The Ferrari 458 could be one of the prettiest Ferraris ever made, super sleek lines making it almost subtle and elegant rather than screaming in your face. The screaming in your face is left to the naturally aspirated 4.5 V8 that revs all the way to 9,000rpm, making some seriously intoxicating noises.
With all that said, how can this be made better? Make it louder, make it lower and fit some wheels that don’t look like they were pinched from a mid spec Ford Mondeo. I know what you might be thinking; “Sacrilege! You can’t modify such a stunning car, you’ll ruin it!”. Well, we certainly don’t think we ruined it. Hopefully neither do you!
What you are looking at here is the last Akrapovic Evolution system left available for the 458, paired with some Capristo downpipes. If you’ve ever heard a stock 458 exhaust, I’m sure you can just about imagine the kind of noise achieved from this set up. Very loud, but truly epic. You can also see the Fabspeed carbon engine covers, oil cap and airbox lid. Hidden away in the airbox is an ITG pro filter for a little extra airflow.
Moving on to how the car sits. It isn’t exactly high off the ground, but has quite a bit of arch gap in standard form. As you can imagine, there isn’t a huge amount of choice when it comes to suspension upgrades for a low volume car like this. But we still managed to find the perfect solution. Novitec springs (made by our favourite suspension manufacturer, KW.) Only a subtle drop, but enough to stop it looking like it has offroad capabilities. The 458 manages to make its standard wheels look pretty small and once some Novitec springs had been installed, they really didn’t fit with the proportions of the car. A change had to be made to something bigger, with better fitment.
We went for Vossen S21-02. 21″ on the front, 22″ on the rear.
Final Spec
Akrapovic Evolution Exhaust
Capristo Downpipes
ITG Air Filter
Fabspeed Carbon Engine Bay Trims
Novitec by KW Springs
Vossen S21-02