I suspect not, why I am doing the entire car as previously owner, literally did nothing. Garage is doing track rods and wishbones today now, they said they will align it.
Purchased a small French lightweight hot hatch - Renault Clio 172 Cup & NOW 182 Trophy
I suspect not, why I am doing the entire car as previously owner, literally did nothing. Garage is doing track rods and wishbones today now, they said they will align it.
Caporegime
Tidy car now, looking forward to seeing it with refurbished wheels.
Should be done in time for meet on 15th.
Though photos don't show up some stuff, its not perfect body wise, some light scratches, something I shall get sorted once it is mechanically perfect.
Associate
Great thread this , I do like the clio 172/182
Hi there
So these have turned up at work!
In the last picture, is that manufacturer date? So a 2018 tyre?
I am surprised to see they are treadwear 200, I was under impression R1R's were a 140 treadwear, so maybe Toyo made an update, they are incredibly sticky and soft, but the sidewalls are very stiff which I find surprising as Toyo tend to be soft, but there again these are motorsport tyres with re-inforced sidewalls, car will look far better once these are on as they are a better fitment.
So these have turned up at work!
In the last picture, is that manufacturer date? So a 2018 tyre?
I am surprised to see they are treadwear 200, I was under impression R1R's were a 140 treadwear, so maybe Toyo made an update, they are incredibly sticky and soft, but the sidewalls are very stiff which I find surprising as Toyo tend to be soft, but there again these are motorsport tyres with re-inforced sidewalls, car will look far better once these are on as they are a better fitment.
Hi there
OK just got car back from local garage, just like Birchdown Specialist, they commented that its a very clean car indeed, no rust issues and just minor surface corrosion most of which they fixed for me.
They did say the cup wishbones were in relatively good condition which came off and probably would not have bothered changing them, but I want it totally fresh. They did say there was play in the inner rack joint, so good choice to get them swapped over to genuine parts.
They treated the surface corrosion areas with some hammerite black rust paint on the rear beam and front anti-roll bar, they said rest of car was fine.
Only major issue they spotted was a rear tyre with a nail (I knew) and the other rear tyre has two eggs on inner sidewall, plus what looked like some fluid on rear caliper, but they also noted it was a new caliper and the fluid seemed old and did not smell of brake fluid, cleaned that off so can just keep an eye on it.
The brakes will be getting a full refresh anyway, disc, pads, fluid, lines etc. Any further issues can be fixed then.
Grabbed a couple of pictures of the car on the ramp, excuse the dirty under tray, I've degreased and cleaned down the engine bay from when the PS fluid leaked, but never cleaned the tray, my error.
So the rear tyre situation has me a little panicked, as I've been throwing it around somewhat, best play it safe for now and I am now gonna try to find somewhere else to get wheels done, as its pointless fitting the new tyres to knackered wheels and the place I was gonna get the wheels done by can't do them until 2nd week of September, so I need to find somewhere else than can do them, not looking for cheap, just want a good job in original colour and ideally local to myself (Stoke / Congleton), don't particular want to drive any distance due to having to leave car over night, so ideally needs to be within 10 miles maximum.
Oh and the front end, it feels so much tighter, it was kind of vague and wandering over indulations, which I did suspect was the track rods and miss match of tyres, but now it feels much tighter and far more direct, so that is great as of course with 4 matching tyres with firmer sidewalls it will probably become incredibly pointy.
So if your front-end feels vague or not so direct in a Clio, definetely inspect the track rods, the inner had play on mine and it was minor but what a transformation. Maybe the wishbones help too, unknown but it just feels more solid, more direct and better damped on front-end, before it knock a tad over rougher surface, my guess is that was the ball joint worn, of course the new wishbones came pre-fitted with new balljoints as well.
