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Performance Mods?!

17K views 92 replies 14 participants last post by  lcdave 
#1 ·
I've been absolutely seduced by this exotic since I first saw one in '08 and then bought my '13 GTS coupe. Since then, I bought a then new '17 MC Cabrio. She is is timeless and stunning in and out and w/ and exhaust note that's second to none. However! I drive an '18 M5 as my daily, that blasts from 0-60 in 2.8 and does 10 sec 1/4 mile! What are the most effective performance upgrades for the Masi, to at least drop a second off the time?...
 

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#3 ·
In my opinion, the 2 "Must-Have" mods for the GT is the DBW (drive-by-wire) enhancement module from FD and Larini sport cats (also from FD). Not only do you increase hp and torque by about 20, but throttle response is massively improved from stock. The car just flies from a standing start, and although I haven't done any official tests on it, I wouldn't be surprised if 0-60 was improved by at least 1/2 sec. That being said, this is still no sports car and guys shouldn't have any delusions about it either. The GT is just too massive and heavy to be anything other than a luxurious sporty cruiser, no matter what mods are on it.

If you're looking for the best all-around car that combines the comfort, good looks, and sound of the GT along with the athletic prowess of a world-class sports car, the Ferrari Portofino is IT! If I had to sell all my cars and keep only 1, it would be the Portofino. It's that good. Not only can you daily drive it but you also have 90% of the performance envelope of a 488. This car is a grand slam for Ferrari.

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Ferrari california Motor vehicle
 
#8 ·
In my opinion, the 2 "Must-Have" mods for the GT is the DBW (drive-by-wire) enhancement module from FD and Larini sport cats (also from FD). Not only do you increase hp and torque by about 20, but throttle response is massively improved from stock.
View attachment 122811

The DBW module does not increase hp at all, and I highly doubt the sport cats would increase 20hp.


I had the DBW module and did not feel it made the car faster. It's pretty much the same as stepping on the gas harder.
 
#4 ·
There is no way that it drops by half a second. 20 extra horse might shave a tenth. The dbw makes the car feel more responsive, but if you mash the pedal with or without the dbw, the outcome will be the same. With the dbw, you simply don’t have to be as aggressive with the accelerator in order to get the power.
 
#5 ·
Technically what you say is true, but in the real world, the difference is pretty profound. I've had these mods now on my GT for over 2 years and the difference is like night and day over what the car felt like before. I had a loaner (stock) GT a few months ago while my car was getting serviced and it felt like a totally different car. From a standing start and during highway passing, it felt like an eternity to get the loaner car to get up and go. One of these days, I have to get my GT to the track and do some official runs. If only the nearest track wasn't so far from me :(
 
#6 ·
You are correct. The module does make it "feel" a lot more powerful because, at 1/4 throttle (for example), with the module, it'll give you more than 25% of the cars' power. Reminds me of GM engines of the not so distant past; step moderately on the gas and, wow, pretty decent power. But when you keep pressing, not much more happens.
 
#7 ·
I'll say it again. Nitrous.
 
#11 ·
I disagree. As I mentioned previously, DBW improves throttle response significantly which is a big part of overall performance and drivability. It's not just perception. Performance improvements are real. Reflexes are sharper and the car gets to speed much quicker. Before, I had issues just merging onto a highway because the car took forever getting up speed. Now, after DBW, getting up to speed quickly is a piece of cake.

But it's just not my words, FD themselves describes it as such....

Grancabrio Drive By Wire Enhancement Module for Maserati GranCabrio

But if you still think it's all BS, I invite you to a drag race anytime you're in the area and then we'll see......:smile2:
 
#24 ·
Understood, I was definitely over zealous in my initial request! Driving an M5 everyday, that sucks the eyeballs to the back of your head in launch mode, jades you! >:)
 
#15 ·
Old school rule of thumb is 1/10 second per 100 lbs in the quarter mile. It would be interesting to see how quick it would be if you gutted one.
 
#17 ·
To make any SIGNIFICANT impact on this car's performance you either need to supercharge it, turbocharge it, or shed about 500 + lbs . Not a lot of ways you're going to attain that last option without destroying what this car is..:|

This past weekend I drove a Ferrari Pista. 700 + hp , 570 ft/lbs torque and the damn thing weighs less than 2,900 Lbs. Holy crap ! :surprise: You step on it at pretty much any RPM level and you feel as you have just been catapulted ; it also sustains that acceleration until you let off. Got back in the GT and felt as if I was driving a snail. :frown2: Almost made me think about having a Novitech SC installed, but it won't pass smog in California, so I'll just have to be content with the performance as it is, although no real complaints, it's perfectly quick enough for the grand touring vehicle that it is. :thumbsup:
 
#36 · (Edited)
There is a lot more to an automobile then how it accelerates...My buddy just sold his E92 V8 M3 because there was no where to drive the car properly...You can't use the power in this country realistically. You can always get a Hellcat or Dodge Demon...? Just saying...Jason
 
#58 ·
Wow, this thread really got going ;) We do our best to check the forums but we're not on here all the time, checking every post. We just try to help when we can. Sometimes we're more active than others depending on how busy we are.

