Fabia VRS Special Ed
Thought I'd dig out some of the old pics and details of my car & create a progress thread for you to see the transformation(s).
I bought the car in April last year (7 days after I was 17) and was on a provisional license, only got to drive the car twice before I'd passed my test though.
Pics of how it looked standard (curtesy of my younger brother), obviously at this point it had dynamique interior etc:
s
After owning the car for a couple of weeks I got it booked into a local garage and got it serviced, at the time I went away with the missus on the jetskis and got a phone call from my Dad telling me that the service had accumulated to over £300
Obviously I had to pay this but was gutted.
Also got some genuine "Clio" mats from Ren as the standard ones were sh*t.
After a month or so I decided it was time to "make the car my own", I couldn't stand having a boring standard car that was the same as my mates.
First mod on the list was a set of new wheels, I got them from a member on here, ace guy and he even dropped them off. Again I was away so my Dad fitted them lol.
Before:
After:
As you can see, while changing the wheels over I decided I'd paint my calipers, so sanded them down to get rid of the cr@p on top and painted them yellow. Also painted the rear drums black to hide them.
Next I noticed that my number plates were cracked and had started to rust, so made myself some new plain ones
Soon after I decided to purchase some blue indicator bulbs for the front, made a huge difference imo!
I quickly became good friends with a lad off here, Steve_182. He lives just around the corner and is a sound lad. He helped me to fit my RenaultSport grille, this made a massive difference, completely transformed the front end and is one of the best (and cost effective) modifications you can make.
Shortly after paniting my calipers yellow, I thought I'd go for the "bumble bee" theme, so I took my badges into the body shop and sprayed them yellow.
The car pretty much stood like this for a couple of months, until I had saved enough cash to do anything else to it.
Then came the RS interior, made a 7 hour round trip (with Steve_182 as my co-driver) to County Durham to collect them from a member on here, included were front & rear seats & door cards. Got home and with help from Steve, got these fitted...At this point the car looked a million times better than it did previously, shortly after I sold my old seats to a member on here.
Pictures:
After a bit of intense thought, I decided that I'd move away from the "bumble bee" theme and make it a bit more subtle and stealthy. With this in mind I decided to rub down my badges and spray them graphite grey, I think that this made the car look a lot more mean and sportier.
After looking around the forums and reading countless "lower it" posts on my media threads, I decided that my available funds should be used to buy some springs. I bought some Apex -40mm springs from a lad on here and travelled to Clitheroe to meet Daz aka Da, he fitted the new springs himself and I was off home, the ride home was very "firm" compared to the standard springs, so as a result the handling was improved dramatically. After driving the car for a few days, I noticed that my car now sat much lower and looked fantastic, the ride height was perfect for what I wanted.
Thanks to Da for sorting this for me
Next on the list I decided to colour code a couple of bits, so took my spoiler & recently purchased "sport" side strips to the bodyshop where they were sprayed, as soon as I put them onto the car I knew that it was a fantastic change and made the car look cleaner (aesthetically). I also decided to spray the bullets & lettering black to match the strips.
Not the best pic but you get the idea...Also you can see how low it was at this point:
Soon after, I noticed that my MPG wasn't too good and throttle response was terrible, so decided to buy some new uprated spark plugs. Half way through fitting them I noticed that my HT leads were shot, so had to borrow one of my missus' step dad's cars while the parts were shipped to my local Renault. After fitting these and obviously the spark plugs, I took the car for a spin. Straight away I noticed an incredible difference, the accelleration had improved greatly and so had the MPG. While I was under the bonnet I decided to change my air filter, so did so.
I also decided to change my discs & pads as upon inspection I noticed that the passenger side had a huge groove in the disc, so inevitably so had the pad.
I went to my local motor factors place and bought some Mintex discs & pads, fitted these the next day.
Again, I noticed a huge difference and the braking was much better.
Carrying on with the stealthy theme, I decided to spray my dash strips graphite grey to match the badges, they looked so much better than the old ones and would recommend doing the same to anyone, obviously depending on what your colour theme is.
I was browsing through the "For Sale" section on here when I stumbled accross a set of 182 alloys that were for sale, the lad was wanting to swap his for 15/16" wheels + cash naturally, I thought I'd try my luck and ask whether he'd be interested in 17s. The next day I was checking my emails, I'd even completely forgot I'd posted and I'd recieved an email from the lad, wanting my wheels + cash his way. I used my professional haggling skills to knock his cash price down and we finally agreed a price.
On the sunday I travelled down after work and did the dirty deed, I think that my wheels looked absolutely awesome on his 182 and his wheels looked awesome on mine, so we were both happy
Pics from the next day:
Next on the list were some flatblades from the lad doing the group buy on here, I paid him/his company and they arrived a few days later. They were easy to fit of course, they are so much better than normal blades and for the price they're a total bargain!