Like I say I do not mess about, the suspension is getting a full refresh to original standards or better, I want to experience the car how Renault meant, so all tight, all fresh. I think now every rubber bush, mount has been replaced, apart from the ones I've yet to do which are:
- Powerflex steering bushes
- Powerflex rear beam bushes
- Powerflex ARB bushes
That is all is left along with a full brake refresh as in such a car confidence in braking is paramount, its pretty good as it is, just too soft on front due to Winter tyre squirming, the tyres will fix that.
OK just got car back from local garage, just like Birchdown Specialist, they commented that its a very clean car indeed, no rust issues and just minor surface corrosion most of which they fixed for me.
They did say the cup wishbones were in relatively good condition which came off and probably would not have bothered changing them, but I want it totally fresh. They did say there was play in the inner rack joint, so good choice to get them swapped over to genuine parts.
They treated the surface corrosion areas with some hammerite black rust paint on the rear beam and front anti-roll bar, they said rest of car was fine.
Only major issue they spotted was a rear tyre with a nail (I knew) and the other rear tyre has two eggs on inner sidewall, plus what looked like some fluid on rear caliper, but they also noted it was a new caliper and the fluid seemed old and did not smell of brake fluid, cleaned that off so can just keep an eye on it.
The brakes will be getting a full refresh anyway, disc, pads, fluid, lines etc. Any further issues can be fixed then.
Grabbed a couple of pictures of the car on the ramp, excuse the dirty under tray, I've degreased and cleaned down the engine bay from when the PS fluid leaked, but never cleaned the tray, my error.
So the rear tyre situation has me a little panicked, as I've been throwing it around somewhat, best play it safe for now and I am now gonna try to find somewhere else to get wheels done, as its pointless fitting the new tyres to knackered wheels and the place I was gonna get the wheels done by can't do them until 2nd week of September, so I need to find somewhere else than can do them, not looking for cheap, just want a good job in original colour and ideally local to myself (Stoke / Congleton), don't particular want to drive any distance due to having to leave car over night, so ideally needs to be within 10 miles maximum.
Oh and the front end, it feels so much tighter, it was kind of vague and wandering over indulations, which I did suspect was the track rods and miss match of tyres, but now it feels much tighter and far more direct, so that is great as of course with 4 matching tyres with firmer sidewalls it will probably become incredibly pointy.
So if your front-end feels vague or not so direct in a Clio, definetely inspect the track rods, the inner had play on mine and it was minor but what a transformation. Maybe the wishbones help too, unknown but it just feels more solid, more direct and better damped on front-end, before it knock a tad over rougher surface, my guess is that was the ball joint worn, of course the new wishbones came pre-fitted with new balljoints as well.
Like I say I do not mess about, the suspension is getting a full refresh to original standards or better, I want to experience the car how Renault meant, so all tight, all fresh. I think now every rubber bush, mount has been replaced, apart from the ones I've yet to do which are:
- Powerflex steering bushes
- Powerflex rear beam bushes
- Powerflex ARB bushes
That is all is left along with a full brake refresh as in such a car confidence in braking is paramount, its pretty good as it is, just too soft on front due to Winter tyre squirming, the tyres will fix that.
Keep a watch on that brake fluid, you don't want it eating in to freshly refurbished wheels if it is leaking.
/edit - just saw your post on wheel refurbs. Find Powdercoating Shropshire on Facebook. Send a message and say I sent you - also a same day service when booked in.
/edit - just saw your post on wheel refurbs. Find Powdercoating Shropshire on Facebook. Send a message and say I sent you - also a same day service when booked in.
Yeah shall keep an eye on it, that is the brand new caliper, mechanic said it seemed more like dirt and suggested maybe when fitted something was sprayed on them and dirt has stuck on it as he said it had no smell of brake fluid, cleaned it all up so if it goes wet again, easy to tell there is an issue. Be quite an simply fix if an issue.
Shall look them up, been in touch with retro coatings in Sandbach, but awaiting a response, shall check out Shropshire guys as a one day turn around would be nice.