18000rpm, we don't always know who is who on the forum but honestly, you may have had a problem with your installer. We hate to say that especially if it it turns out to not be true but if it was who we think it may have been we did have a few complaints and when we looked into an install with at least one customer in detail, we did find issues that would affect performance of the kit. With that said, we're not wanting to call that installer out publicly or anything, mistakes happen, one day you have a good tech at the shop, a few months later, maybe the same talent is no longer with the shop and you get a different install tech just trying to do his best. It's a challenge we see that faces many shops, even the best ones. So we simply no longer recommend them and we'll just leave it at that.

All this really means is that we're honestly not sure that you got the same results as you should have on your GT-S. With that said, would that additional difference have helped enough for you to report different, it's really hard to say. Some people appreciate that difference more than others. Of course, it's still possible that yours was installed well but we seem to remember questioning the install at the time we discussed and never really got to the bottom of it but later found an error with the same installer that revealed a problem that was correctable (again, if we aren't mixing up customers here)

It's true that we don't quote any hard fast improvement times, most people with the upgrade agree that it makes a real improvement on the car and are very happy with it. Some owners install them on cars with an already low performing F1 system that has problems while another may install the kit on a well setup and maintained F1 car, honestly their results will vary a bit just for that reason alone.

Sport Cats, ECU Tune make a nice improvement but if you're talking about a big power adder, which we think of as 75+ horsepower, the only way forward is forced induction or perhaps NOS as JLobo has done. For the new Turbo cars, we can obviously do a bit more but there are limits as to what can be done on a Normally Aspirated car.

Hope that helps but we think the main point is that good improvements can be made to these cars not just in power but in response, handling braking, etc... but you want to have the right expectation that it's not going to completely change the car into a GT3 slaying monster or anything. These upgrades will enhance what you have and help you get more enjoyment from it.

Best Regards,
 
#59 ·
My experience with the DBW was it did do what was expected (snappier throttle response) but it did not actually make the car faster. Given how it works, assuming you're giving the car full throttle I don't see how it could possibly improve acceleration times (the time it takes to stomp on the gas pedal and reach WOT is pretty negligible even for a stock car).


Regardless, the OP was looking for mods that could improve 0-60 or quartermile times by at least 1 second and I think most here can agree that short of some kind of forced induction setup is unlikely to be achieved on the Granturismo (within reasonable costs). Keep in mind when Maserati increased the car by 20hp in 2012 (434hp vs 454hp) the official 0-60 time improved by 0.2 seconds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maserati_GranTurismo#Performance).
 
#62 ·
How the DBW works...Brief explanation... You have a gas pedal position sensor and a throttle body. Both with a range from 0-100% The TB controls air going into the engine..Stock a 25% press of the throttle =25% throttle opening...The DBW manipulates the data and a 25% press may equal 35% throttle...Once you get out of the lower pedal positions then the gain gets smaller as we still need to end up at 100%..Jason
 
#63 ·
So pretty much the equivalent of manually tightening the throttle cable ( on those “ancient cars” that have one ), to remove any slack which might have been there, eh ? :wink2: But wouldn’t that quicker throttle response, as minor as it may be, translate to some small fraction of a second gain before you get the pedal down to 100 % ( wot ) and thus enabling the car to accelerate faster by , say , maybe 1/100 sec. ?!

Hey, a hundredth of a second in Formula 1 is enough to cost you a podium step . :frown2:
 
#66 ·
I don't agree in the least...It doesn't help the 0-60 and a youtube video from someone that sells the product is pretty much useless...Manufactures don't leave .6 seconds 0-60 on the table like that...Jason
 
#67 ·
Try this (random numbers)

Sans DBW
0-30 2 seconds
30-60 2.5 seconds
Total 4.5 seconds

With DBW
0-30 1.8 seconds
30-60 3.2 seconds

Faster acceleration: check (but only from the 0-30 range)
Slower 0-60: check

This isn't even grade school physics, surely. Unless you increase the power, you cannot improve the acceleration at one point in the range without losing it somewhere else.

I support the DBW, it sounds like a great idea. But note I didn't say it *doesn't* improve 0-60, just that the claim doesn't mean it *does* improve 0-60.

As Jason says:
'Hell, why not? This is the internet....Lets just come up with a crazy theory and pass it off as a fact.......Jason'

As for the pedal commander: It just changes the resistance of the throttle sensor. Lower end you get more butterfly, higher you get less. *Exactly* the same as pressing harder without all that tedious effort of actually pressing :D

C
 
#68 ·
I'm not sure where you got those numbers, Cat....did you do timed official runs w/the DBW?


You guys can call it a scam, snake oil, etc. but that doesn't still doesn't make me change my stance that it is a must mod for the GT in improving performance. I know the results I'm getting and I'm pretty satisfied. It's a night-and-day difference from before.


Usually FD chimes in performance threads like this, but the strange silence from them implies to me that all this bashing on one of their more popular products might be having a negative effect on their view of this forum.


