What about on 18" rims.
I plan only one step up to on 245 & 265 set up on the next set of boots.

 

What's the weight distribution like on the C63? Gthal, as someone who's had a years of experience with the M3 and a C63 on a track, how does the near 50/50 weight distribution of the M3 compare with the C63?

 

The M3 was a very neutral car... I didn't find it either understeered or oversteered particularly easily. Sliding the entire car through a corner was easy (relatively) and you always felt like more or less throttle could control the car without too much drama. The C63 felt similar to me (surprisingly so) but, to be completely honest, I haven't spent enough time on the track with it to know for sure. I can say it was no where near as tail happy as I had thought it would be based on previous reviews, etc. In fact, it may have felt a little more nose heavy. Having said that, they do feel similar and I think you would need to drive them back to back to really be able to discern a difference due to weight distribution.

 

275 on the rears is easy with the OEM rims. I ran 'em on my 09 with absolutely zero issues, even with 4 passengers. I don't hit heavy potholes, so I can't comment on that.

 

Couple really insightful posts by Duane... Thanks for sharing Making me think more and more about going to aftermarket wheels to better accommodate a 275 section tire on the rear.

I also agree with your assertion that MB under-engineered the rear wheel wells. Should be 295s on there. Some simple OEM bodywork and wider rear tires would have seen them trounce the M3 in more reviews and hence sell more cars. I also would have paid more for the car if this was included.

 

A C350 4matic has the same size tires as a C63. 268hp vs. 481hp. Does that make sense to you?

Now I love my car and I'm not complaining... but it's obvious to me that for the C63 MB took the excellent C chassis and jammed their biggest motor in, tweaked the running gear and put it on sale.

They only really matched the rest of the car to to motor in the C63 black series... and are asking $50k more for it.

 

I'm not an expert with car dynamics with real cars. But I do race RC cars and I believe how we set up cars are very close to the real ones, with tires being the most important part in setup. We go by the tire compound and not size to create more grip. In fact we don't like wider or tall tires because it creates too much flex, and flex generates instability and lost of contact. I do hope that our c63 has a better tire compound than the c350, but as far as sizing I think we are fine. Now if I go drag racing on a straight line that is a whole different story. So to answer your question, it still makes sense to me.

 

I agree. Guys get way too hung up on tire size. Its the compound the sticks the tire to the pavement. Check out sport bikes, very little contact patch and they hook up like crazy. I used to run a slick on my rear tire on the street.. Tried to do a burn out against a wall once with it and it tore my clutch apart instead.

I ran a set of Hooiser R6 265/35/19's on my rears one summer and when these bad boys got warm, I couldn't spin them for the life of me, they would hook up instantly and I was gone.

Plus larger tires weigh more.

 

+1. As I said..."Bigger" ain't always better.
Cheers, Pickles.

 

At what point does increasing the width of your tires decrease speed? I am no engineer but is it reasonable to assume that increased friction reduces acceleration?

 

And that's part of my point.
It ain't all about straight line speed or "acceleration".....that's the easy stuff.....and in plain & simple drag racing "rules"....sure, more rubber on the road= more traction.
Unfortunately, when it comes to handling, & general tyre performance, & handling "characteristics" in all sorts of conditions, there's a bit more to it than that.
Cheers, Pickles.

 

Although I absolutely agree with many of the above comments, tire contact patch is important too. If you have two tires with the same compound, the wider one with more contact patch has to have more grip. Look at Porsche... they fit HUGE rear tires (although mostly to control the weight imbalance). You can control a tire's flex with wider rims as well as weight... i.e. use a better and lighter wheel to offset any small increase in weight from tire size. Bottom line, IMO, is that there would absolutely be performance benefits to wider and lighter wheels fitted with wider tires (assuming the same compound). I'm not sure how anyone could suggest otherwise as that is exactly what they did on the BS and, by comparison, the C63 has the narrowest tires of almost all of its competitors... BMW and others can't be all wrong IMO. The tire/wheel size choice by MB was a compromise when designing the car for whatever reasons they had.

For me, I only went slightly wider 245/265 because of potential tire flex issues on the OEM 19s but am trying to pick up more grip from the compound of the tire chosen vs. OEM contis (which suck in my experience). On a 19" wheel with such low sidewalls, the extra 10mm in tire width should not result in dramatically more tire flex. The fact that MB comes with Contis is also an issue for me. I have never found Contis to have exceptional grip or hold up well at the track. They are very good all purpose performance tires (compromise) but fail compared to others in ultimate grip. The Pzeros that some C63s came with were better but wore very quickly... a buddy says he was told MB moved away from the Pirellis due to poor wear (and complaints) even though the performance was better. Most people who buy this car don't track it and the narrow Contis are more than enough around town but, IMO, they are a compromise on a car like this. The hundreds of people here who have spent the money to upgrade tires/wheels and reported benefits can't all be wrong

 

See my previous posts on this. I have 255/19 and 275/19. No problem. Michelin PSS. Oh, and there's a significant difference at the track with the wider (better) tires. Easily dropped a couple seconds off of my lap times and the OEM tires suck! The PSS's are very good tires. I do rub the rear protective liners on hard cornering, but it doesn't hurt the tires and the protective thing is a flexible piece of aluminum with some sort of fabrci on it. Link to previous thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...o-problem.html

 

+1

Michelin PSS
Bridgestone RE-11
Yoko AD-08

These are the tires you want if you drive the car aggressively or at the track (outside of pure track tires). The PSS being the best compromise for street/track use IMO.

 

Yeah, and they last forever compared to the oem's (now if i could only get some pads that would last!)

 

275s on a 9" rim is fine. My 03 Cobra's and Firehawks came that way OEM.

 

I need to replace my tires on 2015 C63 507. It seems from everyones input that going to 245/35/19 front and 265/30/19 rear is no problem. Anyone have any rub issue?

Looking at PSS tires

 

Zero problem. Depending on the tire manufacturer (and wheel offset - assume you're on OEM 19's),you could even go 275 or 285 in the rear. 275/30/19 PSS's didn't rub a bit on my coupe.

 

Anyone know is 285 35 18's will fit the rears?

 

Nitto NT555R will zero problem on OEM rims

 

That in response to me? I do have OEM wheels, ordering some fresh rubber Thursday.

 

Years ago I posted my topics after running 275s on my second set and later 285 on my third set. Absolutely no rubbing at all with 285's on my stock 09 C63 wheels. I took trips with luggage and people and no rubbing. I don't know why someone even mention 245s as oem when they are not 245's.

 

Awesome, getting them Thursday

 

^^^ I can only confirm on what I put on my car, I can't guarantee other brands but on my oem 09' C63AMG rear wheels I had the nittos 555R 285s. Each tire manufacturer has their own specs, some tires fills mo than others.

On my particular case it helped me putting the power down to the tarmac. The car would launch straight even with the extra power from my MHP stage II.

Good luck!

 

offset of the wheel makes a huge difference if it's going to rub. What offset are you all running that run a 275+ tire in the rear?