8damien8

Hey guys,

I picked up my 507 Edition about a week ago, and absolutely love it!

One thing I noticed though, is that it is very tail happy. I knew it would be, but I figured you would really have to put down the power to get the tail out.

Today was a warm day, and even in Comfort mode, I felt the tail come out a bit as I was leaving a light and taking a corner.

I was thinking perhaps my tires were wearing down, but they seem to have bit of tread.

Just wondering what your experiences have been like with these cars.

Thanks

zibby43

First of all, congrats on the new 507.

Re: your question/comment: If you nail the gas/throttle - irrespective of driving mode - while simultaneously providing aggressive steering input, the rear is going to step out.

If you want some general driving advice, it would be to roll the power on as the steering input begins to decrease through the turn.

GL and be safe.

8damien8

Thanks. Pretty happy to have the car.

I thought it might be the tires. A friend of mine has a 2012 M3, and when he takes off quick, the car holds nicely to the road.

The AMG... Not so much. Likes to wiggle a bit in the back.

Just thought it might be the tires.

zibby43

My pleasure. Keep in mind that the '12 M3 has 1) slightly wider tires (245s up front and 265s out back - compared to 235s up front and 255s out back for the W204 C63) and 2) over 148 lb-ft less torque and 37 less hp. And those comparisons are between an E9X M3 and a non-507 C63. Your 507 has even more power than your buddy's M.

Sure, the tires are always a limiting factor when it comes to grip but how you apply the throttle makes a world of difference when it comes to launching.

If you smash the throttle pedal from a standstill in C, S, S+, or M (1st gear), you're likely going to spin the tires.

If you roll on the power progressively, you can still launch like a bat out of hell while avoiding excessive amounts of wheelspin.

The tire compound that came on your 507 is likely very high-quality. The vast majority of U.S.-spec, LCI C63s come with Continental ContiSportContact 5P tires (Conti's Pilot Super Sport competitor). You can check what kind of tires your 507 came with but it's a virtual certainty that they came with max performance summer tires (unless you bought the car used and a previous owner changed out the tires).

Finally, you can improve traction by 1) selecting wider tires (e.g., jumping from 235 up front to 245 and jumping up from 255 out back to 265/275).

Furthermore, a Wavetrac limited-slip differential will further help put power down. Even with these improvements, burying the throttle pedal into the floor from a dig will result in some wheelspin because the car has lots of torque and lots of power.

Wobble64

I am about to put Michelin Sport Cup 2s on my car, with the rear being 305/30/19. I sincerely hope that will tame the happy tail.....


PS: The picture on the left shows 295s and there is plenty of space still.

papashango

Get something like the Pilot Super Sports. While they are expensive they are sticker tires. The car will still be tail happy but not as bad as with the Continental's it comes with.

INS1GNIA

Spot on. I just had a Wavetrac LSD installed on my C63 and I noticed right away the difference. The car grabs so much better instead of just spinning the tires or kicking out the back end. Congrats on the purchase also and post some pics!

alexmtl

We all complain about tail-happiness but secretly we all love it.

Merc63

This is a complaint? Lol

g-f

That's the reason I bought that car and I hope MB never tries to turn the tail happiness down!

You find the car tail happy in comfort mode? I call it prozac mode. The car feels numb and neutered in C. I use it only in deep snow where starting in 2nd gear helps getting off the line and when I'm close to my house as it makes less noise and I want to keep my neighboors happy.

zibby43

Thanks man. Good call on going with the Wavetrac unit. Glad you like it. Have heard nothing but good things about it. I've got one coming in soon, too.

Did you do the install yourself, have an independent shop do it, or have MB do it? Thanks in advance! Sorry for threadjacking, OP.



ESP Off FTW.

Excellent point. Starting off in 2nd in C is a nice feature for the winter.

INS1GNIA

Nice, I had the MB shop install it. I already had the OEM bearings, seals, sealant and Gear Oil, Tal at ACGAutomotive supplied it all in a kit so all MB dealer had to do was the install. I would not suggest trying the install yourself, even the experienced technician members on here really didn't enjoy tackling the install (need special tools and such).

zibby43

Thank you sir. That settles it for me. Scratching that off the DIY list as we speak lol.

MTV10

Funny you mention the M3...

Used to own an E60 M5. I could slam the throttle in any gear, at any speed and it would grip no problem. Reason for this is the power band. Minimal torque and all horsepower... once you'd get up to 7-8k RPM where the power is, you were already rolling. It would come in progressively.

In the AMG, there is just so much torque down low that it breaks the tires loose at lower speeds. You have to ease into the throttle. Complete different type of driving method.

Slight adjustment period, but you'll get used to it.

leungsta

iTrader: (1)

It's all about the tires IMO. I had yoko advan sport on my multispokes (235/255) and was slipping in any mode. I recently installed new wheels with Michelin PSS (245/275) and there's significantly less tail spin. It only spins when you really force it to.

MTV10

+63

t4orce

I agree that it comes down to getting used to the car. Even in comfort mode the car will still want to break loose before traction kicks in and kills power.

It gets worse as the tires wear which they seem to do at an alarming rate. I had a set of Falken FK453 on the rears and within 8,000kms they were on the wear indicators. I just slapped on some Contis 5p and it still breaks loose with harsh throttle inputs.

As someone said above, just have to learn to feed the throttle in but admittedly smashing it down is more fun.

OH_NAH

Can't you have it tuned so the power comes on more smooth.. shift more torque mid to top range?

BLKROKT

No

zcct04

and why exactly would you want to do that?

I have a better solution. I keep a BMW in the garage for days when I want to drive something wimpy.

zcct04

+1
All kidding aside, changing from the OEM Continentals to MPSS really made a big difference for me.

OlegKouz

Sums it up quite well! As mentioned before, you will notice a huge difference if you are willing to invest some money..after I got the Michelin PSS and Wavetrac LSD (my car did not have LSD) my car became EXTREMELY more grippy...but you can't complain about the tail happiness..it's one of the things we love most about the car

OH_NAH

Well it's just so that the power comes on more linear, I know you can change this with a tune for a lot of cars but I don't know what capabilities the c63 has in terms of tuning the power band.

But anywho just right foot control