172 Cup OEM+

[Darryl_1983]

One thing I've noticed recently is how boomy or droney the exhaust is. It's a stealth KTEC resonated exhaust, sounds fine when going for a rip around some b roads but on a motorway journey or sustained 60/70mph my god, it's awful.

Recommendations for something not as droney?

I'm pretty sure mine is the same system, and it isn't droney at all. It is however, pretty loud, and definitely more raspy than typical. But it also has a sports cat rather than the standard cat. In the past on my 182's, I've found that changing from the standard cat to a sports cat makes a big difference to noise, and does add a bit of raspiness.

Honestly, I'm quite surprised how loud my cup is, it has a pretty large resonator and reasonable back box, but it's probably louder than my 3.0 Z4 with the back box deleted and tiny standard resonator. I guess it could be related to the lack of sound deadening in the Clio compared to the Z4 though.

 

[bowen86]

I like the KTEC around town or on a blast out. But my god, motorway speeds it's just DRONE.

I guess everyone's tolerance to noise and what they find acceptable is different.

 

[Colin-S]

I've got this on mine with 2 x resonators

Not loud, not raspy and not boomy

CP Performance Renaultsport Clio 172 Piper Stealth Stainless Steel Exhaust System

CP Performance | Piper Exhuast | Stainless Steel | Cat Back Exhaust Systems | Stainless Steel Performance Headers | De-Cat | Sports Cat | Performance Exhaust | Payment Options | Open Mon-Saturday |

cp-performance.co.uk

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

Mine has a non-OEM cat and a pattern Klarius exhaust and it’s loud.

 

[Ant1]

I've got this on mine with 2 x resonators

Not loud, not raspy and not boomy

CP Performance Renaultsport Clio 172 Piper Stealth Stainless Steel Exhaust System

CP Performance | Piper Exhuast | Stainless Steel | Cat Back Exhaust Systems | Stainless Steel Performance Headers | De-Cat | Sports Cat | Performance Exhaust | Payment Options | Open Mon-Saturday |

cp-performance.co.uk

Might do a buy on this.

 

[andybond]

The inner door seal thing cracked a while a go and my OCD couldn't deal with it. View attachment 1743941

I had tried to glue it but it looked s**t.


Picked up a fresh one from a breaker.
View attachment 1743942

One thing I've noticed recently is how boomy or droney the exhaust is. It's a stealth KTEC resonated exhaust, sounds fine when going for a rip around some b roads but on a motorway journey or sustained 60/70mph my god, it's awful.

Recommendations for something not as droney?

I have the same model exhaust. Just mad deep base all the time. I am 45 not 17 so prefer the quiet life now..

 

[bowen86]

Bit of an update.

I've got a BIG Euro Road trip coming up in Sept so trying to iron out any creases with the Clio before I go.

The hot start issue hadn't got any better or worse, so I bit the bullet and had a new Bosch Starter fitted.

Serviced the gearbox

Fresh oil and filter

New tyres

I noticed when washing the wheels the drivers front wheel was covered in CV grease. It looked like the CV boot has slipped off.

I fitted a JR shafted. I've had no issues with these shafts from the previous three Clios ive fitted them too.

Currently building up a few spare parts to take on the road trip, booking breakdown cover and having fits of anxiety.

 

[MrBlonde]

Nice mate,i see your going with Tom.His RB is mega

 

[bowen86]

After all the above was done I needed to give it a bit of a shakedown.

So I drove from South to North Wales around the Evo Triangle, horse shoe pass and some of the amazing roads that bless North Wales.

420+ miles to a whole tank of fuel.

Clio was really good. Apart from some rattles and the archliners rubbing on full lock, it was a great drive out.

 

[bowen86]

Nice mate,i see your going with Tom.His RB is mega

Yeah, he's leaving the Clio at home.

In safe hands with Tom and the boys as they've done the route before and have planned the whole thing.

 

[172CupHGA]

What suspension are you running out of interest? Car looks a little lower than standard. Having a nightmare trying to source OEM front shocks and trying to work out what aftermarket equipment maintains a decent ride and would be a decent replacement.

 

[ex-Chinese Dave]

I need to go through these posts again but did this have any paintwork work done as it looks great? Just wondering, if it's original how is the paintwork in front of the rear wheels regarding stone chips?

 

[bowen86]

I need to go through these posts again but did this have any paintwork work done as it looks great? Just wondering, if it's original how is the paintwork in front of the rear wheels regarding stone chips?

No paint that I've done and 2 previous owners are on here with threads that I've linked on the first page. None have mentioned paint only PDR.

There is some fine laquer peel on the rear quarter although it is minor.