I wouldn't be surprised if they don't market another product on this forum again.
 
#74 ·
Wow, this thread really got going <img src="http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Wink" class="inlineimg" /> We do our best to check the forums but we're not on here all the time, checking every post. We just try to help when we can. Sometimes we're more active than others depending on how busy we are.

18000rpm, we don't always know who is who on the forum but honestly, you may have had a problem with your installer. We hate to say that especially if it it turns out to not be true but if it was who we think it may have been we did have a few complaints and when we looked into an install with at least one customer in detail, we did find issues that would affect performance of the kit. With that said, we're not wanting to call that installer out publicly or anything, mistakes happen, one day you have a good tech at the shop, a few months later, maybe the same talent is no longer with the shop and you get a different install tech just trying to do his best. It's a challenge we see that faces many shops, even the best ones. So we simply no longer recommend them and we'll just leave it at that.

All this really means is that we're honestly not sure that you got the same results as you should have on your GT-S. With that said, would that additional difference have helped enough for you to report different, it's really hard to say. Some people appreciate that difference more than others. Of course, it's still possible that yours was installed well but we seem to remember questioning the install at the time we discussed and never really got to the bottom of it but later found an error with the same installer that revealed a problem that was correctable (again, if we aren't mixing up customers here)

It's true that we don't quote any hard fast improvement times, most people with the upgrade agree that it makes a real improvement on the car and are very happy with it. Some owners install them on cars with an already low performing F1 system that has problems while another may install the kit on a well setup and maintained F1 car, honestly their results will vary a bit just for that reason alone.

Sport Cats, ECU Tune make a nice improvement but if you're talking about a big power adder, which we think of as 75+ horsepower, the only way forward is forced induction or perhaps NOS as JLobo has done. For the new Turbo cars, we can obviously do a bit more but there are limits as to what can be done on a Normally Aspirated car.

Hope that helps but we think the main point is that good improvements can be made to these cars not just in power but in response, handling braking, etc... but you want to have the right expectation that it's not going to completely change the car into a GT3 slaying monster or anything. These upgrades will enhance what you have and help you get more enjoyment from it.

Best Regards,
I think you just missed FD's response on the previous page. I also don't recall anyone in here saying the DBW is a "scam" or "snake oil." All that's been said is that it's unlikely to produce a faster, car, albeit still a well worthwhile mod.
 
#69 ·
What are you talking about? No one is bashing anything... We are a FD installer and recommend a DBW to all of our customers...No one said it doesn't work or it doesn't make a huge difference in the way the car drives..It does and is hugely popular upgrade...I just said it doesn't make the car faster 0-60..When you floor a car from a dead stop 100% throttle is 100% throttle...DBW or no DBW... FD will be back on the site for sure...You are just being dramatic....Jason
 
#70 ·
.....No one said it doesn't work or it doesn't make a huge difference in the way the car drives....
18000rpm said it didn't work (or at least didn't work as advertised). And Catman's response seem to suggest it's all just an illusion.

Before I got the DBW from FD, one of the reps (whom I won't name) assured me it'll improve 0-60 times because it'll make the car accelerate much faster. After installation, it did make a profound impact on the performance.

However, the only way to put this argument to rest is for someone who has DBW to do an official timed test. (As soon as I have some time and can locate an abandoned stretch of road, I'll do the same and post a vid).
 
#71 ·
Real World Acceleration Time

I’ve had my GT a little over 2 months and have experienced two instances of delayed throttle response. Once when overtaking a (75+/-) car on I-10 and a slow moving pickup entered without much time for the car I was overtaking to react. I instinctively put the throttle to the floor to get out of the way. I swear it took a full second for anything to happen.

The second time, just last week, I was behind a car at a light, we both turned left onto the hwy, he into the right lane me into the left. The hwy merges about a half mi down. Locals often do this here if they think the car behind is in more of a hurry (a Maserati always looks like it’s in a hurry) so I needed to get out of his way before the merge. I was maybe in 3rd gear (not in sport), put the peddle down and again it seamed forever for it to respond. I usually drive in sport around town just for instances like this but on the I doing 75 I’m not going to be in sport.

So is this a case where DBW could eliminate that unnerving lag? If it did I would say that’s a big improvement in real world acceleration time.
 
#73 ·
......So is this a case where DBW could eliminate that unnerving lag? If it did I would say that’s a big improvement in real world acceleration time.
I've had similar issues with my GT before I installed DBW. Merging onto a highway and passing was an annoying problem due to the sluggish throttle response. DBW solves this in a big way.
 
#75 ·
So..considering how quirky our cars' electronics are ( even without introduction of anything new / non-stock into the mix ) no one here has had any issues with the DBW module ? Like the dashboard lighting up with various alerts or other electrical problems and annoyances ?
 
#76 ·
Nope, and it's been about 2 years since the install.


I've also planned to do an ECU tune this summer, but after a not-so-good experience with doing one in my 430, I'm hesitant to pull the trigger.
 
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