the most likely thing going on is given the sound I'm getting ... but tldr no need for me to change whatever the setup is as it sounds heavenly. Love this thing!
Very nice car, I just bought a white 458 spider last Saturday. It is my first white Ferrari, even someone like me can still have a first. Enjoy your car!
Awesome car. I actually plugged my exhaust back in. It’s just perfect stock. your gt2rs is an awesome spec btw.
Hey, welcome & congrats on the car! Join the club The trick to using the wiper control on the 458 is to watch the icon on the dash. That makes all the difference in the world. Read the owners manual and then try the wiper while watching the icon on the dash and you can understand where the wiper mode is set to and then it all starts to make more sense. If you don't visually see the icon on the dash while working the button, then it's nearly impossible to make any sense of what the wipers are or aren't doing. Generally speaking, a battery charger designed for a traditntal battery will not properly charge a Lithium ion battery (and will most likely damage it). This has to do with the lithium cells and how the charger provides its power. Also, if you are running a Lithium battery, it's handy to have a lithium specific charger which has a recovery mode, since in extreme discharge cases, that mode is the only thing which will save your ass and bring the battery back to life. I personally would recommend the Braille i48CS: https://braillebattery.com/collections/intensity-carbon/products/i48cs-1 The standby on that battery is so good, you basically no longer need to ever use a tender. I ran one in my 458 for about a year and never used a battery tender once, despite letting the car sit up to nearly a month. I lowered mine 15mm in the front (using the stock coil overs, by simply turning down the collar and lock ring). I have a video of part of the process on youtube. Just search "Ray5961" on youtube and you should find it. I did not have the front lift, but I would guess it's probably going to be a similar situation. Personally, I wouldn't go much beyond 15mm or so on the stock coils. Wheel spacers would require using longer lug bolts, unless you use the type which have their own wheel studs pressed in (which probably would be a bad and might not even work correctly on the 458). If it were me, I think I'd just run the kind which you sandwich in and get longer lug bolts. You might want to do some more research on what people are doing. The cleanest setup is to find wheels with a slightly different inset and width I think. If you are going to run spacers, you want to get the hub centric kind. The bolt pattern for the 458 is the same as Toyota uses on a lot of their cars. 5 lug x 114.3 mm aka 5 lug x 4.5 inches. If I'm not mistaken, the hub centric part is 67.1mm for the 458 also. Anyway, make sure you know what you are doing and/or dealing with someone who does. Modifying stuff like wheel mounting and lug bolts and using spacers can quickly become more complex than you initially though and also fraught with problems. The 458 is rather touchy about its alignment and track. If you aren't careful, you might end up with a car that looks better when parked, but doesn't handle as well at 150 MPH. It's very possible they plugged the vacuum hoses going to the exhaust valves. Normally, with the 458, when you start the car cold, it should have a loud exhaust note for a moment, then shut the valves and the note should lessen while at idle. This is assuming the car is set to sport mode, but it might do it in race mode also. Normally, if you set the car to Sport mode, the exhaust should sound very, very tame under about 3500 RPM. It's really nice for highway driving. In Race mode and above, the valves should be open and provide a louder and more aggressive exhaust note. Switching between Race and Sport should be very noticeable while cruising (as far as the exhaust note goes), so if that's not happening, then I would guess the hoses have been plugged up. If they have not, then you might want to disconnect the battery (be sure to follow the reconnect procedure in the manual) to reset the car. Sometimes the valve logic can get out of whack and clearing the ECU can get things working correctly again. My guess is the previous owner plugged the vacuum lines though. Try shining a flashlight through the screens back there on the rear bumper. You'll be surprised how much you can see with a good flashlight if you peek in there. BTW, if you take the car in for service, you might want to request that they do not upgrade your ECU software. I believe most dealers upgrade the ECU software as a matter of course, during routine service, and in some cases this can change how your car sounds and even feels (usually in the shifting). If you are loving the car now, you might want to tell them to keep their hands off the ECU. That's what I always did with my 458 and never had a problem with the dealer leaving the software as it was. The 458 is an amazing car. I think more and more people are beginning to realize it's one of the best cars Ferrari has ever produced, especially in terms of a car you can fall in love with and also drive every day if you want. Spring for the i48CS. It will make all the difference in the world. Ray
With regard to lowering the car, here's a recent thread that contains some additional info: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/lowering-factory-springs-vs-novitec.580584/ Ray
So a little update ... Car is going in for annual service end of feb when she’ll also get lowered on stock springs, slap 15/20 spacers on, new battery, and power cube inspected for a year. So as opposed to many cars before her, this one is going to stay with me for a while hence the warranty. Speaking of NA goodness, I bought her a sister to keep her company in the form of a 2012 Suzuka Grey R8 V10 Spyder with the gated manual. Not sure we’ll ever see another V10 manual ever again from any brand so I felt this is a good car to get into right now and will likely be another keeper. Bought it from a friend who’s been the only owner for its 10k miles. Already ordered the tubi for it and contemplating black rims. Low res pic from the seller is all I have till I get her in by end of next week.
