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2012 P31 C63 Coupe Trackrat, 2019 GLE63S Coupe Beast
If you're still listening Doug, have a question about tires. I had a thought when looking at your comments for Rob on his thread about modding his BS with HRE P101's.
When I widened my rear fenders, I was able to move up to a 295/30-19 PSC2 on my Vorsteiner VSC101 19x10" ET52 rears. No problem.
At the same time, I went up one size in front to a 255/35-19 PSC2 on the 19x8.5" ET45 fronts. They run wide, and I'm starting to wonder if that might be too much tire. I had mistakenly thought I was working with a 9" wide wheel duh. I think I'm barely outside what's considered 'acceptable' with just over 10" section width on the 8.5" rim.
What do you think? Keep in mind the abuse I intend to create for them on track. Thanks.
W204 C63 Coupe, W166 ML350 BlueTEC, 928GT, C5 Z06 & IS300 race cars, EQE 4Matic+ on order
Hi Jim,
Sorry for the late reply... just got back from four days of sliding and drifting in various AMGs on ice (w/ custom studded racing tires of course) at Gimli. Few teaser pics below.
For track duty, a PSC2 255/35 is probably too wide on an 8.5" rim, especially on a heavy car like the 63. You'll be rolling over the outer sidewall while the inner one would be folding under the rim. Aside from handling issues, at worst you could pop the outer bead or get a blowout on the inner sidewall where the carcass will fold under. If you were using "greasier" tires, for street driving and on a lighter car you'd be fine, but IMHO you're looking for trouble with this setup. Rule of thumb for track use is that you always go with the widest approved rim size for a particular tire - so for those PSC2s, you'd ideally want 10" wide rims.
2012 P31 C63 Coupe Trackrat, 2019 GLE63S Coupe Beast
Originally Posted by Diabolis
Hi Jim,
Sorry for the late reply... just got back from four days of sliding and drifting in various AMGs on ice (w/ custom studded racing tires of course) at Gimli. Few teaser pics below.
For track duty, a PSC2 255/35 is probably too wide on an 8.5" rim, especially on a heavy car like the 63. You'll be rolling over the outer sidewall while the inner one would be folding under the rim. Aside from handling issues, at worst you could pop the outer bead or get a blowout on the inner sidewall where the carcass will fold under. If you were using "greasier" tires, for street driving and on a lighter car you'd be fine, but IMHO you're looking for trouble with this setup. Rule of thumb for track use is that you always go with the widest approved rim size for a particular tire - so for those PSC2s, you'd ideally want 10" wide rims.
Sigh..... that's what I thought and was afraid of, but was reaching for someone to hopefully say that it wasn't an issue in their experience. Thanks for your valuable input. The 295 is probably a little wide as well. Time to look at dedicated track wheels.... does anyone know what the lead time is on HRE? I think I have to give Wobble a call about the rims he had Forgeline custom make too....
Gimli looks like a BLAST! What cars did you get to drive?
We tried to book Gimli, but couldn't get all 4 of us to agree on dates, plus two guys were whining they want to go to Sweden, which was sold out anyways.
Based on the amount of "Cant believe we didnt do it" whining, we will be going next year for sure lol.
2012 P31 C63 Coupe Trackrat, 2019 GLE63S Coupe Beast
Thanks. I know I can fit a 9" for sure. Probably 10" will take more fender massaging. 9.5" sounds custom? If I can get out to Ohio in the next month, I'll drop my car off with Forgeline to have custom widths and offsets made to get the biggest rim I can in there.
Now I'm nervous about my 295's on the 10" rear too.
just from the video thumbnail of AutoTech Racing's C63 it looks like they removed the foglights for ducts. Ever since I saw this its been something I would like to do (if I had the skills)
W204 C63 Coupe, W166 ML350 BlueTEC, 928GT, C5 Z06 & IS300 race cars, EQE 4Matic+ on order
In terms of tire/rim widths... if the tire fits without rubbing, usually the rim itself shouldn't be a problem assuming that you get the correct offset. And, between a 245 and a 255 where the 255 is mounted on a rim that is too narrow, the 245 will have the same contact patch size (the outer edges of the 255 will essentialy float) AND be considerably more stable and thus faster.
Re Gimli - we had 6 CLS63Ss, 6 C63Ss and 6 CLA45s. The Cs and CLAs were a blast. The CLSs were great for stupidly massive drifts at 140 km/h at an 80 degree drift angle on a huge (~700 m) circle, but they have the momentum of a medium-sized planet. Trying to get them to change direction on one of the tighter tracks is... well, frustrating. Unless you get the speed and drift angle just right everywhere, there's no correcting and you end up in the snow bank. Great learning tools though - they force you to be smooth instead of aggressive (which you could do to an extent in the other two). And, Gimli beats Sweden hands-down for a number of reasons - so much so that next year they're changing the format and track in Sweden to what the Canadian AMG DA was doing at Gimli. Plus, I hear that now Porsche and Lamborghini are coming to Gimli next year as well for thier winter programs.
KMAC Full Bushing Set - front and rear adjustable camber bushings and rear suspension set (Kevin was great about getting these out to me asap)
Spoon Rigid Collars and Sparco Tow Straps
The right sized end link bolts and QA1 high misalignment spacers came in. Thanks for the solid 7" rod JD, just got it today.
You can really see the difference versus the non-adjustable units that came with the KWs for the front swaybar. The only questionable thing now, is that on its shortest setting, the DIY 7" end link is the exact length of the unit KW sent for the front. This means that I should probably have used 1" shorter rod in front at least. I won't know until I try to fit, but I'm thinking that 6" front and 7" back is about right for the Joes aluminum rod length. I didn't take into account how much beefier the QA1 rod ends were, and that makes a difference in total bolt-to-bolt length and adjustment. Just something to keep in mind. I might order an extra pair of 6" rods just in case I run into issues on the install.
That's it for now. Going to try to finish taking apart the dash this afternoon for the other other project. They are stacking up.
Damn. Almost 9 years in and you still got the fire in the belly. I'm impressed.
Having an 11yo boy and a 14yo girl has just about ground me to a halt on this kind of thing. Now its a big deal that I am going to change my rims and emblems, and cant even be bothered to re-install my illuminated sills lol.
Nice projects head up for you. Gonna be some nice additions and adjustments. Keep it going strong. Can't wait for performance and stability reports from you...
2012 P31 C63 Coupe Trackrat, 2019 GLE63S Coupe Beast
Originally Posted by Mag1c Carp3t
These custom endlinks you're piecing together can they be made to extend the endlinks past oem length?
Yes, that's what they are made to do. See the end link thread for details. The only issue is that the way they're setup now, there may only be adjustability longer not shorter. May need a pair of 6" Joes rod to be safe, not sure yet.