Hi everyone,

I got a 2020 non-S C63 cabriolet. Had it since new. Has 20k miles on it. Stock except 2 month old p4s tires. The car has been to the dealer once for a sudden power loss which was resolved with ignition coil replacement. This was a year ago.

I have an empty stretch of straight road next to my house and I tried Race Start just for fun and measure the 0-60 on Track Pace

The road is visually flat to my eyes. Tires, engine, trans were all warmed up after a 1 hr drive and the best time I managed to get was 4.6s with ESP off (not sport but off). 91 octane California gas Without race start or with ESP on times were closer to 5. Kind of disappointing. I scanned the car with a Bluetooth OBD2 scanner and no codes were there.

I know it's not a track road, but is this to be expected or should I go to MB dealer to have it checked?

​​​​​​Thanks in advance

 

That sounds about right for C63. It's hard to get our car under advertised 0-60 time figure due to wheel spin during launch.

 

My best times in track pace have been 4-4.1 with race start, traction control set at 8, comfort suspension setting and I also dropped the RPMs about 200 for the launch. My tires were probably 125-130*F when I was able to achieve this.

 

get some sticky 305 or 325 tires on the rear and youll be able to hook on launch. the c63 is undertired from factory as it has always been. the coupe is a little better but it really needs 305s or wider.

 

Did u have a lot of wheel spin?

 

All comes down to traction. The AMG Driving Academy instructors told us to drop the launch rpm by about 300, otherwise you just get a ton of wheel spin. Just driving around for an hour also doesn't get your rear tires hot enough for full traction. Need to do some burnouts. Suspension in comfort mode may also help to let the car squat more. Also the cab is like 200 lbs heavier than the coupe, so you are launching with a dead body in the trunk. Don't remember what the official 0-60 is, but it's above 4 seconds.

 

0-60 is all traction related. I also have a C63 (non-S) and have timed 0-60 acceleration on the road as well as on a prepped dragstrip. On the street, my best was 4.45 seconds. On the prepped track, I managed 3.78 seconds. Both measured with a Draggy and with 305/35/19 PS4S tires. For both I also used race start, everything in S+ mode, and traction control off.

 

Not alot I would say. Since I got the 295 P4S, it has improved, but I still get a bit of spin

 

Thanks for the advice!

I read the manual on how to adjust the launch rpm but couldn't get it to work.

Do I hit the left paddle while it's flashing red or after it launches?

Does it remember the setting do I need to do it every time? Best,
HT

 

Wow!! That's a huge difference when on a track. Ive never tracked. didn't know the prepped road made that much of a difference 😧

And now you're making me wish I had gotten the 305 😂, I only got the 295 PS4S

 

You do it just before you let go of the brakes and no, it doesn't remember it. You have to do it each time.

 

that's disappointing. I came from a CLS550 4matic and was able to rip off 4.1s 0-60 pretty easily and 3.8 1 foot. Official times for the 2017 C63 Convertible is 4.2 seconds and has been road tested at 4.0-4.1.

I do not use race launch. I turn ESP off completely and brake boost to about 2000-2200 rpm but I have not used a dragy yet on the C63 vert. While the stage 2 + TCU tuned 550 feels like it launches harder and has more power in mid range the 4.0 tt seems like it opens up in the upper rpm.

 

*****Proper track prep makes a huge difference as does proper tire temps. Driving experience and drag racing experience helps as well. Colder air helps produce more power but if it is really cold, the tires will just spin and spin, especially on the street.

Your times are not that far off what is to be expected for a Non-S Cabriolet, which weights more to begin with. Our cars are not set up to be drag racing cars and have poor squat characteristics and weight transfer compared to other cars that have much better 60 ft times at the track, but make much less horsepower overall.

