Ricardo's 200EDC

Ricardos said:

Cheers mate, indeed the ol' Clean Park is soo handy being 5 mins away

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I was a regular... until I was gifted a home jet wash a few years ago. That broke recently though, so I'm back at Clean Park from time to time now (don't often get the bloody chance these days) it seems to have had a few upgrades since last time I went!

Another opportunity to put miles on the Clio, it's been 3 years since my last visit to the Netherlands to see good friend Arthur of Dekker Tuning. If anyone remembers the last time I went it was under more unfortunate circumstances, a fire breaking out in the next unit also took his unit out with extensive water damage from the units putting the blaze out.

A lot has happened in that time so a perfect time to pay him and his wife a visit for a decent catch-up with a few beers thrown in. But before that the Clio needed a new front wheel bearing replaced, I noticed a slight grumbly noise, had it checked by good ol' Ed of ELF Automotive to confirm then booked it in the week before the drive to the Netherlands.

OE wheel bearing


All aboard!


Friday evening beach bar beers!


Arthur was working Saturday so we went in his M3, Jeeeeez! It's quick, I think he said it's around 500hp. He had a chap turning up in a Meg 280 booked in for a sports exhaust and a map so I spent the day chatting to him while Arthur was working on the car.


Saturday night we went out for a meal then I headed home on the Sunday. Clio again was spot on, Dutch fuel was expensive! So I stopped off in Belgium there and back to top up where it's 1.70 euros a litre for V Power. The Netherlands was like 2.30-40 euros a litre!

So a decent weekend away

700 miles
40 MPG

4 years owned today

How many miles have you done in it?

Clio_fool said:

How many miles have you done in it?

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Looking at the MOTs i would say around 15k

I guess 15k trouble free miles then, which is good .

Clio_fool said:

I guess 15k trouble free miles then, which is good .

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It has a service every year regardless of miles, I think last year was just under a thousand miles between MOTs

Wiper linkage
Passenger and drivers side front wheel bearing

New Michelin PS4 tyres when the 220 wheels were refurbished in July 2022

New genuine battery Feb 2023

Type D coolant change
Brake fluid change with Motul 600
OE spark plugs

Id say pretty reliable over the 4 years

Insurance renewed with Keith Michaels, again. The policy price went down again, no hassles with them at all since going with them when I bought the Clio.

It's been a while since I've done any changes to the Clio, we're going back 4 years since fitting the silver wheels and having the roof redone in gloss black ready for the Cliosport Weekender at Blyton Park. So I thought it was time for a refresh and one change I've been thinking of having done for ages, one of those thoughts that you think would work in your head but not take the next step and actually have it done.

The front wheels had minor scuffs and on one wheel the paint had bubbles and was flaking off. I dropped them off at Rolling Rims where they were done before so they had a refresh in the same sparkle silver.

Part 2, as the wheels are looking new I pulled the trigger on having the calipers done in a different colour, Porsche Acid Green. B Spoke based near Bury St Edmunds did the job, I also asked to have the logos changed so that the Brembo name was in the same font as the Porsche on their calipers.

I forgot to mention earlier that as part of the caliper refresh I purchased a set of new pins from Ozert Engineering courtesy of @Brigsy recommendations. Tried and tested by him with his trackday Mégane he's not had any problems with them after multiple trackdays. I mean if they're good enough for Brigsy

Link below:

Another MOT pass by Ed, however he did 'advise' that the wheel bearing would need changing. Hmm hang on both front wheel bearings have been swapped out by you, one last September and the other the year before in July 25. So it's lasted 4.5k and 2 years? Ok

Consensus of opinion is it's either Renault using poor quality wheel bearings and/or the use of 16mm wheel spacers. Trouble is I have to use the spacers with the 18" OE wheels to clear the Brembo calipers, or fit 8J wheels.

Also noted in conversation were the rear discs, part of that is where the car sits sometimes for weeks on end so I'll look at having them done with new pads. Anyway other than wear and tear she's all good, and about 3.5k away from hitting 100 000 miles..... That'll be next year then

I've never needed a wheel bearing on any Renault Sport I've owned.

Apart from the fact I put only 3000 miles on two brand new genuine renault rear discs on this mk4 and they both needed doing again!

When I replaced all 4 of mine I did genuine fronts and SKF (I think) rears.
Probably due for replacement again soon as they were done at 132k and now being over 240k they’re probably gonna start getting noisy again!

I went for Brembo rears this time. Like a tit I accidentally ordered the non protected ones so I had fun for half a day painting and protecting the buggers

Anyway sounds like an excuse for a wheel upgrade!

I'll have your wheels as winters

Daz. said:

I've never needed a wheel bearing on any Renault Sport I've owned.

Apart from the fact I put only 3000 miles on two brand new genuine renault rear discs on this mk4 and they both needed doing again!

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It is a little strange considering the originals lasted 95k and over 10 years. Let's hope last year's wheel bearing doesn't s**t itself next year!

I'll have to buy another from Renault as it's the only reasonably priced part around. And fingers crossed when I buy the OE rear discs, those bearings will last way beyond my time owning the car