Very slow and at an angle, with caution of course. w/ smiles Jimmy

 

---does driving the car up backwards help at all when going up a steep driveway?

Not if you have an F1!!!

 

hmmmm, how would an f1 transmission make a difference?

 

Speed bumps around here are never as bad as they look...just drive over them quickly...never an issue. LOL

 

One would be foolish to backup much w/F1.

Nice pot holes.

I never would have pictured that as possible!!!

 

yes, i just read in another thread that f1 transmissions wear extremely quickly when in reverse?...

 

Yes indeed they do.

Very high degree of programmed slippage. Does a great deal of wear to disk.

 

I know this might be a dumb question... but how do you guys get over speed bumps, or steep driveways?... does ferrari have a system to lift the nose up like lp 640's do?

does driving the car up backwards help at all when going up a steep driveway?

-Mitch

My last house had a steep driveway and I could not drive straight out of it without scraping. I'd have to back out of the driveway. Driving in was no problem, just as Jimmy said, go slow and at an angle.

 

How does backing out straight prevent you from scraping? I understand that the back wheels may have a better angle of attack compared to the front wheels... but the front wheels have to approach the tight angle eventually. To think of it in physical terms, "backing out" of the difficult driveway is no different from "driving forward" into it when you return home. I don't see how that makes a difference.

 

Ah! I guess this is a situation where you're turning into or out of the drive, then. I was just thinking about backing straight in and out. I imagine turning into a steep driveway would act the same way as trying to take a speed bump at an angle. Onno, I'd probably better understand it with some sort of a model to play with

@Pete: Sometimes the best choices truly are the simplest Good to hear yours worked out for you.

 

The GT40 replica crowd have a similar problem with speed bumps and sloped driveways, so an enterprising owner came up with a hydraulic lift kit for the front of the car. Much more robust, and better quality than the air powered lift kits on the market, and they're fairly adaptable to most coilover type suspension setups.

He now has a sideline business selling them: http://ramliftpro.com/index.html and at least one of the major manufacturers of GT40 replicas in the US is offering them in their option list. If someone wanted a setup for their Ferrari(s), I'm sure he would be open to making any necessary modifications to his offering so it would work.

Disclaimer: I'm not connected with this business in any way, but the owner is a personal friend of mine in Houston.

 

The GT40 replica crowd have a similar problem with speed bumps and sloped driveways, so an enterprising owner came up with a hydraulic lift kit for the front of the car. Much more robust, and better quality than the air powered lift kits on the market, and they're fairly adaptable to most coilover type suspension setups.

He now has a sideline business selling them: Home and at least one of the major manufacturers of GT40 replicas in the US is offering them in their option list. If someone wanted a setup for their Ferrari(s), I'm sure he would be open to making any necessary modifications to his offering so it would work.

Disclaimer: I'm not connected with this business in any way, but the owner is a personal friend of mine in Houston.

Just caught this: I'm wondering on my two with the dial shocks, if I can adjust to a soft dial and get an inch or two....will have to try that and see. IF so, I could just leave in the soft mode for driveway parking and turn off for regular driving.

I just angle over the bump, one tire at a time or NOT at the same time and don't have much of a problem ... only once/twice have I experienced a bump where the height is greater than any clearance on both cars... WAY too high a bump.

BTW: Those potholes are priceless.....I would be inclined to up it one, and put dollar bills on the ground

 

To resurrect an old thread, Dave (Ferraridriver) and I, with my buddy Simon's help, have just developed/adapted the RamLiftPro hydraulic lift system for my 550 Maranello. It was not an insignificant task as it required modifying the front shock mounts, sourcing new springs, making adapters for the springs & hydraulic rams and multiple fits & tries.

Then there was the electrical side which involved sourcing various relays and switches, and bringing a fair amount of amperage to the front of the car for the hydraulic pump.

But all in all I think it's turned out well, and I'm pleased.With the geometrical advantage of the coilovers, we've achieved about 2" of lift with a 40mm hydraulic ram, so no more worries about going over speed bumps and up steep driveways.

The system can be activated whether the car is sitting still, or on the fly and it takes about 5 seconds to get to full lift. Control is manual via the new LIFT switch mounted in the "dummy" position of the center console.

Once the system is at full lift, it'll stay that way with very little bleed down. Simon, the designer & builder of the basic system had it on his GT40 and occasionally left his car at full lift for several weeks without it bleeding down. To drop the car back to "normal" height, the pump is simply run in reverse.

The only downside I can envision with this system is that we've lost about 3" of suspension travel due to the hydraulic rams. We've made up for this somewhat by using less preload with slightly stiffer springs (350 lbf/in vs 310 lbf/in stock), and fewer coils (5 vs 6) than stock. We've also increased the travel by machining the top shock mounts, so the net effect may be more like 2" lost. This loss of travel "should" only affect those who track their cars and who see significant suspension compression (ie high banked tracks).

Now to get some miles on it so I can provide a longer term perspective/opinion. Comments are welcome and here's a couple of video clips I made of it today:

 

John- Very ingenious. That rear fog light switch position for the Euro cars has come in handy for quite a few owners. How much weight do you estimate was added? Not that it matters much for a 3700 lb GT with 400+ lb-ft of torque.

 

Thanks Taz, I'm guessing it's added between 25 & 35 lbs?

Our entries/exits and driveways here in TX are designed & built more for pickemup trucks than exotics, and I saw a guy in what looked like a brand new flat black Murcie (paper dealer tags) come out of a Taco Bell a week ago, and he nearly ripped the whole front end off that car. It was scraping so badly that I could see the whole front end shuddering as he tried to get clear. It was one of those really nasty situations where he was past the point of no return, so he just had to suck it up and get on with it. He left some VERY expensive fiberglass behind.

With the 550, I've definitely had my share of rubbing & scraping, but no more!

 

John- Those little wings on the 550 spoiler definitely have a penchant for scraping. All my Z06s (five of them) scraped on my driveway, but the 575M does not. C5 spoilers were only ~$100, though, and the C6 spoilers were only ~$200, so not as big a deal. You just unbolted the old one, threw it away, and bolted on the new one. 15 minute job.