How Cheki repaired the Magneride shock absorbers of his Ferrari 599 GTB

What should you do when a defective part on your Ferrari fails outside of the warranty? Buy the same part, with the same defects, and it will fail again? If not, what alternatives are available to you? Are they complicated to implement? Will you be able to make a financial difference? Without losing the authenticity of your Ferrari?

@cheki's feedback on the Magneride shock absorbers on his Ferrari 599 GTB is very interesting and characteristic enough to provide you with concrete leads.

What's the problem?

When I came back to pick up my Ferrari 599 GTB after it had been inspected, the inspector told me, "It's perfect, super clean, there's just a little grease on the right front shock absorber body, but nothing majorly out of balance!"
The poor guy must have seen my face turn pale, and despite his "No, nothing serious, eh! A slight leak to watch out for," the cause was clear to me: something had to be done.

So, why act quickly?

For two main reasons:

- The first is obvious: there's no way I'm driving a 620-hp car with sub-optimal damping performance.
The Ferrari 599 GTB is a rather wild car and doesn't cope well with somewhat vague suspension. So loose geometry, wooden tires, or leaky shock absorbers are out of the question!

- The second reason is structural. The Ferrari 599 GTB has several flaws: the TFT screen, the radiators, the silent blocks... and the shock absorbers, among others!
So rebuilding them means leaving behind, at least for a while, a problem endemic to the model.

The decision was made to rebuild the two front shock absorbers because we always work in pairs.

The three possible options

Faced with this problem, three fairly simple options presented themselves to us:

1. Replace with new Ferrari shock absorbers

This first option was quickly ruled out, since, at €1,800 each, replacing the same defective parts was absolutely out of the question. The original shock absorbers age very poorly and end up leaking oil. I don't want to go back to parts that have, on the one hand, the same technical properties as the ones I had, and probably the same age (even if they are sometimes recent stock).

2. Replace with non-OEM shock absorbers

This second option was considered, but the loss of modulation with the driving modes was not an option. It's a bit like putting steel discs on cars that are CCM.

A new option seems to have emerged via @simlewiking84 but it was a bit late for me.

This is the German company Aerosus which offers new reinforced magnetic shock absorbers: https://aerosus.fr/fiorano/amortisseur-arriere-ferrari-599-gtb-fiorano.html

@Fioranosoul&power implemented it on his Ferrari 599 GTB, at a cost of €2,500 from his specialist, labor included, for two shock absorbers and a 15-day turnaround time.

It was an attractive solution, but I didn't have much perspective on it, and I had already checked off the third option in my head.

3. Have our existing shock absorbers reconditioned

So, the third option was chosen. Things quickly became simple: not a single French damping specialist was capable of reconditioning magnetic dampers. EUROFAC, Sachs, Performance, etc.: I called everyone, but no one wanted to get involved.

So, following the advice and experience of @ladivademaranello26, but also @Driveandbirdie, @Tavutatete, and @BTX, I decided to contact Nagengast, a company specializing in the reconditioning of magnetic dampers in Poland.

In Nagengast's case, they replace all the damaged seals that were causing the leak, the piston rods are reconditioned, the lower ball joints are replaced, and the dampers are refilled with new magnetic fluid, since the existing one has lost its properties.

This is now a solution that is well-known and proven by many owners on Ferrarista and elsewhere.

The replacement process

I must say that contact with Nagengast was easy and straightforward; I only communicated with them by email. I asked for a quote, which was sent to me and which I accepted.

I then took my car to my specialist (https://www.byff.fr/), who dismantled and shipped it. I took advantage of his vacation so he could keep my Ferrari 599 GTB, without the front wheel, in his workshop, without it bothering him.

Once the package arrived in Poland, I received a very well-designed tracking link, with details of the progress of the work and the expected timeframe. I then received an email confirming the feasibility of the work and the start of the work.

As promised, the work was completed two weeks later. I paid the invoice by bank transfer, and the package was then immediately shipped to my specialist. Upon receipt of the package, my professional confirmed that the work was very thorough, with the added bonus of replacing the ball joints included in the price, which wasn't originally planned.

And yet, the operation was delicate since the shock absorbers were split in two for repair!

Feelings after reassembly

Reassembly was done properly (3 hours of disassembly/reassembly) and recovery was completed last week. The car definitely feels more sound, more directional, and more responsive.
Rust from the road seems to be handled much better, and I find it dives less under braking, especially on uneven ground.
Nothing to report yet, so I'll be able to be more definitive after the Spa-Classic breakaway scheduled for the end of May.

In short, as you've probably gathered, so far so good.
The only annoying thing is that the price has been increasing significantly over the past few months.
I didn't pay the same price as my friends who had the procedure done recently, and the price I paid is probably already different as we speak.
A bit like everything else, you might say...

By the way, how much does it cost?
Well, I paid €1,900 for the entire service, including labor (€1,600 for the shock absorbers alone), which is the price of a single shock absorber without labor at Ferrari.
So, I'd say it's a good deal!

Nagengast assures that his procedure strengthens the shock absorbers once they've been rebuilt. We'll see how they work; if the shock absorbers start having problems again in 40,000 kilometers, that's fine with me, and at that point, I'd definitely go outside the OEM to improve the car's overall handling.

If you liked this article, you might also like:

- 25 tutoriaux indispensables pour que votre Ferrari reste au top

- [Tuto] Comment j’ai résolu le problème d’alarme de ma Ferrari

- Usure, remplacement, … Toute la vérité sur les disques CCM de votre Ferrari