Great looking car soulsea! Congrats! I'm partial to the bianca avus as well. You will love the drop top. Here's mine. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Congrats Serge, you'll have to compare the V10 AWD to the V8 RWD experience. I've been toying with the idea of a manual too, specifically 911R (loved your old one).
Thanks man. I miss that SMF R ... that's a car that I might circle back to and buy again. Back in the olden days (two years ago) when I bought it I was on a 'experience a car and move one from it trip' trying to get as many cars as reasonably possible within my limited time on this rock. Now I have a slightly different approach, namely that I want to hold on, and maybe even collect special cars that give me joy and that will never be made again. I'll keep my AADD (automotive add) to my FI daily drivers that are now available with supercar performance, and buy slightly older and slightly slower supercars that fully engage me in the driving experience. It makes me cringe a little when I see people wanting to take the twitch out of the throttle of the 458 ... this is a car that demands precision, skill, and concentration from you in order to get the best out of it, that's its whole ethos. If you're going to do that buy a 488 or TTS or all the other fast cars out there. I want manuals with no auto blip, I want twitchy throttles, I want cars that you'll pay a penalty for being lazy, I want to drive. I'm currently building an epic 73 RSR 3.8 backdate, with a mix of modern cup components and classic goodies. 375 at the wheels, 2300 lbs, no nannies, no tc, that thing will be both beautiful and want to kill me at every turn if I fail in my skills ... you know the cars I've owned yet this is the one that I'm the most excited about. They're about to take all this analog stuff away from us ... I'm going down swinging.
I am a porsche guy too. Rennlister. But Im cutting down my cars. I will leave my SCUD and Spider for my toys. I think this is my best combo. Plan to cut down to 6 cars including dailys. Its just boring to look at cars and unable to drive them.
If you install the Capristo controller, you will have two options. You can run full open for the days where you are just cruising and don't mind the lack of torque, or just feel like being loud. Then on a day where you want to give it a proper flogging and get all the power and response from it, you can put the valves in stock Auto mode. This ability might also come in handy on a Sunday morning or other place where having a loud uncorked car is just not cool. Don't forget while we as enthusiasts are often fond of the sound of a Ferrari, we can't expect the same from everybody else, and we are not entitled to piss everybody off. Not trying to be a stick in the mud, rather just saying, be the cool guy in the Ferrari, not the azzhat annoying everybody all the time. You get the best of both worlds, so no need to use a ghetto-fab solution - the Capristo unit is only 660 usd.
That’s not how I use my sports cars. I take them out once or twice a week for a long spirited drive through the countryside and I come back home. If it were my daily driver (as is the case with the M5C) I have the valve option available to use when appropriate, especially so my neighbors don’t have to hear me ten times a day as I go back and forth from my house. I have no interest in driving my sports cars muted for the same reason I have no interest in driving them in auto mode ... I only have five senses and I want to engage them as much as possible. So unvalved tubi style for the R8 and valves forced to always open on the 458, cause it sounds heavenly to me already. My apologies if the above offends your sensibilities.
No offens taken. I'm not that sensitive. Aside from the noise, my point was first and foremost to also point out the advantage from a drivers perspective. As was mentioned before, you will feel some hesitation and lack of torque by leaving them open. Also, with the Capristo, you can program it so that the car automatically starts up in "Open" mode, and then there's simply the ability to go back to stock if against all odds, the situation should arise. In other words, set and forget until if needed. Suit yourself. Just a friendly suggestion.
