Every day tips for living with a 599

[Hughesie]

Isle of Man trip in May also saw me hit a mileage milestone!

[Hughesie]

I also had Gearbox issues a while ago, Simon was great at SS, my old garage less so but thats resolving itself in court on the 15th July.

[Hughesie]

Also had some suspension work done at Centre Gravity which has totally transformed the car from trying to kill me to being a pleasure to drive now but only went with -1deg of camber on the from

What it started like


They made some shims and this is how it ended up, a bit more neutral at the rear

[cake eater]

Hughesie said:

Isle of Man trip in May also saw me hit a mileage milestone!

70k miles!!

That is awesome

[cake eater]

Hughesie said:

I also had Gearbox issues a while ago, Simon was great at SS, my old garage less so but thats resolving itself in court on the 15th July.

When it comes to the F1 system, Simon at https://www.ssautotech.co.uk/ is absolutely the best

[cake eater]

Hughesie said:

Also had some suspension work done at Centre Gravity which has totally transformed the car from trying to kill me to being a pleasure to drive now but only went with -1deg of camber on the from

What it started like


They made some shims and this is how it ended up, a bit more neutral at the rear

I also highly rate Centre Gravity and my first choice.

My camber a little more extreme @ 1.8deg because of the track use. I'm thinking of getting some custom shims made to go 2.1deg camber.

I've also gone for a more stable and predictable rear but again more at 2.5deg for track work.

The 599 is a big car, long wheelbase, front engine, she needs some help to rotate in the corner but not too much. When she goes the transition from grip to slip is very fast and occasionally surprising. Which can be a little scary at times.

Suspension brushes are turning out to be a more than annual replacement

[Hughesie]

cake eater said:

Suspension brushes are turning out to be a more than annual replacement

Agreed, i had mine all round replaced 18 months ago and the top two bushes have gone already at the front so will be replaced at the next service before winter.

[Hughesie]

Annual Service time and MOT, clean bill of heath, no issues reported so happy days, even got the old stter out at the weekend for the PH event at Bicester.

[cake eater]

Hughesie said:

Annual Service time and MOT, clean bill of heath, no issues reported so happy days, even got the old stter out at the weekend for the PH event at Bicester.

Looking Good

[Hughesie]

Any news on your car Cake ?

[cake eater]

Hughesie said:

Any news on your car Cake ?

I'm planning to go to Cologne to collect it at the end of August.

Then not sure what to do as I have a dilemma of maintenance and upgrades and tours and a lack of resources and work. Priorities

So the F1 pump 'system' has been replaced and all fully operational now. It was the electric motor for the F1 pump that had failed but Ferrari don't replace individual parts or repair. I have asked to keep the old 'pump system' and I will look to get it repaired. They also replaced the relay.

I also asked the dealer to check over the brakes and brake system. They could find no fault except the calipers are binding and high wear on the CCM discs and pads. The binding calipers somehow don't compute with the pistons getting pushed back, long pedal and braking inconsistencies. The calipers were refurbished just over a year ago with new pistons and seals. But MDL have reported the same.

So I have purchased a GTO master cylinder and servo. Hopefully this will help with the feeling / consistency but maybe the calipers need something also?

For the high brake wear, they did warn me that the CCM is being reported as 80% worn and the pads need replacing. I challenged this as when the ECU previously reported that my discs were 80% worn they were in a considerably worse condition. However, Ferrari insisted and I showed them proof of when I replaced them along with the date Ferrari Manchester coded and reset the ECU.

So this leads me to another historical issue that had been mentioned in passing and that is the car potentially being clocked at some point in its life (apparently common on Ferrari as owners want to use but don't want the depreciation).
I have been told that the level of wear in the clutch and brakes is not consistent with the readings from the ECU (ie more wear than expected). I'd kind of dismissed it with the clutch but now I have seen for my own eyes what 80% worn looks like for the CCM. I know it's an algorithm in the ECU that calculates the wear and can be inaccurate. Anyway, maybe maybe not.

Next are the cam chains. My car has done 100k KM (60k miles). According to Ferrari the cam chains are a life of the engine part. Considering my usage I don't want the chains to fail resulting in end of life of the engine. But if it did 6.3 ......

Anyway, Ferrari say it's an engine out job and no way to check the stretch / position (slack remaining) in the tensioner. MDL say they have done in place and recommend doing the chains sooner rather than later. Hmmm.....

Anyway, the immediate decision is not to worry, change the pads and tyres and go for a drive.

[cake eater]

So for tyres: Nankang CR-S Vs MPS cup2

You can get some proper geeky tyre videos on YouTube

Tim Schrick
https://youtu.be/8xlDAqC0dDM?si=FQ8xA7frNFg5SQke

1.4 secs faster than cup 2r on new Manhart MH2 GTR (Base BMW M2 G87), at blister berg (car of similar weight but more power and torque)


Winning Driven Performance
https://youtu.be/O11YuT2MH54?si=EOSTnEJWhaxDNgW2

1.2 secs faster than cup 2n on 992 GT3 at spa, 0.2 - 0.4 g more corner load (completely different car but indicative of potential performance improvements)


https://www.nankangtyre.co.uk/products/motorsport/...
Front 285/30 ZR20
Rear 325/30 ZR20


Side wall flex in mini carousel (probably as hard as it gets for tyre and suspension other than carousel)





Side wall flex in YouTube corner (I think) but probably more representative than in the banking of carousel.



