Budget (ish) 172/182 tuning?

[RSZWEI]

Hi Guys,
If you were on a budget what would be the essentials that you would do to a daily driven Clio 172/182 that does the odd track day?

Brake pads, Springs, ARB etc etc?

Also, what is the difference between the Eibach Pro Lowering Springs and the Eibach Sportline Spring Kit?

And how good is the Whiteline ARB? Does it make the car a handful in the wet?

 

[Willo]

The three mods youve listed plus engine mount and brake lines.

ARB csn be disattached in a few moments if you dont like it in the wet but will handle well with it anyway. Dont bother touching the engine power wise... not good value

 

[1812lsd]

Full Service I.E. Fresh oil, Gear oil, filters, plugs, leads if needed.
Take the sump off and check the oil pick up pipe is not blocked by a lump of silicon.

Break pads, disks if needed, new break fluid.

Bushes if needed.

Decent set of tyres.

Springs, the difference between the Pro & Sport springs is the Pro give about the same ride height as standard and the Sports give near a 30mm drop.

Rear ARB is very good mod for the price, try it on hard, if you don't like the stiffness adjust it to the soft setting, if you don't like that, take it off and sell it.
I can't comment on the ARB handling in the wet, as I have front end issues and can't drive it hard in the wet at the mo.

Also lighten it by removing anything you can, like the Iso fix bar etc etc.

 

[Mr R.]

I'd go Cooksport springs.
Oh and if you do take the sump off you might as well fit a set of ARP rod bolts.

 

[warwickstingray]

My dad and I ran a standard 182 FF two up with a tank of fuel on Michelin PS3's and it went more than well enough at airfield track days and at castle combe. We were told we looked one of the fastest things on track at a wet combe. Standard car is very confident in the wet on good tyres. Upset a committed turbocharged Cooper works as well which I expected to be all over me. You won't be disappointed in the standard car. The brakes are only an issue if you start braking really late and still try to get all your braking out the way before turning in and your entry speed is still fairly low. Downhill sections with low speed corners at the end are the worst for this.

My dad and I had been doing track days and sprints a while before the clio though.

All the chassis mods suggested are good and worth it. I'm just saying that any of the standard cars with a cup setup are great fun on track. You could try it standard and add a mod at a time so you have a benchmark to work from. If your new to track Uprated pads will stop the brakes ruining your day.

If you run light on fuel and remove all easy to remove trim you'll save 40-50kgs when I weighed a few bits and pieces. I didn't remove the isofix bar. Didn't even think about that!

As mentioned your car needs to be 100% mechanically to be reliable on track. They are pretty robust. Only car i've found 1st at 70 mph and it didn't explode bar a Honda B16. I have my ham fisted moments

 

[Martin_172]

inner track rods, rod ends, extra castor bottom arms, cup dampers, eibach springs

mintex pads, brembo hc discs, braided lines, fresh fluid

rs tuner remap

done!

 

[FLOBALOB]

All of the above ...plus a lot more when you get hooked on track days (which you will).
But on a budget, whack some decent tyres and some track pads in to start off. Then book a load of track days with whatever money you have left and go for it.