Since last week, I've been hearing strange clunking noise that seems to come from the corner of my Ferrari 308 GTS. I notice that the car's steering is also becoming sloppy and, sometimes, stiff. What could be wrong with my ride?

The sloppy steering and clunking noise can be attributed to worn-out ball joints. The ball literally clunks and rattles around in the socket, hence the clunking noise. Another symptom that can solidify your claim with ball joints as the culprit is uneven tire wear with the outer or inner edges wearing out faster than the rest of the tire tread. If the wear is in the middle, the problem may not be caused by the ball joint but by low tire pressure or underinflation. If your Ferrari's ball joints come with built-in wear indicators, it will be easier for you to check them. If they aren't fitted with such, you may need to relieve the load on your car's suspension by jacking it up and checking each of the ball joints for play.

I'll be storing my Ferrari for the winter, so I have to store its spare tire, too. Can you give some tips on how I can properly keep it out of harm's way?

It is important to make sure that your tire is kept in a spot that's nowhere near any flame and other heat source or anything that's capable of causing or triggering sparks and electrical discharges. Your garage or the place you should be storing the spare tire in should be well-ventilated, dry and temperate, and is free from precipitation and direct sunlight. You should also avoid putting it in stacks or placing it under objects (especially heavy ones) for longer periods. Keep it away from hazardous chemicals, hydrocarbons, and solvents as well as from sharp or pointed objects that can penetrate into and cause cut or holes on the rubber.

I've been experiencing misfiring and hard starting for almost a month now. I bought my Ferrari 308 GTS to a mechanic and I was told that the culprits for my ignition problems are carbon-fouled spark plugs that warrant replacement. What causes this and is there any other solution to such problem?

Carbon-fouled spark plugs are characterized by dry, fluffy black carbon that's usually caused by slow-operating speeds and weak ignition components (coil, ignition cables). This condition can also be a result of inappropriate heat range, rich air-and-fuel mixture, bad automatic choke, and sticking or damaged manifold control valve. Replacement isn't always the solution to this problem. Depending on the extent of damage, spark plugs that are carbon fouled can be cleaned, re-gapped, and then reused.

When inspecting the battery of my Ferrari 308 GTS, I noticed some kind of bluish corrosion on the terminals. Any tips on how I can properly get rid of that?

Regardless of where the corrosion is—whether on the positive or the negative lead—you have to remove the battery's negative lead first. Then using a wire battery brush or other brushing or scraping tool, scrape corrosion off the battery. Make sure to sweep the corrosion that you've removed onto a rag or paper plate to prevent it from scattering and making a mess in the engine bay.

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