Too much HP, not enough tire, or: How I bought a C63 AMG

Recently I found myself on the recipient end of an insurance settlement stemming from a car vs person (I was the person) accident.  And while I adulted with most of the money, I decided that as a reward for not dying, I would get something fun to drive.  My criteria were: fast, comfortable for road trips, occasional autox or track, nice amenities.  With that in mind, I ended up driving a number of cars, including a cayman S, a 996 anniversary edition, 2014 Mustang GT, 2013 Camaro SS, 2nd gen CTSV, and the AMG.  Between all of them, the driving on the cayman was the best, but super noisy on the inside on the highway (tires were a factor I am sure).  But i fell in love with the exhaust note and the feel of the AMG.  So I came home with a 2013 with only 33K miles on it.

Now, this is the most HP I have ever had in a car, and I didn't really trust it since I didn't understand the handling.  So, 1 week into ownership, took it out to an autox.

Had a good time, I was loud, sideways, and slow.  This car suffers from too much HP and skinny tires.  With that in mind, I wanted to ask the Hive some opinions.  

Stock, the car wears Front: P235/40R18, rear: P255/35R18 on 18x8 and 18x9 inch rims respectively front and rear.  I can probably go to a 245 and a 265 without rubbing issues or a ton of sidewall deflection.  I would possibly look at 275 in the rear, but still not sure if that would fit on a 9" rim.

What I don't know, even after reading the tire comparisons here on the site, is what tire might be good for what I want.  These tires are not going to be for a daily tire, autox only.  And I don't think I am going to be super competitive, but I want something that might help me keep the power down and less sideways.  I might also go out to a track day, but that is not what I know, so keep with the autox recommendations for now.

I'm in FS, so that means mustangs, camaros, and other, larger V8 cars.  I'm around 3800 LBS and 451 HP. So if anyone has ideas, totally game!

Final notes: I have been autoxing for about 10 years, but typically a miata, some time in a mini, and Integra GSR, and a Legacy GT.  So not a novice to driving, just novice to this style of car.  I dontt plan on making changes to suspension (besides an alignment) because there aren't many options out there anyway, and for driving around town, PNW roads are pretty crappy.

I'm of no help, but how hard did you get hit if "most of the money went to adult things" and you still ended up with a c63? 

Exhaust note video please?  These things sound amazing no matter how many times you hear them.

I think any tire is going to struggle to put down that kind of power (i.e torque). If you have no desire to be class competitive, maybe a set of Hoosier or continental race scrubs? 

I hate it when I type a page of text on my phone, and "a problem occurred, so page was reloaded". 

I'm glad that you were able to come away from something that resulted in a large settlement with the ability to drive at an autocross, and walk the course. That coulda gone way different.

From a "learning the car" standpoint, I'd advocate running the crappy tires, and learning to keep the car under you. Because I was poor, I didn't run r-comps until my 3rd year, but I did make suspension improvements. I think the crappy tire training has helped me not die in more than a few incidents that would have resulted in contact before I started autocrossing. 

That being said, I have some 225/50-16 RE71Rs on my 400+? rwhp Fairmont, and I can (carefully) go wide-open in 2nd without spinning them. They leave black marks, but they don't spin in a straight line. I was amazed. 

Dead_Sled said:

I'm of no help, but how hard did you get hit if "most of the money went to adult things" and you still ended up with a c63? 

Exhaust note video please?  These things sound amazing no matter how many times you hear them.

Not all the gory details, but ended up in the hospital for 3 days, severely messed up ankle, and head injury resulting in losing my sense of taste and smell (I've gotten about 30% of that back, over a year later). It was also a hit and run, so the claim was against my auto insurance for underinsured motorist coverage.  It paid out quite a good amount, I spent about 15% of the amount on this car.  Depreciation on these things hit hard, so they are a good value honestly.  

The only recording of the exhaust note is from my friend's cell phone at the autox, and this car may no longer have secondary cats or a resonator.....

Not sure if the video is public or not, but you can give it a go. Autox Video

NordicSaab said:

I think any tire is going to struggle to put down that kind of power (i.e torque). If you have no desire to be class competitive, maybe a set of Hoosier or continental race scrubs? 

I think I'm going to stick with one of the 200tw type tires, one for cost, and 2 if I need to drive to an event.  

I just wanted to clarify that i didn't mean my comment in a snarky way.  Glad you're ok first and foremost .  The more health issues I'm exposed to the more I realize that any kind of payout as a result of a physical injury or health issues certainly isn't worth it. 

Glad you're enjoying the time you've been granted .  Smoke em if you got em!

LifeIsStout said:

Dead_Sled said:

I'm of no help, but how hard did you get hit if "most of the money went to adult things" and you still ended up with a c63? 

Exhaust note video please?  These things sound amazing no matter how many times you hear them.

Not all the gory details, but ended up in the hospital for 3 days, severely messed up ankle, and head injury resulting in losing my sense of taste and smell (I've gotten about 30% of that back, over a year later). It was also a hit and run, so the claim was against my auto insurance for underinsured motorist coverage.  It paid out quite a good amount, I spent about 15% of the amount on this car.  Depreciation on these things hit hard, so they are a good value honestly.  