I decided to give my engine bay a good clean and spruce it up a bit by spraying my engine cover, it's not the greatest finish of all time but it's because it's the dreaded orange peel effect
Still looks much better than the standard colour anyway so I'm quite happy with it
*** MAJOR IDEA ALERT ***
I finally decided to turn my stealthy clio into a Rep, I'd recently gone through a stage where I wanted a new car, but after buying and fitting my 182 wheels I really did fall back in love with the car.
I got onto Ebay and started to shop around for the parts required for the transformation, I found a lad who was breaking a 172 Cup and had the rear bumper and skirts for sale, agreed a price with him & made the 2 hour journey in my Dad's car to pickup the parts. When I got there I noticed that he had a pasenger side wing that was broken but looked repairable, I asked him what he wanted for it and he said I can have it for free because he was going to bin it, I was made up naturally.
At this point I thought I'd see if I could get any other bits while I was there, so asked about the rear wiper cover & the dash clock, he chucked these bits in free of charge and after paying I made the drive home.
When i got home I quickly tried the rear bumper on the car and even though it was a different colour, it still looked awesome!
First of all I took apart the dash and fitted the new clock, I was majorly happy as I had never had this working previously (since I bought the car) so to have a clock was a novelty! Even now I keep looking at my watch to see what the time is haha!
Yesterday I took the bits into the bodyshop and I began to prep them, first job was to remove the rear bumper insert which was a bit fiddly but after a few minutes I did it. Next I used a machine with 400grit paper to sand down the imperfections, after the plastic was exposed at these bits I applied filler mixed with hardener, after drying, I used 180grit paper to rub the filled areas down and then 800grit over the whole bumper. Next I used a scotch pad over the whole bumper to provide the key along with the 800 grit paper. Finally I used the airgun and heatgun to dry the bumper, at this point I could see that the "shiny" effect had completely gone, leaving a "matt" finish, this could now be primed & sprayed, this will be done next week sometime.
Today I went into the bodyshop again and began the repair of the wing, it had a 5/6cm crack just above where the join is to the bumper. First of all it was plastic welded, then I applied a special glue over the whole crack. I then sanded this completely down to leave a rough finish, finally I used 180grit paper followed by 800grit to smooth it right down. After using 800grit over the whole bumper it is now ready to be primed & painted, however this and the side skirts will not be painted until I have managed to source the remaining parts required, these being the front bumper and driver's side wing.
In addition I decided to buy some new exterior door handles that I could paint to match the colour of the car, rather than the horrible orange peel effect handles that are currently on the car. I've sanded these down and they are also ready to be primed & painted.
I hope to spray the rear bumper and handles early next week, these will be put onto the car a few days after being sprayed as no other parts are needed for these to fit
Thanks for reading so far, any updates in the future will be
put into this thread.
Liam
I bought the car in April last year (7 days after I was 17) and was on a provisional license, only got to drive the car twice before I'd passed my test though.
Pics of how it looked standard (curtesy of my younger brother), obviously at this point it had dynamique interior etc:
s
After owning the car for a couple of weeks I got it booked into a local garage and got it serviced, at the time I went away with the missus on the jetskis and got a phone call from my Dad telling me that the service had accumulated to over £300
Obviously I had to pay this but was gutted.Also got some genuine "Clio" mats from Ren as the standard ones were sh*t.
After a month or so I decided it was time to "make the car my own", I couldn't stand having a boring standard car that was the same as my mates.
First mod on the list was a set of new wheels, I got them from a member on here, ace guy and he even dropped them off. Again I was away so my Dad fitted them lol.
Before:
After:
As you can see, while changing the wheels over I decided I'd paint my calipers, so sanded them down to get rid of the cr@p on top and painted them yellow. Also painted the rear drums black to hide them.
Next I noticed that my number plates were cracked and had started to rust, so made myself some new plain ones
Soon after I decided to purchase some blue indicator bulbs for the front, made a huge difference imo!
I quickly became good friends with a lad off here, Steve_182. He lives just around the corner and is a sound lad. He helped me to fit my RenaultSport grille, this made a massive difference, completely transformed the front end and is one of the best (and cost effective) modifications you can make.
Shortly after paniting my calipers yellow, I thought I'd go for the "bumble bee" theme, so I took my badges into the body shop and sprayed them yellow.
The car pretty much stood like this for a couple of months, until I had saved enough cash to do anything else to it.
Then came the RS interior, made a 7 hour round trip (with Steve_182 as my co-driver) to County Durham to collect them from a member on here, included were front & rear seats & door cards. Got home and with help from Steve, got these fitted...At this point the car looked a million times better than it did previously, shortly after I sold my old seats to a member on here.
Pictures:
After a bit of intense thought, I decided that I'd move away from the "bumble bee" theme and make it a bit more subtle and stealthy. With this in mind I decided to rub down my badges and spray them graphite grey, I think that this made the car look a lot more mean and sportier.
After looking around the forums and reading countless "lower it" posts on my media threads, I decided that my available funds should be used to buy some springs. I bought some Apex -40mm springs from a lad on here and travelled to Clitheroe to meet Daz aka Da, he fitted the new springs himself and I was off home, the ride home was very "firm" compared to the standard springs, so as a result the handling was improved dramatically. After driving the car for a few days, I noticed that my car now sat much lower and looked fantastic, the ride height was perfect for what I wanted.
