What RPM is considered too high that will harm the engine

if you're not redlining the engine every chance you get, you're doing something wrong

 

+1.
I would say anything up to 9000 rpm should be fine. That's why they call it redline. If 7750 was its safe limit then that would be the redline.
Now 10000rpm might be considered as unsafe.

 

First and most important rule - warm up your engine before any further action (going fairly slowly for few miles). If you are unsure what you are doing I would advise you to drive in Rain mode to get idea how car reacts on your inputs. After you feel confidant enough you can step up to Sport mode. In meantime you will understand what is optimal rpm for every gear you are in depending on driving style you are performing in that moment. You should use Race mode after you spend more time with your 458 so you know in advance how car reacts on some aggressive inputs on various surfaces & weather condition.

Taking advanced driving course is highly recommended since you are driving pretty powerful & expensive toy.

 

lol! There are rev limiters in place to prevent harm to the engine.

I have not found a significant difference between sport and race mode for street driving. Race shifts are a bit jerkier so I would keep it in sport for normal use. On a track the intervention by systems would be slightly delayed in race mode. note: race mode is not a scary mode. Any body with a driver's license should be able to handle it without any fuss. All systems off is another story. Better know what you are doing before going that route.

 

Hit 9k every chance you get once the engine is warm. These cars aren't Eco boxes. They are designed for high performance. Bang the gears abs enjoy. Once you get the hang of it I love running with CST off. Much more fun. Of course I am used to FGT and Vipers with only your right foot as traction control.

 

Damage is extremely unlikely. The engine has been constructed of light, strong, durable,
high dollar kit; assembled to work like a Swiss watch, and ready for Challenge racing.

Based on earlier models, an overrev of 1000 RPMS (10,000 total) will not see the engine
grenade. There are videos of 512 TRs spinning at 10,000 RPMs (RedLine is 8,000) and the engine does not come apart. I have over 20 minutes of above RedLine operation on my F355 engine.

What happens is that as the revs rise, wear increases; as you get over RedLine, wear increases rapidly (somewhere between cubically and exponentially). So, you might get 100,000 miles out of the engine using 9,000 RPMs as RedLine; 10,000 miles using 9,500 RPMs; 1,000 using 10,000 RPMs. But the engine is not going to grenade (like a pushrod V8).

 

Many good advice here but this is my favorite.

Enjoy your car- take your time to learn her. And yes make sure to warm her up properly. Just like you wouldn't wake up and instantly begin running as hard as you can- you need to warm up a little etc. Same basic idea here. And its not just the motor that needs warming- the tires do also.

 

Anytime. Good to hear you are learning the car. That is the best thing to do. Always have respect for the power that these great cars have. Once you get comfortable, rev your 458 out. These cars like the revs. It's not like a pushrod engine in a Vette or Viper. They tend to run out of steam at the higher rev range. It took me some time to get used the power band of my Lambos and Ferrari cars as well as my McLarens. Now I just love to hit the upper RPMs of all those cars. Trust me in a couple of months you will be at red line enjoying the sound and feel. Congrats and enjoy!

 

I have a 430 and when I get carried away the rev limiter saves the day...it trips about 95k or so....

 

What he said! I learned to drive performance cars in a Viper at Sebring and the Daytona 24 hour course with nothing but your right foot as traction control. I always drive my car in CT-Off (even in the rain but with more caution). I rev my FF and 458 all the way to red line every possible chance I get.

I agree with letting the engine warm up.. easy thing to do there is turn on the VDA display and drive slow until it turns green.

 

What matters is the total time spent at or near red line. While it is true that these engines are designed for sustained high RPM running (after warm up of course), longevity will be affected by constantly running to and staying near redline. There is a reason that endurance racers seek to get the most speed out of their cars while actually finishing the race. So for example in a 12-hour race they will not run to red line for every shift. They will back off so as to get the most speed without sacrificing reliability.

 

Correct. Work the gears to attenuate engine torque. Sustained high RPM redlining is just accelerating wear.

 

IMO like someone said LET YOUR ENGINE OIL WARM UP BEFORE ANY HARD DRIVING!!!

I just got my 458 a month ago, I'm no expert by any means but I did read the driving manual and it says DO NOT rev a cold engine or accelerate hard with cold oil. I believe it said always let your oil warm to 180 degrees before any hard driving.

 

With the passage of time auto engines have become more and more durable while delivering previously unimagined levels of power. The standards of testing are incredibly rigorous and you can be sure that rev limiter keeps the engine well within a safe range that causes no harm to the motor. In addition, with all Ferrari's now having F1 gearboxes, an over rev from entering at too low a gear at high speed is impossible so it is harder and harder to damage a factory engine nowadays. There are 2 things you do want to avoid though:

1. As already stated oil temperature is CRITICAL. Do not drive the engine hard until its fluids are up to the correct operating range.

2. While the odd touch here and there won't damage anything you do want to avoid hitting the rev limiter often and for extended periods of time. Being on the limiter introduces a whole heap of vibrations and harmonics to the engine that can cause damage or premature failure.

That said drive your 458, get it warm, and then rev the engine and let it breath!!!!

 

More precisely::

There is a function of the RPM and throttle position that determines the wear rate. Lets call this WR(rpm,tp)

Total Wear = INTEGRAL{ WR(rpm(t),tp(t))*dt } from (startup) to (shutdown)

 

Ferrari has spent hours at wide open throttle and max rpm on the engine dyno, so unless your engine has been hurt on some prior occasion I wouldnt worry too much about bouncing off the rev limiter on occasion. The maximum load at high rpms is on the rods at TDC on the exhaust stroke. I'm sure Ferrari has specified the proper rod material and design along with light pistons to reduce this load to acceptable levels, which usually means a safety margin of at least 2X. The second most stressed component at high rpms is the valve train, particularly the valve springs. But again, I wouldn't worry unless you have 100K miles on your engine. Keeping a good quality oil in the engine is important. Most good oils have additives that make them only legal for "off highway" use only as our legislators have deemed said additives as detrimental to our environment.

 

At the same time, a Ferrari engine needs redlining regularly (let's say 10 times a year) to run well. My classics (330GTC and 365BB) were redlined and they consistently ran much better than friends' engines who were too afraid to take their engine there. Much better throttle response, more HP, better running at idle. Long periods of redlining are not good, but no redlining at all isn't good either. My 550 felt a lot better than a friend's, but now that he has done 20k miles in his, his engine has definitely improved in performance.


Onno

 

You think it burns off the carbon like in the old days??

 

I'm not quite sure about the physical explanation. Whether it's burning off carbon, reducing detritus build-up in the oil, or a combination, or other phenomena. But I have seen it for myself often enough to know it really makes a difference.

My classics' engines gradually improved their running over time, and gave me less and less hassle as time went on. A very satisfying process to experience.

Onno