I've had properly set up 4 link suspensions on cars that produce 1.6 second 60 ft times at the track on a 400hp or so car that weight about 3800 lbs with Nitto Drag radials (sticky street tires) It is rare to see in my experience a C63s or C63 break 2 seconds in a 60ft, almost regardless of 285, 295, 305, or whatever tires are on the car. The sidewalls are too thin, and it is tough to heat the tires up properly. A bigger tire will help to a point, but there are other factors at play as well with respect to launching hard, and getting into an optimal torque/power band quickly and efficiently. A hard hitting car using slicks and a trans-brake, on a properly set up 4 link will absolutely destroy pretty much *any* street tire driven car at least for the first few hundred feet, at a much lower power level. Street car versus a specialized drag car running a spool, brake, slicks, etc.. There's lots of physics involved.

This is why 60-130mph tests are perhaps a better indicator of power/performance on these cars. Less issues regarding traction, and driver differences, tire temps, etc..

Anyway, some good tips in other posts if you want to improve your times a bit, but just understand the C63 is just not optimal for super fast 0-60 times, or 60 ft times, etc... It is more of a road racing car.

 

This was my best 0-60 on stock turbos, 2015 C63S Sedan Edition 1.

 

The C63 doesn't have a torque converter, so brake boosting is not advisable unless you plan to wear out the startup clutch. Honestly, Race Start isn't made for drag racing. It drops the clutch somewhat conservatively to protect it. It's meant for fast take off on the race track. Drag racing and quarter mile is not a thing in Europe. AMG doesn't build drag racers.

 

that’s interesting. Is there a right way of building of boost from turbos for launch?

 

*****Race start works well if you practice a bit with it. A modified car with significant power will quickly burn out the startup clutch as well as other components in the transmission if you try and do traditional brake torque techniques like on a regular torque converter car which allows slippage and locks up properly on launch at the optimal RPM - the tech is different. We match torque convertors to the power band of the car. Wet clutch is not designed for drag racing - it is really just to get on the track on race day as someone else mentioned - plus it's pretty flippin' cool - I mean it says "Race Start". Also, at least on the PFL cars (I have a 2018 C63s), the transmission cooler is remarkably small and fine for road racing with lots of airflow but it heat soaks *really* fast in stop and go traffic. It's never a bad idea to make sure your cooling system has *good* coolant that is not worn out, and that most importantly if you do drain, flush, and re-fill that it is done *correctly* by using a vacuum suction system versus just pouring new coolant in through the expansion tank with a funnel.

You will *never* get the air out of the system otherwise, and this *will* cause a very very noticeable decrease in performance as well as uneven temps at the heat exchangers, intercoolers, etc..You can verify the temps with an IR thermometer with the car idling at operating temps - if you see a big difference between right and left bank on the exchangers or intercoolers - ya got issues - this is your pro tip of the day - fix it right. Hopefully this will save someone from yet again wondering if they just need to reduce their plug gap a bit, mebbe replace ignition coils again because it's been a year, or some other silliness because their car is not much faster than stock and it has just *gotta* be that ya don't have iridium plugs, or methanol injection (dual nozzle, progressive controller, with the optional gauge telling you it's spraying out liquid power directly into your engine! Wow!!! )

Also, clean out the fins on the exchangers as they collect a ton of bugs, dirt, grime, etc.. that inhibit optimal heat exchange. You'd be surprised how many people don't know, don't care. and wonder why their car with Stage 2 + some super air cleaner and sticky tires, downpipes, the best tune by the best tuner West of the Pecos and possibly even the lower states, not including Florida or uhhh.. Alabama, etc.. is running at about the same or slightly slower than stock... especially in hot weather. This Happens.. probably a lot.


We saw 80 hp loss on a relatively stock C63s due to air lock and air in the system and the poor car was just pulling gobs of timing and boost on the car and having issues that the owner just threw money at hoping it would go away (new plugs, new coils, new intake, blah blah). He could have saved himself a LOT of money and a lot of hassle by just having removed the air from his cooling system after his mechanic just "flushed" his system out and dumped new coolant in with a funnel. Expensive mistake. He saved $50 on a proper vacuum fill by some crappy mechanic only to spend $1000+ on parts he didn't need. Happens.

Anyway, just stuff to think about. Gotta eat lunch. Arugula and Raddichio with a nice dressing and a fine Chianti (okok, I'm having a Mello Yellow! so shoot me!)