I think I'll try the Nankang CR-S next, I wasn't very happy with the current set of MPS Cup2

[Stedman]

cake eater said:

The binding calipers somehow don't compute with the pistons getting pushed back, long pedal and braking inconsistencies. The calipers were refurbished just over a year ago with new pistons and seals. But MDL have reported the same.

So I have purchased a GTO master cylinder and servo. Hopefully this will help with the feeling / consistency but maybe the calipers need something also?

Pad knock back? My car suffers awfully with it.

[cake eater]

Stedman said:

cake eater said:

The binding calipers somehow don't compute with the pistons getting pushed back, long pedal and braking inconsistencies. The calipers were refurbished just over a year ago with new pistons and seals. But MDL have reported the same.

So I have purchased a GTO master cylinder and servo. Hopefully this will help with the feeling / consistency but maybe the calipers need something also?

Pad knock back? My car suffers awfully with it.

Definitely this. Colin at CDT said it's a known issue. But how to prevent it? I stay away from the curbs but you just can't stop the bumps

[ANOpax]

cake eater said:

For the high brake wear, they did warn me that the CCM is being reported as 80% worn and the pads need replacing. I challenged this as when the ECU previously reported that my discs were 80% worn they were in a considerably worse condition. However, Ferrari insisted and I showed them proof of when I replaced them along with the date Ferrari Manchester coded and reset the ECU.

So this leads me to another historical issue that had been mentioned in passing and that is the car potentially being clocked at some point in its life (apparently common on Ferrari as owners want to use but don't want the depreciation).
I have been told that the level of wear in the clutch and brakes is not consistent with the readings from the ECU (ie more wear than expected). I'd kind of dismissed it with the clutch but now I have seen for my own eyes what 80% worn looks like for the CCM. I know it's an algorithm in the ECU that calculates the wear and can be inaccurate. Anyway, maybe maybe not.

Surely the higher than expected wear on the brakes and clutch is due to the fact that you (and presumably, the previous owner) have driven the car as its maker intended?

CCM wear and clutch wear aren't just algo/mileage related.

[cake eater]

ANOpax said:

cake eater said:

For the high brake wear, they did warn me that the CCM is being reported as 80% worn and the pads need replacing. I challenged this as when the ECU previously reported that my discs were 80% worn they were in a considerably worse condition. However, Ferrari insisted and I showed them proof of when I replaced them along with the date Ferrari Manchester coded and reset the ECU.

So this leads me to another historical issue that had been mentioned in passing and that is the car potentially being clocked at some point in its life (apparently common on Ferrari as owners want to use but don't want the depreciation).
I have been told that the level of wear in the clutch and brakes is not consistent with the readings from the ECU (ie more wear than expected). I'd kind of dismissed it with the clutch but now I have seen for my own eyes what 80% worn looks like for the CCM. I know it's an algorithm in the ECU that calculates the wear and can be inaccurate. Anyway, maybe maybe not.

Surely the higher than expected wear on the brakes and clutch is due to the fact that you (and presumably, the previous owner) have driven the car as its maker intended?

CCM wear and clutch wear aren't just algo/mileage related.

This is also a possibility. I'm not sure how many previous owners, think I'm the 5th owner? Or 6th? The car has averaged 1500 miles each year apart from the previous year to my ownership with only 500 miles. Don't think that's indicative of hard use?

The clutch I can understand. A couple of launches and it's toast is the internet theory. Always wanted to do the secret launch shown on TG
https://youtu.be/DeQcEXwqoDU?si=K0OC9B1Ebzap0_ON

But the CCM?

Picture of the discs the day I bought the car. Later I had a post purchase inspection at MDL. I tried to see if there was anything in my notes after they plugged in, only mention is the clutch at 70%, no mention of CCM wear. Not sure if there's a traffic light system for the wear?




A year later


Before changing out CCM, GreyPaul Nottingham said 80%


At Maranello Köln, 80% wear.


Maybe there's something with the algorithm? Maybe with the track use it (ECU calculation) has accelerated the wear and or it's less accurate?

From the last two photos I'd say there's only 20% shiny surface remaining on the second last photo and 80% on the last?

I know you can't judge by eye but to me they're very different.

[Hughesie]

Did they weigh them, that's the only way to tell !

[cake eater]

Hughesie said:

Did they weigh them, that's the only way to tell !

No, just ECU reading

[ANOpax]

For comparison, here’s the front discs on the F12. 15% worn at 27,000 miles. The ones which came off your 599 were shagged at c.35k miles (track use for sure) and even though you’ve tracked the new set, there’s no way that they look to be 80% worn.

[Hughesie]

cake eater said:

So the F1 pump 'system' has been replaced and all fully operational now. It was the electric motor for the F1 pump that had failed but Ferrari don't replace individual parts or repair. I have asked to keep the old 'pump system' and I will look to get it repaired. They also replaced the relay.

Had mine replaced at 67k - did they just replace the pump or the whole thing, actuator as well ??