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I currently have a facelift C63s Coupe that has the 9 stage traction control system, car is making 740whp and i struggle to put the power down if even i have the traction setting on 5 for example
Current tyres are Michelin Cup 2's and they have seen better days so i know that plays a role with the traction issue (will be changing tyres just trying to decide what to go with)
My previous tyre choice was the Toyo R888R they worked better then the Cup 2's but they are just too damn loud and i still had traction issues depending on what traction setting i selected
I know people use the NT555Rii but there is no one locally that brings them in, same with mickey thompson's i cant get my hands on them
My question is, is there anyone else with the same or similar power experiencing the same issue? or if they had this issue what traction setting and tyre combo did you go with to better your traction?
Everybody who tunes these cars finds themselves struggling to actually put the power down. These cars even have difficulty hooking up with stock power if you don't properly shift the weight to the rear and get your rear tires up to temp first. Just a couple of thoughts I've shared before.
Tuners generally don't reprogram ESP and TC to properly work with the additional torque and power. Especially the 9-Stage TC is tightly integrated with the ECU's torque management. As opposed to traditional TC systems, it doesn't rely on the brakes to get traction, instead it manages the engine torque output. So if your engine runs out of stock spec, don't expect it to do its job well unless the tuner completely revised it to work with the tuned power and torque.
Tires need to be hot. The chart below is from a Michelin presentation and shows you where your compound temps need to be for your Cup 2s to even develop their full grip potential. You gonna have to do a few burnouts to get anywhere near to the 200F compound temps required for 100% grip. Don't expect other high performance tires to perform better when cold. If you want more grip at lower compound temperatures, then you need to use an AS tire, but those start to fall off once they get hot as you can see from the graph. They peak just when the summer performance tires get started. Pull up your tire temp gauge in the instrument cluster and make sure your rear tires are properly hot before expecting them to even remotely hook up and roll your foot on the throttle to smoothly, but quickly shift the weight of the car to the rear and keep it there. These cars have more weight on the front, so you need to take advantage of the weight shift during acceleration if you want a chance to hook up. Even with my stock power, I can't get the power down if my rear tires aren't up to temperature.
Last edited by superswiss; Jul 14, 2025 at 11:59 AM.
Everybody who tunes these cars finds themselves struggling to actually put the power down. These cars even have difficulty hooking up with stock power if you don't properly shift the weight to the rear and get your rear tires up to temp first. Just a couple of thoughts I've shared before.
Tuners generally don't reprogram ESP and TC to properly work with the additional torque and power. Especially the 9-Stage TC is tightly integrated with the ECU's torque management. As opposed to traditional TC systems, it doesn't rely on the brakes to get traction, instead it manages the engine torque output. So if your engine runs out of stock spec, don't expect it to do its job well unless the tuner completely revised it to work with the tuned power and torque.
Tires need to be hot. The chart below is from a Michelin presentation and shows you where your compound temps need to be for your Cup 2s to even develop their full grip potential. You gonna have to do a few burnouts to get anywhere near to the 200F compound temps required for 100% grip. Don't expect other high performance tires to perform better when cold. If you want more grip at lower compound temperatures, then you need to use an AS tire, but those start to fall off once they get hot as you can see from the graph. They peak just when the summer performance tires get started. Pull up your tire temp gauge in the instrument cluster and make sure your rear tires are properly hot before expecting them to even remotely hook up and roll your foot on the throttle to smoothly, but quickly shift the weight of the car to the rear and keep it there. These cars have more weight on the front, so you need to take advantage of the weight shift during acceleration if you want a chance to hook up. Even with my stock power, I can't get the power down if my rear tires aren't up to temperature.
Believe the Yellow warning (passenger front) comes on at or close to155F. I know the Red warning comes on at 170F. (passenger front). When these tires get hot they get glued to the road and fun to drive. I have the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. A new set this year. Cannot see if it's even possible to get the rears anywhere 200F based on my photo below?
Believe the Yellow warning (passenger front) comes on at or close to155F. I know the Red warning comes on at 170F. (passenger front). When these tires get hot they get glued to the road and fun to drive. I have the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. A new set this year. Cannot see if it's even possible to get the rears anywhere 200F based on my photo below?
Yep, it's nearly impossible to get the rears hot enough w/o doing burnouts. 127-130F is about what I manage mine on a canyon run, with the fronts, at least the right going into the 170s. I agree, it's amazing how the PS4S starts to stick even at those temperatures. They are basically at 90-100% grip at that point. The brakes also become much better once the tires got heat in them as the fronts just dig in.
Last edited by superswiss; Jul 14, 2025 at 03:52 PM.
I currently have a facelift C63s Coupe that has the 9 stage traction control system, car is making 740whp and i struggle to put the power down if even i have the traction setting on 5 for example
Current tyres are Michelin Cup 2's and they have seen better days so i know that plays a role with the traction issue (will be changing tyres just trying to decide what to go with)
My previous tyre choice was the Toyo R888R they worked better then the Cup 2's but they are just too damn loud and i still had traction issues depending on what traction setting i selected
I know people use the NT555Rii but there is no one locally that brings them in, same with mickey thompson's i cant get my hands on them
My question is, is there anyone else with the same or similar power experiencing the same issue? or if they had this issue what traction setting and tyre combo did you go with to better your traction?
These cars have traction issues stock. My car has 700 hp and 1000+ N.m. I replaced the e-diff in my C63S coupe with a WaveTrac, This helped a lot with traction and stability, but more so from a roll than from dig. There's too much power and torque low in the revs, so it will overpower the rear wheels no mater what with the engine in the front. I have used Michelin PS4S, Nankang NS-2R (semi-slick), Nankang AR1 (semi-slick) and Continental SportContact 7. The PS4S are rubbish and I replaced them after 1000 km. The Semi-slick variants have the same issue as the Cup 2 tyres, they need heat to work properly, and it's too hard to get heat into them with normal driving on the street. The AR1 did heat up relatively fast and they do outperform the Cup 2, but the noise is terrible. I found the ContactSport 7 to significantly outperform the PS4S. Traction is very good and straight away. They would out perform a Cup 2 tyre that isn't at optimum temperature (a burnout at the lights isn't very practical). My next tyres will be Yokohama AO52. I've seen very good reviews. I'm hesitant about drag specific tyres because they have very soft side walls and I don't want to lose that planted feeling through corners. Either way, you have to trade off some comfort of handling to get the best grip, and even then you're up against diminishing returns without all wheel drive.