P.S. Booked in this Friday with Shropshire powder coaters, same day service, can't beat that!
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Man of Honour
For an old renault rustbucket that looks pretty good underneath
Hi there
So after discovered I had a rear tyre with 2 eggs in the inner sidewalls, I decided to speed up getting the new tyres on and hence I decided to use another powder coaters as per recommendation by Phil W from Overclockers UK forums. So this morning I arrived at Powder Coating Shropshire, his contact details are:
https://www.facebook.com/powdercoatingshropshire/
Rosehill Industrial Estate (15.02 mi)
Market Drayton TF9 2JU
07426 193224
So I arrived at 7am this morning, the plan been the sooner we start, the sooner we finish as I wanted the sameday turn around and I apologise now because this post shall have many photos.
So here is a photo of the condition of the wheels:
As you can see, they were heavily corroded, curbed and generally just looking pretty terrible, really letting down the car after all the work I have put into it, but of course the wheels were always on the to do list.
So the first step was to get the car up on the ramps and wheels removed:
The wheels were then placed in a container full of chemical, for ease lets just call it acid, essentially these rather nasty chemicals strip the wheels down, after soaking for nearly an hour this is how the wheels came out:
So already quite a major transformation, after this the wheels then go through the following process:
Here is some photos of these processors and the machines used, your talking serious value in equipment here:
As it was a whilst I wait service, they had permitted me to work on my car, so I set about cleaning the calipers, arches and underside of the car, I then painted the calipers in a stock OEM silver using Hammerite direct to rust smooth silver, been recommended this by other Clio owners and applied it with a brush, was not after a show car level of work, just wanting to give the cleaner look, needless to say this was achieved, here are some before and after photos of arches dirty, arches clean, underside and painted calipers. The guys at the Powdercoaters did comment on how incredibly clean the underside and arches already were, definitely a spotless and rust free shell on this car, not bad for 16 years old.
I also cleaned the underside of the engine thoroughly as well, but as you can see the shell and general condition of the underside of the car is fantastic, very solid indeed. Yes I got the caliper paint all over the pads and disc, but the job was not to be neat, simply because all the disc, pads, lines and fluid are been replaced with new uprated Brembo parts along with EBC Yellow pads and Goodridge lines, this is all been done next week, hence I was not worried about getting the paint on pads or disc.
I am now very pleased with condition of the car, the underside is clean, arches clean, even around the fuel filler there is zero corrosion, likewise for arches. The silver calipers just give the car a much fresher look as I shall now show you with the final photos of the wheels re-fitted to the car, its simply a transformation.
So here is the final result, some photos outside the Powdercoaters:
Here are some slightly higher resolution photos outside both the Powdercoasters and Overclockers UK:
You cannot believe how happy I am with the results, I have to highly recommend Powdercoatings Shropshire for a truly fantastic job and incredible service, especially around turning around same day. Remember due to their process these should last many years and the finish is also exceptional, please remember the condition my wheels were, now several hours later they are transformed.
Next job is the full brake refresh, disc, pads, hoses, fluid. Then just the remaining bushes, so ARB bushes, steering rack bushes and rear beam bushes. Then the car restoration mechanically is done, the next step is a professional paint correction, detail, polish and sealant by the boys at Autobrite.
So after discovered I had a rear tyre with 2 eggs in the inner sidewalls, I decided to speed up getting the new tyres on and hence I decided to use another powder coaters as per recommendation by Phil W from Overclockers UK forums. So this morning I arrived at Powder Coating Shropshire, his contact details are:
https://www.facebook.com/powdercoatingshropshire/
Rosehill Industrial Estate (15.02 mi)
Market Drayton TF9 2JU
07426 193224
So I arrived at 7am this morning, the plan been the sooner we start, the sooner we finish as I wanted the sameday turn around and I apologise now because this post shall have many photos.