Thanks to Da for sorting this for me
Next on the list I decided to colour code a couple of bits, so took my spoiler & recently purchased "sport" side strips to the bodyshop where they were sprayed, as soon as I put them onto the car I knew that it was a fantastic change and made the car look cleaner (aesthetically). I also decided to spray the bullets & lettering black to match the strips.
Not the best pic but you get the idea...Also you can see how low it was at this point:
Soon after, I noticed that my MPG wasn't too good and throttle response was terrible, so decided to buy some new uprated spark plugs. Half way through fitting them I noticed that my HT leads were shot, so had to borrow one of my missus' step dad's cars while the parts were shipped to my local Renault. After fitting these and obviously the spark plugs, I took the car for a spin. Straight away I noticed an incredible difference, the accelleration had improved greatly and so had the MPG. While I was under the bonnet I decided to change my air filter, so did so.
I also decided to change my discs & pads as upon inspection I noticed that the passenger side had a huge groove in the disc, so inevitably so had the pad.
I went to my local motor factors place and bought some Mintex discs & pads, fitted these the next day.
Again, I noticed a huge difference and the braking was much better.
Carrying on with the stealthy theme, I decided to spray my dash strips graphite grey to match the badges, they looked so much better than the old ones and would recommend doing the same to anyone, obviously depending on what your colour theme is.
I was browsing through the "For Sale" section on here when I stumbled accross a set of 182 alloys that were for sale, the lad was wanting to swap his for 15/16" wheels + cash naturally, I thought I'd try my luck and ask whether he'd be interested in 17s. The next day I was checking my emails, I'd even completely forgot I'd posted and I'd recieved an email from the lad, wanting my wheels + cash his way. I used my professional haggling skills to knock his cash price down and we finally agreed a price.
On the sunday I travelled down after work and did the dirty deed, I think that my wheels looked absolutely awesome on his 182 and his wheels looked awesome on mine, so we were both happy
Pics from the next day:
Next on the list were some flatblades from the lad doing the group buy on here, I paid him/his company and they arrived a few days later. They were easy to fit of course, they are so much better than normal blades and for the price they're a total bargain!
I decided to give my engine bay a good clean and spruce it up a bit by spraying my engine cover, it's not the greatest finish of all time but it's because it's the dreaded orange peel effect
Still looks much better than the standard colour anyway so I'm quite happy with it
*** MAJOR IDEA ALERT ***
I finally decided to turn my stealthy clio into a Rep, I'd recently gone through a stage where I wanted a new car, but after buying and fitting my 182 wheels I really did fall back in love with the car.
I got onto Ebay and started to shop around for the parts required for the transformation, I found a lad who was breaking a 172 Cup and had the rear bumper and skirts for sale, agreed a price with him & made the 2 hour journey in my Dad's car to pickup the parts. When I got there I noticed that he had a pasenger side wing that was broken but looked repairable, I asked him what he wanted for it and he said I can have it for free because he was going to bin it, I was made up naturally.
At this point I thought I'd see if I could get any other bits while I was there, so asked about the rear wiper cover & the dash clock, he chucked these bits in free of charge and after paying I made the drive home.
When i got home I quickly tried the rear bumper on the car and even though it was a different colour, it still looked awesome!
First of all I took apart the dash and fitted the new clock, I was majorly happy as I had never had this working previously (since I bought the car) so to have a clock was a novelty! Even now I keep looking at my watch to see what the time is haha!
Yesterday I took the bits into the bodyshop and I began to prep them, first job was to remove the rear bumper insert which was a bit fiddly but after a few minutes I did it. Next I used a machine with 400grit paper to sand down the imperfections, after the plastic was exposed at these bits I applied filler mixed with hardener, after drying, I used 180grit paper to rub the filled areas down and then 800grit over the whole bumper. Next I used a scotch pad over the whole bumper to provide the key along with the 800 grit paper. Finally I used the airgun and heatgun to dry the bumper, at this point I could see that the "shiny" effect had completely gone, leaving a "matt" finish, this could now be primed & sprayed, this will be done next week sometime.
Today I went into the bodyshop again and began the repair of the wing, it had a 5/6cm crack just above where the join is to the bumper. First of all it was plastic welded, then I applied a special glue over the whole crack. I then sanded this completely down to leave a rough finish, finally I used 180grit paper followed by 800grit to smooth it right down. After using 800grit over the whole bumper it is now ready to be primed & painted, however this and the side skirts will not be painted until I have managed to source the remaining parts required, these being the front bumper and driver's side wing.
In addition I decided to buy some new exterior door handles that I could paint to match the colour of the car, rather than the horrible orange peel effect handles that are currently on the car. I've sanded these down and they are also ready to be primed & painted.
I hope to spray the rear bumper and handles early next week, these will be put onto the car a few days after being sprayed as no other parts are needed for these to fit
Thanks for reading so far, any updates in the future will be
put into this thread.
Liam
Last edited by a moderator:
