RDOCA

No need to anything special just do following:
After cool down and you park and put car IN park just keep foot on brake and reach down to the brake release and HOLD it up while you turn car off and the brake will not be set.

kfehling

Good to know and thanks! I will give this a try. I will also bring some wheel chocks just in case and leave it in neutral.

Kurt

M177fanatic

wheres the brake release?

RDOCA

Just under the dash to the left of the wheel.

kfehling

So I finished what is technically my third track event with the C63 S Edition 1. It was September 2, 2016 at Thunderhill in northern CA. The day was pretty close to perfect if not a bit warm in the low 90s. It was a charity event to raise awareness for prostate health as one of our club members died from it a few years ago. There were many cool cars there including a McLaren 675 LT, several Ferraris including two 458s, a 308, and a F355, several C7 Z06s, Camaro LT1s and many more. Here is a link to my best lap time:


As you all may recall, I had several issues during my last event and endeavored to rectify them for this one. I was not very successful.

1. Tires. I am using Michelin Pilot Cup 2 tires and at the last event, I could not control the pressures and they would soar into the 50psi range. I even started them exceedingly low at around 25psi. This would keep them in the mid 40psi range but from my research, these tires should be kept a bit below 40. Let me know if anyone has heard differently. For this event, I had them filled with nitrogen (with several purges) but the results were the same. The tire company that filled them told me that I should only see a 1 to 2 psi increase. Assuming they were correct, I had all tires filled to 40psi with nitrogen. So much for 1 or 2; try 10 to 15psi! I started the with 38psi in the fronts and after the first session, they were at 55psi! I dropped them down by 10psi and then had significant roll over per this photo:




Note the roll over and the chunking of the tread.

As I did not have any nitrogen with me, I had to add some air. I finally was able to get them to stabilize at 43psi which seemed to be a reasonable compromise between roll over and pressure. I know it is a heavy car so maybe low 40s is the best compromise given all issues.

2. Tires again. If I was smart, I would have swapped the left and right fronts halfway through the day to achieve better wear between the two sides. Sadly, I did not think of this seemingly obvious thing while at the track and ended up with my right front being destroyed on the outer edge. You may have noticed the chunky of the tread in the first photo. Here is another shot of it:





This was by the end of the fourth session and in total, two track days; both at Thunderhill which is primarily counter clockwise. I did not pay enough attention to know if I used the same tire for the right front each time. The rears seem to be fine so I will be getting two new ones for the front.

3. Brakes. I had been working with racebrakes.com and they still cannot come up with a rear track pad. To their credit, they have been trying but apparently do not show the correct part number for the red caliper set up. I will send them a set of my worn pads so that they can make a set. The fronts they provided, worked great. What did not work so great is the Mercedes brake fluid. I have another post on the Forum where I incorrectly indicated that I wanted to use DOT 6 fluid. Sorry about that. I wanted to use the Motul 600 which, technically, is a DOT 4 fluid but seems to perform well my car. I will try it again for the next one because in this event, the fluid let me down. In just a couple of laps, the pedal started to get soft. I essentially nursed it the rest of the day and never achieved VMax in any straight and lifted/coasted in most just to be sure I didn't overwork the fluid. Once in the pits, I checked the rotor, caliper, and wheel temps. My laser thermometer maxes at 600F and I would get an "ERR" message on the rotors indicating a temp above 600F. Clearly, I need to address this issue. Better fluid and I will be engineering some cooling ducts before the next event as well.

4. Car in General. The rest of the car performed great. Fast as heck and a beast out of the corners. I still over drove it through many corners but so I need to work on that. Only a few track dedicated cars passed me. I passed all the Ferraris, a couple of C7 Z06s and practically everything else out there without a roll cage. Being humble, it is clear that a few of the cars I passed either weren't trying or had drivers with less experience as I was not "that" fast.

5. Analysis. I still have work to do even though I have driven several hundred miles on this track. I am leaving a lot on the table at turn 5 as most tell me I should be able to go 50mph over it. I think my best was around 38mph. I did make a lot of progress with turn 7 and entering it later and almost staying flat (almost). Turn 11 is another fun one as you essentially throw this one away but I have been going full throttle from the apex all the way through the esses and letting the traction control/eDiff sort it out; which they both did nicely.

Thanks for listening and more videos to come as well as an update once I do another event in the coming months.

Kurt

RDOCA

Kurt
Are you always using a hand air pressure tester as opposed to reading the MB readout on the screen ahead of the wheel?
I just wonder if it is accurate in a situation like this.

kfehling

I do use a fairly high quality hand gauge and it is consistently about 3 psi lower than the car sensors. All values presented above are based on the hand held gauge.

kfehling

I received an email from racebrakes today that I should be receiving the correct rear track spec pads for the rear next week. I think we have JPMBenz to thank for this as he send in his old rear stock pads from which they were able to make a set of track pads. I hope to do one more event this year before the winter is too big of an obstacle to cross the Sierras into CA. I hope to do either Sonoma or Laguna and will keep you all posted. Criteria for the next event: Track pads all around, Motul 600 brake fluid, and two new Michelin Sport Cup 2s for the front.

Guilty

Thank you for all your posts. Tremendous help. Will be reading them again prior to my track next next month.

kfehling

I ran my 2008 Z06 at Thunderhill a couple of weeks ago to see how these two cars compare. Normally I run on slicks on my Vette, but brought th Michelin PSSs and as you might imagine, the Vette was quite a bit faster. It should have been even faster but you can see that I was held up for several corners by another car. I know it doesn't mean much but it is kind if fun to get a clear comparison of two cars on the same tires.


Ignore the notation in the video that it was the C63. For some reason, I could not get it to switch cars in the description.