Bonnet has a rust patch coming through which I can deal with as its a removable piece i.e. I can buy a clean bonnet one day, maybe...

Front bumper stone chips.

Honest car imho.

 

[Howell]

Gorgeous car.

Enjoying the instagram updates also 👌

 

[bowen86]

Final bits and pieces ahead of the Euro trip next week.

Fitted @04-182 's 3d printed cup holder and replaced the cigarette lighter with a dual USB connector and volt meter.

I'm waiting on a fresh set of brake pads and I think I'm ready to go!

 

[KevC]

The USB/voltmeter is a nice touch.

 

[bowen86]

£6 from ebay, cheaper than Amazon. Went for red illumination over blue or green to at least try and blend in with the dials and look kind of OEM.

 

[R29TJR]

How was the road trip!

 

[bowen86]

How was the road trip!

No bad, not bad at all.

 

[bowen86]

Road trip with the boys to Switzerland. The team consisted of me and the Clio 172 Cup, a Porsche Cayman R and two Caterhams. 5 nights inc staying in Ashford, which is a foreign country to me so I'm including that too!

I left South Wales and headed to a Travel Lodge in Ashford, ready for the 5am Shuttle to France.

Packed and ready to go.

3 hour motorway slog to Ashford.

Le shuttle at 5am the next morning.

Arriving in France and a quick stop at a Petrol station for some French Cuisine.

And then the long stretch to Switzerland. This was a long drive with a few stops.

10hrs of driving on French and Swiss motorways.

The good - roads were empty in France. The quality of driving standards was far higher than the UK. The road surfaces were as smooth as silk.

The bad - speed cameras aren't obvious like they are in the UK. They aren't painted yellow with warning signs, they practically camouflage in the bushes. Luckily we had radios and were able to mark them out when we saw them.

We began to see the mountains.

To be continued as I can only upload 10 images at a time....

 

[Polynesian]

Ah, you’re friends with Joe. We keep meaning to do a Sunday drive out with his Caterham and my MX5. Shame about his wallet moment! Think his car is back and at GP sevens now. Your Clio looks fantastic and in no way a junior car in that group. Brilliant.

 

[bowen86]

Recap of the drive from South Wales to Switzerland.

Arriving in Andermatt, the roads seemlessly went from motorway to hairpins in an instant, coupled with low fog and mist, it was quite a challenging drive both physically and mentally. The sheer drops, low viability and barriers made of shoe string weren't to be messed with.

Obviously I have no photos of this as I was concentrating on not dying.

The first beer at the hotel tasted AMAZING.

Good food and company at a local Pizzeria to end day one.

Good night.

The next morning we were up early preparing the cars for the day ahead.

Spot @R29TJR

Before we hit the roads we got some breakfast from a cafe in Andermatt.

Tbc...

 

[MrBlonde]

Looks mega mate,i need to do a euro trip next year.

 

[bowen86]

First we went west across the Furka then onto Grimsel and back east along
Susten. The views were unbelievable.

We headed along the Susten pass but hit stationary traffic at a road closure due to, of all things, Cows.
We span around and did the entire route in reverse.

Lunch at Susten brueggli was phenomenal and the views were breathtaking.

The day finished with a mountain walk to the north of Sedrun and plenty of beers.

That was pretty much day one.

 

[Colin-S]

Stunning scenery and great write up. Lovely Cup!

 

[bowen86]

Day 3

We headed southeast then on to the San Bernardino Pass. We all agreed that this wasn't the best pass for one reason or another.

We then continued further south to the Italian border and back north through the Panoramico Sosto.

This was popular with the locals.

We chilled here for a bit taking in the views before setting off for the mere 45min journey back to the hotel.

This is when disaster struck and 45mins turned in to 5 hours...

Joe the owner of the blue Caterham (has posted publicly, so I don't imagine he'll mind me posting here too), managed to clip an upright barrier on the front offside, snapping the lower arm. He was doing 10mph.

Out came the mandatory hi-vis vests and warning triangles.

Joe managed to do this on a blind bend. Not ideal.

Thunderbird one (me) and two (James owner of the Porsche) directed traffic whilst thunderbird three @R29TJR did his best to manually steer the broken wheel by undoing the track rod end. We managed to roll it back 300m to the layby we'd just left.

4 hours later the AA turned up with the "we need to try and fix it at the side of the road" mantra. The driver of the recovery vehicle didn't speak English, but he didn't need to, his face said it all.

On the back of the transporter it went.

This was one of those. Phenomenal team efforts and as odd as it sounds, I was quite proud of what we pulled off.

Once the low loader disappeared in to the distance, we drove north on the Passo del Lucomango and back to
Sedrun for a curry and beers lots of beers, on Joe of course.

"what a day".