I had to hurry to see if for myself. There was a LaFerrari at my local Cars and Coffee over the weekend, but I wasn't in a rush to see this particular car. Instead, I wanted a closer look at the wheels. A friend had tipped me off that they were worth a glance specifically because something seemed hilariously wrong. I made my way through the crowd as the owner fired up his 6.3-liter V-12 and HY-KERS powertrain to let loose 950 horsepower, and there I saw what I was looking for—a run of wheel weights sitting on the outside edge of the wheel.
Quickly, I snapped my photo. Surely this has to be a mistake on the part of the person who originally fitted the wheels and tires to this LaFerrari. There's no way you could be happy walking up to your million-dollar hypercar only to see seven little weights staring back at you. Was this wheel bent out of shape at some point and the weights were keeping things in order until a new wheel could be ordered? Did someone fail their weight placement test at tire installation school?
Wheel weights on a LaFerrari
I had questions and I was surprised by the answers. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the correct placement as signed off from the factory. You can go back and glance at other hardcore Ferrari variants (such as the 599 GTO) and you'll find a gaggle of weights hanging out on the outer portion of the wheel. There's protocol in place for placing the weights inside the wheel if the owner desires, but it's not as perfect a balance as you achieve with them on the outside. You're may also encounter clearance issues with larger brake setups.
The thinking from Ferrari HQ is that this is basically a race car and it doesn't matter if you see the wheel weights. They perform a function and their form is less important. Ferrari makes a valid point, certainly, but it's still jarring to see wheel weights prominently placed on the outer portion of the wheel of a seven-figure hypercar. It's especially jarring when you consider that nearly every lesser machine manages to find a way to hide the weights.
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