Enjoy!

tery

Wrong section

sdwtchlvr

My 2007 SL550 also makes a hissing sound after shutting off the engine. I figured with was something in the engine releasing pressure or something, I haven't opened to hood to pinpoint the location of the sound. I've owned several cars in recent years that have made odd sounds when shutting off, usually it's the fuel pump or something and all have checked out to be normal. Not sure about this one though. I believe my pump was replaced a few years back at MB so it's not original.

ruey220

on the beginner course in COTA, I drove the GTS, SL65, and the C63S on the full track.

We also had some time on the E63S, and the CLA43

schalksmith

hi, i hope someone can assist me, i have a W211 we replaced the power steering pump and rack but still have the same problem where the power steering is harder to the left than the right. any assistance will be appreciated.

BESEMBO

there is no gap noticable in city.
when i was searching for my car i drove 3 clk 230k and 2 c230k coupe. none of those where in a good condition i mean in a terms of performace. i bought 200k coz that one had perfect air - fuel ratio, good sc and insane performance. i was very impressed bye that car in that moment. even my friend with clk 230k couldnot get rid of my civic 1.4 1996 till the third gear.
better take a good look after your cars and make sure thay still perform like new.
the gap between 0-100 1 or 1.2 seconds isnot hidden in engine or cpu its elemental. your are thinking too much and cannot see whats in front of your eyes

steinjr

....

RJStanford

I know its a bit of an old thread, but I've been very happy with my setup - I use the KMAC adjustable camber plates which were absolutely vital in reducing outside block wear; I'm running around 2.5 degrees negative camber in the front. For tires I've gone to the Yokohama Advan AD08R which is a little firm for daily use but works, is great on the track, and actually does surprisingly well in rain or even standing water. I try to keep them ~40psi hot, which is still high, but the E63 is 4400lbs and much below that and they'll start wearing into the sidewalls.

Just replacing the factory discs with Girodisc to save both weight and money, considering the R4 pads from Porterfield with R4-S swaps for the street. I've been running EBC BlueStuff with no real issues but had some very uneven pad wear last track weekend and it may be time to upgrade to more of a dedicated race pad for track days. I'd prefer not to swap pads around, but what can you do?

kfehling

The track days continue. I ran at Sonoma in mid October and had a pro driver providing some instruction. He shaved several seconds off my lap times. Michelin Cup 2 tires along with High temp brake fluid and after market two piece rotors and the most aggressive track pads I could find.

My my best time was a 1:55. To put that in perspective, the PWC cars were running around 1:39 the weekend before. Here is the video.


Also, I forgot to change the car designation on the lap timer again so ignore the fact that it says Corvette.

Strafe1

Thanks for posting. Always fun to watch track days!

CerBErusM113

Hey guys,

I just put A/S 3+s on my 4matic e63 with a Eurocharged Stg I tune. 255/35/19 and 285/30/19 And to respond to the OP these tires hold and grab traction incredibly. To be honestly the PS4s or another high performance summer tire may grip and handle better but these really are the best of both worlds. I had the rears on first and it made a substantial difference even in 40* weather, so much that my Race Start didn't even have to drop rpms when launched. I was speculating that the car was losing power due to maintenance but not anymore, you feel every ft.lbs. of torque advertised. That was only with the rears. Now I will admit I had a nasty bubble in the front drivers side Pirelli tire I had previously so I wasn't too thrilled with the holding in sweeping curves but on the Pirellis in the cold I didn't feel comfortable going 60+ in a certain curve and this morning on the way to work (In Mexico of course) I did 100 and still felt I could go faster. These tires are amazing and I'm glad I made the switch. No placebo effect over the Pirellis these things are awesome in the cold and even held traction in the wet too. I had used them before on my CL55 when I bought it from MB Chantilly and was very pleased with them. So my experience and .02.

benzw205

hello, can someone confirms that there is no solution to fix this problem ? And can you tell me why it happens ? Thanks.

kfehling

An update on an additional track day at Thunderhill recently. I have not been able to find any decent brake ducts for the car so I just went to Home Depot and bought two dryer vent hoses. I zip tied these under the car and directed them as best I could towards the caliper. I still over heated the brakes but before these ducts, I would have to park the car and let the brakes cool for at least an hour. With these ducts, I could have them cooled by one or two corners so they worked! I was running the full five mile course on Bridgestone RE71s and found that a lap time of 3:24 was the sweet spot for the brakes. The car had several more seconds in it but this was still a very respectful time and I was running with Corvettes and Camaros and was one of the quicker cars out that day. In fact, a few ZL1s were running together and would not let me past for a while but once I did get by, I walked away from them. They came over in the pits later in awe of the car. Super fun. I am now at a crossroads to decide if I want to invest in a brake kit or focus on my new track car (McLaren 600LT!!!)

I have to say, there is something very satisfying about running a five passenger family sedan on the track and spanking Corvettes and Camaros (full disclosure, I have a Corvette Z06 so I am not bad mouthing Corvettes...or Camaros).

I just love being on the track.

Kurt

illuzn

Hi Kurt,

Looking at doing this myself. Do you mind taking a photo of the duct setup?

Spazdoc

Reviving an old thread but relevant.

Do you have a pic of the brake ducts?

What engine temps were you seeing in Race mode?

kfehling

My apologies for the delayed response. I was to have two days at Thunderhill this past weekend with some better ducts on the car. Unfortunately, I messed up and put the wrong pads on the car and cooked them in about four laps. I was so disgusted with myself that I drive back home and dismantled everything including the ducts. now that I have the correct pads, I will put everything back together and head back to the track shortly. I promise to take photos of the ducts this time and share here. More to follow in a week or two.

Kurt.