Having now owned my 182 for a year I thought it was about time I treated it to a bit of a refresh and a few new toys so I thought i would start a progress tread with where I am to date and my future progress with the car. All of the below has happened since April 2013.
I purchased the car from a forum member after looking at several other 182’s, which didn’t quite hit the mark. I haven’t had much use out of it since purchasing it due to being unable to drive for over 6 months and came very close to selling it. Its taken me a while to bond with the car but now I’m back to full fitness its time to start enjoying RS ownership.
Few photos of it from the previous owner..
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The car had covered just over 65,000 miles at this point and was to date pretty much standard so I thought I would start with a full suspension refresh to keep things tight.
The car was fitted with both cup packs from factory and after toying with the idea of coilovers I decided I would prefer something a little less harsh on the road so opted for the spring and cup shock combo.
Being friends with Josh from Cooksport he mentioned he was producing some springs for the clio so we came to an agreement and my car was fitted with the first set to trial them for him. I then decided to replace the front and rear shocks with genuine cup items along with new Lemforder ball joints and track rod ends, powerflex wishbone bushes and genuine inner & outer anti-roll bar bushes, steering rack bushes and inner tie rods. I also opted for a set of the lovely Pure Motorsport Solid Top Mounts over the standard items.
Suspension by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Cup Shocks by Lawro1988, on Flickr
PMS Top Mounts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I decided to couple this set-up with a Whiteline rear anti-roll which I purchased from Demon Tweeks taking advantage of their price match offer and some Eibach camber bolts.
RARB by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before fitting, I had the Whiteline RARB sprayed in Titanium Silver and gave it a few coats of wax in order to try and prevent corrosion that the standard powdercoat seems to suffer from.
Painted RARB by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Brakes were next on the list. With the car currently being fitted with EBC Green Stuff pads by the previous owner, its safe to say they’re horrific!
After a bit of research I decided on Brembo HC front discs along with Ferodo DS2500 front pads, these were purchased from G172 and genuine rear discs and pads from Adam @ Wolverhampton Renault. I finished the brakes off with a set of Goodridge braided lines and a brake fluid flush with ATE SuperBlue.
Brakes by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The brake discs were coated in satin black to try and prevent the corrosion of the hub area. Quality looks brilliant.
Powdercoated Discs by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The exhaust was replaced with a Scorpion RS192 system that was beginning to look a little droopy on the current mounts, so I took the liberty of purchasing a full set of genuine rear and centre exhaust mounts. I also decided to purchase a Scorpion decat too as I fancied a little more noise from the system.
Exhaust Mounts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Having already purchased the powerflex wishbone bushes I decided to replace the dogbone mount as it was beginning to wear so ordered a powerflex bush for that from a forum member.
Powerflex Dogbone by Lawro1988, on Flickr
With the Cooksport’s fitted it was immediately noticeable how lost the cup wheels looked in the arches, especially with a touch of camber on the front end. After a fair bit of research I decided on some 15mm bolt to hub spacers for the rear and 20mm hubcentric spacers for the front. These were purchased from Dan at M.A.D, really pleased with the quality.
Hubcentric Front Spacers by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Rear Hub Spacers by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Finally a good service. I purchased some Elf Evolution 5w40 for the engine and Elf Tranself NFP 75w-80 for the gearbox along with some new spark plugs, oil filter & sump washer again from Adam @ Wolverhampton Renault.
182 Service by Lawro1988, on Flickr
With all the parts together I dropped the car off to Leighton @ Pro Garage to have everything fitted along with a fresh MOT.
Parts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Pro-Garage by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The car flew through the MOT with the exception of the emissions. After a bit of investigation work it pointed to the lambda sensors so both were replaced with new Bosch units and after a thorough check over the car came back with a clean bill of health other than a split steering rack boot which were replaced with genuine items on both sides.
With all the parts fitted the car went next door to James @ Restomod for some cosmetic TLC. I have used this guy for many years and his work is always second to none, so the car was in safe hands.
Cosmetically the car is very tidy for the age with the exception of a few stone chips, and a few small dents.
The rear bumper looked like it had been painted previously as there were some slight imperfections on the N/S edge, I had always intended to have that re-sprayed.
I decided whilst I was at it to have the front end re-sprayed so the front end had the same treatment to get rid of those horrid stone chips and some small marks.
Chips by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Chips by Lawro1988, on Flickr
After searching for months I finally got my hands on a set of cup washer blanks from Bobby so they were given to James to be sprayed and fitted in place along with a new set of fog lights from Luke. as one of mine had cracked over the winter.
Having had the front bumper re-sprayed I purchased a set of bumper inserts from Simon @ Sprayshack to replace the original items and a new genuine cup splitter as mine was beginning to show its age. Again, purchased from Adam @ Wolverhampton Renault.
Replacement parts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The car was fitted with some anthracite coloured bullets which were looking very tired and weren’t the best colour match so I purchased some of Sprayshack’s smoothed bullets in cup ‘205-110’ anthracite with Titanium Silver lettering.
SprayShack Bullets by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before they were fitted the standard bump strips were removed and re-sprayed by James to get rid of a few marks from car doors etc.
With all the bodywork complete, the car underwent a full de-dent. I managed to count around 5-6 small parking dents in the doors and rear quarter panels and 1 in the bottom of the drivers side door.
Finally the wheels.. After months of debating on whether to keep the cup
wheels or purchase something different I decided to keep the cup wheels and have them refurbished as they were beginning to look a little tired from stone chips and bedded brake dust. I had them blasted and fully refurbished inside and out in standard cup ‘205-110’ anthracite.
Cup Wheels by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Cup Wheels by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Cup Wheels by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Cup Wheels by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Had them refitted with some new Continental Sport Contact 3’s.
With the car collected from James @ Restomod I gave the headlights a full correction using the 3M Headlight Restoration kit, replaced the rear number plate light with a new unit along with an LED Bulb and replaced the side repeaters along with some silvertec bulbs.
Headlights previously by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Taped up by Lawro1988, on Flickr
During Restoration by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Completed by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Side Repeaters by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Numberplate Light by Lawro1988, on Flickr
A few photos of the car on a drive out after collecting it:
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Over the next few days I got the car up in the air and spent a fair amount of time cleaning and tidying up the arches and underside of the car. Cleaned with G101, treated the plastics with 303 Aerospace and exhaust with Auto Finesse Mercury.
The front and rear calipers were painted with VHT Silver paint to tidy them up and replaced a few clips on the arch liners that were damaged or missing.
Front Arches by Lawro1988, on Flickr
CookSport Springs by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Rear Arches by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Underside by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Scorpion RS192 Cleaned by Lawro1988, on Flickr
A few weeks later I had a moment of madness and after paying £240 on a wheel refurb I decided to fork out on a brand new set of Speedline Turini's along with a set of TPI polarised wheel bolts.
Speedline Turini by Lawro1988, on Flickr
TPI Polarised Bolts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Gave them a coat of G-Techniq C5 Sealant and fitted up with a set of Continental Sport Contact 3's.
Speedline Turini's fitted by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Speedline Turini's fitted by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I then decided to clean up the engine bay as it was really letting the car down. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of it before, safe to say it was awful! The previous owner painted the inlets with tipex or similar and it was just generally a mess.
I started off with the inlets and got myself some 519 Automotive matched inlets from a forum member. Coated those in Silver along with the fuel rail guard, throttle body and engine mount bracket.
I replaced the JMS V6 style airbox that came on the car for a standard tidy 182 airbox as I think they look a lot better. Replaced the hose with a Silicone item and the filter with an ITG panel.
Powdercoated Inlets by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I then decided to replace all the bolts with stainless items. I replaced the slam panel, headlight and wing bolts with stainless black items and the airbox, fuel rail and engine cover with stainless steel bolts.
Stainless Airbox bolts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Stainless Engine bolts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Headlight/Slampanel bolts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before:
Before by Lawro1988, on Flickr
After:
After by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before:
Before by Lawro1988, on Flickr
After:
After by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Complete:
Complete by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before:
Before by Lawro1988, on Flickr
After:
After by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Engine Cover by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I then purchased a powdercoated black battery cover from Dan @ M.A.D, again lovely quality and some nice T-bolt stainless hose clamps to replace the jubilee clips.
Battery Cover by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Finally, the expansion tank was replaced with a nice new item from Adam at Wolverhampton Renault along with some Type-D coolant and replaced the grill and scuttle panel clips.
Expansion tank by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clips by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Fitted by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I then gave the engine bay a good clean, polished the air con pipes with Auto Finesse Mercury, treated the plastics with 303 Aerospace and deep cleaned the bay with G101 and some Swissvax fabric cleaner.
Complete by Lawro1988, on Flickr
A few photos of how it currently stands after a quick detail this weekend:
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Thanks for reading, More to come.. Lawro
I purchased the car from a forum member after looking at several other 182’s, which didn’t quite hit the mark. I haven’t had much use out of it since purchasing it due to being unable to drive for over 6 months and came very close to selling it. Its taken me a while to bond with the car but now I’m back to full fitness its time to start enjoying RS ownership.
Few photos of it from the previous owner..
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The car had covered just over 65,000 miles at this point and was to date pretty much standard so I thought I would start with a full suspension refresh to keep things tight.
The car was fitted with both cup packs from factory and after toying with the idea of coilovers I decided I would prefer something a little less harsh on the road so opted for the spring and cup shock combo.
Being friends with Josh from Cooksport he mentioned he was producing some springs for the clio so we came to an agreement and my car was fitted with the first set to trial them for him. I then decided to replace the front and rear shocks with genuine cup items along with new Lemforder ball joints and track rod ends, powerflex wishbone bushes and genuine inner & outer anti-roll bar bushes, steering rack bushes and inner tie rods. I also opted for a set of the lovely Pure Motorsport Solid Top Mounts over the standard items.
Suspension by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Cup Shocks by Lawro1988, on Flickr
PMS Top Mounts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I decided to couple this set-up with a Whiteline rear anti-roll which I purchased from Demon Tweeks taking advantage of their price match offer and some Eibach camber bolts.
RARB by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before fitting, I had the Whiteline RARB sprayed in Titanium Silver and gave it a few coats of wax in order to try and prevent corrosion that the standard powdercoat seems to suffer from.
Painted RARB by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Brakes were next on the list. With the car currently being fitted with EBC Green Stuff pads by the previous owner, its safe to say they’re horrific!
After a bit of research I decided on Brembo HC front discs along with Ferodo DS2500 front pads, these were purchased from G172 and genuine rear discs and pads from Adam @ Wolverhampton Renault. I finished the brakes off with a set of Goodridge braided lines and a brake fluid flush with ATE SuperBlue.
Brakes by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The brake discs were coated in satin black to try and prevent the corrosion of the hub area. Quality looks brilliant.
Powdercoated Discs by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The exhaust was replaced with a Scorpion RS192 system that was beginning to look a little droopy on the current mounts, so I took the liberty of purchasing a full set of genuine rear and centre exhaust mounts. I also decided to purchase a Scorpion decat too as I fancied a little more noise from the system.
Exhaust Mounts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Having already purchased the powerflex wishbone bushes I decided to replace the dogbone mount as it was beginning to wear so ordered a powerflex bush for that from a forum member.
Powerflex Dogbone by Lawro1988, on Flickr
With the Cooksport’s fitted it was immediately noticeable how lost the cup wheels looked in the arches, especially with a touch of camber on the front end. After a fair bit of research I decided on some 15mm bolt to hub spacers for the rear and 20mm hubcentric spacers for the front. These were purchased from Dan at M.A.D, really pleased with the quality.
Hubcentric Front Spacers by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Rear Hub Spacers by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Finally a good service. I purchased some Elf Evolution 5w40 for the engine and Elf Tranself NFP 75w-80 for the gearbox along with some new spark plugs, oil filter & sump washer again from Adam @ Wolverhampton Renault.
182 Service by Lawro1988, on Flickr
With all the parts together I dropped the car off to Leighton @ Pro Garage to have everything fitted along with a fresh MOT.
Parts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Pro-Garage by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The car flew through the MOT with the exception of the emissions. After a bit of investigation work it pointed to the lambda sensors so both were replaced with new Bosch units and after a thorough check over the car came back with a clean bill of health other than a split steering rack boot which were replaced with genuine items on both sides.
With all the parts fitted the car went next door to James @ Restomod for some cosmetic TLC. I have used this guy for many years and his work is always second to none, so the car was in safe hands.
Cosmetically the car is very tidy for the age with the exception of a few stone chips, and a few small dents.
The rear bumper looked like it had been painted previously as there were some slight imperfections on the N/S edge, I had always intended to have that re-sprayed.
I decided whilst I was at it to have the front end re-sprayed so the front end had the same treatment to get rid of those horrid stone chips and some small marks.
Chips by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Chips by Lawro1988, on Flickr
After searching for months I finally got my hands on a set of cup washer blanks from Bobby so they were given to James to be sprayed and fitted in place along with a new set of fog lights from Luke. as one of mine had cracked over the winter.
Having had the front bumper re-sprayed I purchased a set of bumper inserts from Simon @ Sprayshack to replace the original items and a new genuine cup splitter as mine was beginning to show its age. Again, purchased from Adam @ Wolverhampton Renault.
Replacement parts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
The car was fitted with some anthracite coloured bullets which were looking very tired and weren’t the best colour match so I purchased some of Sprayshack’s smoothed bullets in cup ‘205-110’ anthracite with Titanium Silver lettering.
SprayShack Bullets by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before they were fitted the standard bump strips were removed and re-sprayed by James to get rid of a few marks from car doors etc.
With all the bodywork complete, the car underwent a full de-dent. I managed to count around 5-6 small parking dents in the doors and rear quarter panels and 1 in the bottom of the drivers side door.
Finally the wheels.. After months of debating on whether to keep the cup
wheels or purchase something different I decided to keep the cup wheels and have them refurbished as they were beginning to look a little tired from stone chips and bedded brake dust. I had them blasted and fully refurbished inside and out in standard cup ‘205-110’ anthracite.
Cup Wheels by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Cup Wheels by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Cup Wheels by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Cup Wheels by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Had them refitted with some new Continental Sport Contact 3’s.
With the car collected from James @ Restomod I gave the headlights a full correction using the 3M Headlight Restoration kit, replaced the rear number plate light with a new unit along with an LED Bulb and replaced the side repeaters along with some silvertec bulbs.
Headlights previously by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Taped up by Lawro1988, on Flickr
During Restoration by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Completed by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Side Repeaters by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Numberplate Light by Lawro1988, on Flickr
A few photos of the car on a drive out after collecting it:
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Evening Hoon by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Over the next few days I got the car up in the air and spent a fair amount of time cleaning and tidying up the arches and underside of the car. Cleaned with G101, treated the plastics with 303 Aerospace and exhaust with Auto Finesse Mercury.
The front and rear calipers were painted with VHT Silver paint to tidy them up and replaced a few clips on the arch liners that were damaged or missing.
Front Arches by Lawro1988, on Flickr
CookSport Springs by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Rear Arches by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Underside by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Scorpion RS192 Cleaned by Lawro1988, on Flickr
A few weeks later I had a moment of madness and after paying £240 on a wheel refurb I decided to fork out on a brand new set of Speedline Turini's along with a set of TPI polarised wheel bolts.
Speedline Turini by Lawro1988, on Flickr
TPI Polarised Bolts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Gave them a coat of G-Techniq C5 Sealant and fitted up with a set of Continental Sport Contact 3's.
Speedline Turini's fitted by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Speedline Turini's fitted by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I then decided to clean up the engine bay as it was really letting the car down. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of it before, safe to say it was awful! The previous owner painted the inlets with tipex or similar and it was just generally a mess.
I started off with the inlets and got myself some 519 Automotive matched inlets from a forum member. Coated those in Silver along with the fuel rail guard, throttle body and engine mount bracket.
I replaced the JMS V6 style airbox that came on the car for a standard tidy 182 airbox as I think they look a lot better. Replaced the hose with a Silicone item and the filter with an ITG panel.
Powdercoated Inlets by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I then decided to replace all the bolts with stainless items. I replaced the slam panel, headlight and wing bolts with stainless black items and the airbox, fuel rail and engine cover with stainless steel bolts.
Stainless Airbox bolts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Stainless Engine bolts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Headlight/Slampanel bolts by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before:
Before by Lawro1988, on Flickr
After:
After by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before:
Before by Lawro1988, on Flickr
After:
After by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Complete:
Complete by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Before:
Before by Lawro1988, on Flickr
After:
After by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Engine Cover by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I then purchased a powdercoated black battery cover from Dan @ M.A.D, again lovely quality and some nice T-bolt stainless hose clamps to replace the jubilee clips.
Battery Cover by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Finally, the expansion tank was replaced with a nice new item from Adam at Wolverhampton Renault along with some Type-D coolant and replaced the grill and scuttle panel clips.
Expansion tank by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clips by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Fitted by Lawro1988, on Flickr
I then gave the engine bay a good clean, polished the air con pipes with Auto Finesse Mercury, treated the plastics with 303 Aerospace and deep cleaned the bay with G101 and some Swissvax fabric cleaner.
Complete by Lawro1988, on Flickr
A few photos of how it currently stands after a quick detail this weekend:
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Clio 182 by Lawro1988, on Flickr
Thanks for reading, More to come.. Lawro
