Ferrari California 4.3 ceramic brake replacement cost?

[pennylane]

Does anyone know the cost of replacement ceramic brakes for a California 4.3 please?

After many years I’m looking to buy my first Ferrari however I have two young kids so need a four seater (otherwise I’ll probably never drive the car) but just realised that the Cali comes with ceramics as standard, which I believe can be expensive to replace?

[MitchT]

Before you even think about the brakes, take a look at the rear seats. To even call them seats is quite optimistic. Will you kids fit in them? Are you, and anyone else who might be in the front of the car, small enough to position your seats so as afford some leg room to the rear occupants? The rear seat backs are virtually vertical - anyone sitting in them would feel like whey were folded in half. If your kids are very small and you plan to move the car on before they've grown too much, then you might be okay, but if I wanted a genuine four-seat Ferrari I'd be looking at a 456, a 612 or an FF. Otherwise a Maserati Granturismo would be a better prospect.

[pennylane]

Thanks for the heads up...luckily my wife and I are quite short! I've found car seats that take up as little room as possible (whilst being a good safety rating) and with them in its still comfortable.

I like the FF but guessing running costs are astronomical being a V12?

[johnnyreggae]

https://www.ferrariparts.co.uk/diagram/ferrari/cal...

Remember the theoretical likelihood of carbon disc replacement is very low - having said that I believe pads are not thirty quid a set.....

[DanoS4]

TBF, (and while I'm an aspiring Ferrari-owner, I'm purely an "observer" in this conversation), while the discs are pricey, they're not as expensive as I thought, and neither are the pads. Granted, as you say, not £30, but pleasantly surprising

On a similar topic, I "convinced" the wife down a similar route with a Porsche. We're both on the vertically-challenged scale, but the kids (at the time, not in car seats - older and stroppier) found the cabriolet too uncomfortable due to the same type of upright issues.

Ended up with a Carrera 4 coupe. That they still don't get in the back! LOL!

Good luck with your hunt - looking forward to the pics

Dano

[ANOpax]

pennylane said:

Thanks for the heads up...luckily my wife and I are quite short! I've found car seats that take up as little room as possible (whilst being a good safety rating) and with them in its still comfortable.

I like the FF but guessing running costs are astronomical being a V12?

We have both cars and the FF doesn’t seem to be any more expensive to run than the Cali. The one liability you have with the FF but not the Cali is the PTU but there are now specialists in the U.K. who can rebuild and improve it for £8.5k. The Cali suffers from poor DCT gearbox cooling so the DCT on the Cali is more prone to failure than the one on the FF (especially the post 2012 FFs where the brittle tie wraps were changed out as a running change). A DCT rebuild will set you back about £6-7k.

Given that FFs can be had for Cali money, I wouldn’t hesitate to get the FF if you fancy the idea of one.

[pennylane]

DanoS4 said:

TBF, (and while I'm an aspiring Ferrari-owner, I'm purely an "observer" in this conversation), while the discs are pricey, they're not as expensive as I thought, and neither are the pads. Granted, as you say, not £30, but pleasantly surprising

On a similar topic, I "convinced" the wife down a similar route with a Porsche. We're both on the vertically-challenged scale, but the kids (at the time, not in car seats - older and stroppier) found the cabriolet too uncomfortable due to the same type of upright issues.

Ended up with a Carrera 4 coupe. That they still don't get in the back! LOL!

Good luck with your hunt - looking forward to the pics

Dano

From the Ferrari classic parts link thats just been shared it appears to me that the front discs are circa £6k - obviously thats just for the parts, no labour

[pennylane]

ANOpax said:

pennylane said:

Thanks for the heads up...luckily my wife and I are quite short! I've found car seats that take up as little room as possible (whilst being a good safety rating) and with them in its still comfortable.

I like the FF but guessing running costs are astronomical being a V12?