So here is a photo of the condition of the wheels:
As you can see, they were heavily corroded, curbed and generally just looking pretty terrible, really letting down the car after all the work I have put into it, but of course the wheels were always on the to do list.
So the first step was to get the car up on the ramps and wheels removed:
The wheels were then placed in a container full of chemical, for ease lets just call it acid, essentially these rather nasty chemicals strip the wheels down, after soaking for nearly an hour this is how the wheels came out:
So already quite a major transformation, after this the wheels then go through the following process:
- First dipped in acid bath (special nasty chemicals)
- Then they are sanded to remove any curb rash and other marks, if they are cracked then they can also be welded at this point
- They are then aqua blasted
- They are then baked at 200c to allow any chemicals to sweat out and then allowed to cool down
- They are then primer, baked and allowed to cool again
- They are then painted in your desired colour/finish, baked and allowed to cool
- Final stage is the lacquer which helps repel dust/dirt to make cleaning very easy, baked and cooled, now ready for re-fitting to the car
Here is some photos of these processors and the machines used, your talking serious value in equipment here:
As it was a whilst I wait service, they had permitted me to work on my car, so I set about cleaning the calipers, arches and underside of the car, I then painted the calipers in a stock OEM silver using Hammerite direct to rust smooth silver, been recommended this by other Clio owners and applied it with a brush, was not after a show car level of work, just wanting to give the cleaner look, needless to say this was achieved, here are some before and after photos of arches dirty, arches clean, underside and painted calipers. The guys at the Powdercoaters did comment on how incredibly clean the underside and arches already were, definitely a spotless and rust free shell on this car, not bad for 16 years old.
I also cleaned the underside of the engine thoroughly as well, but as you can see the shell and general condition of the underside of the car is fantastic, very solid indeed. Yes I got the caliper paint all over the pads and disc, but the job was not to be neat, simply because all the disc, pads, lines and fluid are been replaced with new uprated Brembo parts along with EBC Yellow pads and Goodridge lines, this is all been done next week, hence I was not worried about getting the paint on pads or disc.
I am now very pleased with condition of the car, the underside is clean, arches clean, even around the fuel filler there is zero corrosion, likewise for arches. The silver calipers just give the car a much fresher look as I shall now show you with the final photos of the wheels re-fitted to the car, its simply a transformation.
So here is the final result, some photos outside the Powdercoaters:
Here are some slightly higher resolution photos outside both the Powdercoasters and Overclockers UK:
You cannot believe how happy I am with the results, I have to highly recommend Powdercoatings Shropshire for a truly fantastic job and incredible service, especially around turning around same day. Remember due to their process these should last many years and the finish is also exceptional, please remember the condition my wheels were, now several hours later they are transformed.
Next job is the full brake refresh, disc, pads, hoses, fluid. Then just the remaining bushes, so ARB bushes, steering rack bushes and rear beam bushes. Then the car restoration mechanically is done, the next step is a professional paint correction, detail, polish and sealant by the boys at Autobrite.
Man of Honour
What was the price on that if you don't mind me asking? I might look at getting them to do my bike wheels.
Message or call them prices differ depending on what you want, for a starters you only got two wheels, so will be considerable less.
Soldato
The Turini wheels are just the perfect wheel for the Clio, looks great mate.
Soldato
I’m sure that’s @Phil W dad who owns that refurb place.
It makes no sense, you can't see it and factory exhaust no longer available.
Anything after market is probably noisy.
If there is a stealth exhaust like this, lighter and makes more power, then yes I might consider it, I don't mind such mods as long as they don't really detract from the original car.
For example a remap, high flow cat, panel filter would be fine, because the car still looks original, sounds original, but would just go a bit better.
Any performance mods just need to be sensible, half the fun is the fact its not a 500+ HP monster, even in its current form it gets to 80mph pretty swiftly and happily pulls 100mph.
If there are any recommended exhaust I will consider it for sure, just don't want anything noisy or that can be seen.
Caporegime
Looks like a very thorough job.