derek

Here's a few more pics with the Michelin PSS's 275/30/19 255/35/19. I think I can put 285's on the rear and 265 on the front without an issue. Spent all day at the track yesterday no rubbing. Incredible street/track tire.

These tires are AWESOME. Wear was incredible, stick great even though the temperature at the track never got above 43 degrees yesterday and it was windy, they take a lap to warm up but they warm up quickly. I was running about 35 cold on the front and 38 cold on the rear to reach an on track PSI of around 44 on all four. It's pretty difficult to break these tires loose and the wear was incredible considering the fact that under heavy breaking the weight transfer to the front of a 3900 pound car equals god knows what...

After one full day at the same track in the OEM Yokohama tires my passenger front tire was about done.

I also used Hawk DTC70 pads, which were great! The pedal would start to get a little soft eventually, but that was a result of the OEM brake fluid getting overheated I'm sure. I do need front rotors now as you can see from the pics, holes from the drilled portion get full of pad crap and obviously don't cool down as well as they should, the next rotors I get will be slotted NOT drilled. I know aesthetically drilled are nice, but not so much for the track.

With the new tires and rotors I was 5 seconds faster than on the OEM tires and rotors and that was with a passenger and cold weather. I easily have more time I can scrub off, but I didn't run with the traction control off till the last two sessions of the day because of the cold. My best time with car in sport mode was 2:13:90, with it off 2:11:40. Funny thing, when I got the best times I was actually braking a little sooner than I normally would on the long straight because my father in law was in the car with me and I didn't want to scare him.

Guys, this car is freakin incredibly fun, I would say for you guys that plan on tracking the ABSOLUTE VERY FIRST THING YOU NEED TO DO is get bigger/better rubber and pads.













This is me following a C5 Z06 for a brief amount of time at Eagle's Canyon. I wanted to get a little video so I could share it with the Z06 driver so he could see his line etc...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asuzf9eCKE8

My fastest lap of the day, cold outside though and my father in law in car with me so I was braking a little earlier on some of the straights so I didn't scare the crap out of him!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HppAuOm_Wp4

Drive by so you can hear our exhaust:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNi0uqpqh8o

_AMG_

Nice review!
I'm also running Michelin Super Sports and they really are fantastic tires.

gthal

Thank you SO much for this. I am trying to decide between RE-11 and PSS for the 19s this summer and this is helpful. I have actually owned both tires on my M3 but for some reason can't decide now even though I have track experience on both!

derek

I'm completely sold on the PSS as a dual role tire, makes me consider whether I will actually pick up another set of wheels to run sport cups on or just stick with OEM wheels and use the PSS's for both and save some coin. I'm confused now...

gthal

This is so true... shame on MB for it's choice of tire size

derek

And tires...must have got a great deal from Yoko!

gthal

One last question... The closeup picture of the tire, is that the front or rear? Also, do you get much tire "bulge" and is the sidewall rounded or square?

derek

That's the front passenger, which gets the most abuse going clockwise at Eagles's Canyon.

I think it's rounded, but I need to look again. In one of my previous posts I'm pretty sure I added a pic of the passenger Yoko after a track day and the wear is horrible on the Yoko.

I'm not sure what "bulge" means.

Vntgrcr

The PSS tire is incredible.
I am running 315 Ferrari GTO Spec on my GT-R all around and with proper camber they wear like iron for track use. They also set a dry skidpad record at Tire Rack (for a street tire, non-race) 1.12g.

hhughes1

The car is much better than most people realize with just simply running wider tires. I have had many conversations with other enthusiasts at HPDE events who are shocked at just how fast the car can be all around the track. They have a universal low expectation for the car's performance threshold due to all the negative mag reviews.

If this car rolled out of the factory with 8.5" and 9.5" wheels with a 255/275 combination of PSS tires, it would not lose anymore comparison tests period end of conversation. I also love the irony of seeing a PSS display in the MB service department considering it is not the OEM product.

4ramin

I was going to get the Michelin Super Sports also on my car also, what size are you running. Im a little worried about running 255's in front with a lowered car.....

mvagusta

Nice video, the vette was shocked that you were able to keep up with him. As soon as his rear end started to slip he waived you by. Even in the straight aways he wasn't pulling ahead. That was amazing, good run

hhughes1

255/35 has about half an inch less diameter than a 245/40 which makes up for the additional width.

derek

I wasn't trying to pass him, I stayed behind him for some time because I was trying to get video for him to see later. So, I don't think he was too shocked since I gave him a ride in the beast earlier in the day.

khmergod

Nice pictures. PSS look a whole lot better on 19's than they do on 18's. 18's look fat. I might need to get MB OEM 19 wheels.

derek

Makes it look almost as if I'd lowered it. Where in Texas are you?

twobars

will this set up also work for a pre 2012 c63 sedan? I'm getting a set of 19s in a couple of weeks and am split between getting 265s in the rear or 275s

derek

I'm pretty sure it will, we are talking a difference of .2" between 265 & 275 on a PSS, not sure on other manufacturers.

Helms

nice!

Pit-Pony

Would PSS 275/35/18 and 245/40/18 work on 18s?

gthal

Both sizes are within manufacturers specs for the wheel width on the 18's (8" and 9") so they will fit. Diameter is close enough to OEM to work to.

The only downside is the tire ballooning a bit on the wheel and looking very meaty if that matters to you.

I can't decide on RE-11s or PSS in either 245/265 or 245/275 myself. I have a long, convoluted and **** decision thought process but haven't been able to make a decision.

Pit-Pony

As long as there is no rub

Strafe1

these sizes DO work on stock 18's, as this is what I ran on my 09 C63.

Strafe1

As you probably already know, I have this same dilemma on sizes for my already ordered TE 37 TTA's. The 275's SHOULD work, and now that derek is considering 285's, that makes me think the 275's should work out fine. As a reminder, the Volk's I'll be running on the rear are .5 inch wider than the OEM 19" and offset 50 instead of 54. Wheel offset calculator puts the wheel lip 10mm outside the stock 19's, that's .4 inch.

khmergod

Houston.