We have both cars and the FF doesn’t seem to be any more expensive to run than the Cali. The one liability you have with the FF but not the Cali is the PTU but there are now specialists in the U.K. who can rebuild and improve it for £8.5k. The Cali suffers from poor DCT gearbox cooling so the DCT on the Cali is more prone to failure than the one on the FF (especially the post 2012 FFs where the brittle tie wraps were changed out as a running change). A DCT rebuild will set you back about £6-7k.

Given that FFs can be had for Cali money, I wouldn’t hesitate to get the FF if you fancy the idea of one.

I didn't realise that the FF prices had come down so much! Does the FF come with ceramic brakes as standard like the Cali?

The FF could be an interesting proposition, certainly looks a lot more spacious in the rear

[ANOpax]

pennylane said:

I didn't realise that the FF prices had come down so much! Does the FF come with ceramic brakes as standard like the Cali?

The FF could be an interesting proposition, certainly looks a lot more spacious in the rear

Yes, CCBs were standard on both cars. The FF is a true 4 seater with plenty of luggage space by supercar standards. The hatch and folding rear seats make it very practical too - more than the Maserati GT with which it is often compared for 4 seat capability.

[rhyary]

There is an option to refurbished worn out Ferrari carbon ceramic brakes. See my information on “rebrakeusa” for a more compelete explanation. In short, Ferrari uses Carbon Ceramic Matrix type of CCB. The friction layer has high content of carbon, and carbon oxidizes in 420deg Celsius. That leaves a rough surface that eats pads for breakfast. Even if the braking is still good. If continuing to use the disk, it will damage the core disk. If the disk is treated before the core structure is damaged, a new friction layer can be bound and restored the disk to a fully functioning ccb at less than half the cost vs new. The new friction layer is mostly Silicone -Carbide. The lack of carbon in the friction layer ensure that oxidation does not happens.

[andyr]

I wouldn’t worry about discs. They should last the lifetime of the car.

You can expect about 1% of disc wear per 1000 miles. Approx.

Rears tend to wear a bit more of you light up the traction control a lot.

My 458 is a 2013 with 16k miles and discs are 18% worn.

[MDL111]

andyr said:

I wouldn’t worry about discs. They should last the lifetime of the car.

You can expect about 1% of disc wear per 1000 miles. Approx.

Rears tend to wear a bit more of you light up the traction control a lot.

My 458 is a 2013 with 16k miles and discs are 18% worn.

I had to replace my discs at c 50% worn due to rusty bolts (salt) and the car had done more than 90k km at the time - so they will last ages if you drive normally and don’t use it on salted roads - could probably have gotten nearly double the mileage out of them (FF, so a rather heavy car and lots of autobahn driving)

[Spleen]

ANOpax said:

Given that FFs can be had for Cali money, I wouldn’t hesitate to get the FF if you fancy the idea of one.

Wait, what? Show me where I can get an FF for around 75-80k.

[ANOpax]

Spleen said:

ANOpax said:

Given that FFs can be had for Cali money, I wouldn’t hesitate to get the FF if you fancy the idea of one.

Wait, what? Show me where I can get an FF for around 75-80k.

Two years ago (when I made the original comment), I would have done.
But today, I don’t have my Time Machine to hand…

Edited by ANOpax on Friday 11th August 08:24

[Whip2001]

All the info on brakes is useful - but I'll stick my neck out and say the thoughts of kids in a Ferrari is more noteworthy. They're children. The rear is going to be toast, surely.

[murphyaj]

Whip2001 said:

All the info on brakes is useful - but I'll stick my neck out and say the thoughts of kids in a Ferrari is more noteworthy. They're children. The rear is going to be toast, surely.

I've been ferrying my little boy around in my Ferrari since he was 5 (now 7), and in a couple of Aston Martins before that. Just make sure you don't let them drink anything other than water, and make sure it's in a no-spill bottle. If they eat anything make sure it's nothing that will stain; eg chocolate and strawberries are best avoided. Yes you'll get some mud here and there, and they might sneeze over the leather, but it's nothing some good quality leather cleaner can't sort out easy enough.