The only recording of the exhaust note is from my friend's cell phone at the autox, and this car may no longer have secondary cats or a resonator.....

Not sure if the video is public or not, but you can give it a go. Autox Video

Posted while I was typing, sorry about the loss of your senses, hope they continue to improve.

I have a cousin who can't smell.  She also had the world's worst farts when we were Young.  Takes me back.

Dead_Sled said:

LifeIsStout said:

Dead_Sled said:

I'm of no help, but how hard did you get hit if "most of the money went to adult things" and you still ended up with a c63? 

Exhaust note video please?  These things sound amazing no matter how many times you hear them.

Not all the gory details, but ended up in the hospital for 3 days, severely messed up ankle, and head injury resulting in losing my sense of taste and smell (I've gotten about 30% of that back, over a year later). It was also a hit and run, so the claim was against my auto insurance for underinsured motorist coverage.  It paid out quite a good amount, I spent about 15% of the amount on this car.  Depreciation on these things hit hard, so they are a good value honestly.  

The only recording of the exhaust note is from my friend's cell phone at the autox, and this car may no longer have secondary cats or a resonator.....

Not sure if the video is public or not, but you can give it a go. Autox Video

Posted while I was typing, sorry about the loss of your senses, hope they continue to improve.

I have a cousin who can't smell.  She also had the world's worst farts when we were Young.  Takes me back.

Oh, sometimes its totally an advantage.  And honestly, I would rather have the smell/taste than the money, but you make the best of a situation.  And I keep a good attitude about it. No snark was detected.

That being said, I'm also getting a Frogger tattoo since I evidently lost......

No clue about your available wheel well space but I have 275's on 8.5" caddy V wheels with no issues.  The lack of rubber/traction with these are well known/enjoyed.

Good to know! I can also put on a small spacer if I really need to.

Car tries to kill him, so he goes and buys a car with too much engine and not enough tire. Works for me! Love that C63.

Plugging your stock tire sizes into Tire Rack shows that most of the 200TW tires to have are available to you. Bridgestone RE-71R, Direzza ZII and ZIII, Hankook R-S4, Yokohama AD08 R. Based on my experience, I'd go with the Bridgestone as my first choice and the Hankook second. The Bridgestones are what we run on our V8 ND (500-ish hp, 2600 lbs, 245-series tires) and people are always surprised at how well it puts the power down.

That said, you may have to learn some new throttle application techniques. Depending on what you're used to, you may have to take an extra half second to roll into the throttle instead of slapping it open. Remember that once you break traction, you've got less than you had before you broke it so the trick is avoiding the start of wheelspin.

Keith Tanner said:

Car tries to kill him, so he goes and buys a car with too much engine and not enough tire. Works for me! Love that C63.

True! But since I wasn't in a car at the time of the accident, I figure somehow it's fair.  

I was looking at the Bridgestones, and also the Nexen N Fera Sur4g (as the package is about 200$ less for the 245 and 275 packages).  Ill take a harder look at the RE-71Rs if you use those on the ND.

I'm happy with how they perform. I don't know how they last because every journalist wants a burnout picture from the V8 and thus we replace a lot of tires, but we did manage to get something like 600 track miles out of a set on a turbo Miata at Laguna Seca last fall.

Glad you came out alive. 

All I can include to this topic. 

I don't see the problem with being loud & sideways at an autocross.

Sweet ride! 

Only way I ever got my E55 AMG to hook was on Quicktime Pros.  285s stretched on 20x12s were not the recipe for success but they looked damn good.  

Does Eurocharged offer a tune for that rig?  If so, get it!

Bridgestone RE-71R or the BFGoodrich Rival S.

RE-71R is the autox tire though. Does everything well and is okay in the wet. I use the Rival S because they don't make sizes that fit the C6 Z06. The Rival S is terrible in the wet.

No one I know in street tire classes runs anything other than the RE-71R if it fits.

In the PNW, you'll be better off with the Bridgestones, as they are pretty good in the wet.  245/40/18 front and 265/35/18 in the rear will work, but 275/35/18 will work better it you have room.  Spacers up to 7mm are legal in Street class.

I'm used to driving low power cars, but I recently drove a friends 2015 Mustang.  You have to work at keeping the car over the tires and roll into / out of the throttle.   I even managed to beat the car owner.  When he asked how I did it, I said it was because I was afraid of the car and he wasn't!  He was snatching the car around, stomping the gas pedal, and kept the suspension upset.  He's been doing much better since then.

I just checked and Tire Rack is offering free shipping on RE-71R's!

Keith Tanner said:

I'm happy with how they perform. I don't know how they last because every journalist wants a burnout picture from the V8 and thus we replace a lot of tires, but we did manage to get something like 600 track miles out of a set on a turbo Miata at Laguna Seca last fall.

Not all that long.  I have 6000 miles on the set on my FD, and they're close to the wear bars.  I love the tires, although they are a bit loud.  I'll probably buy more to replace them once they're done.

I plan on having a second set of rims and tires anyway, just for track/autox, so they won't be on there for driving around normally.

After I saw the title, all I could think of was this: