Hi all, Stu here.
I've had my mk3 1.2 clio for about 2 years now and only recently started to give it some TLC and put my own stamp on it
.
I began modding after coming across the site here and seeing what all different mods and upgrades people have done, and of course it got me started lol
So now ill post my progress so far with pictures along the way for you guys to tell me what you think and discuss any other mods or upgrades you would suggest. Thanks for taking a look and i hope you enjoy :approve:
Ok so this is how she looked when i got her.(not my actual car but exact same model etc)
So the first thing i did was give it some TLC on the inside by fitting a new stereo unit for ipod use.
I then went on to spraying the interior strips on the dashboard and the air vent surrounds.
Result,
Also added a sport sticker along the dashboard strip, just because i felt like it lol.
Another small mod i added was buying some cheap red trim to stick around my speakers to give something different to the inside.
I then took the plunge after a lot of asking around members on here and searching the web, i got it lowered 45mm on H&R springs to kickstart the exterior look of the car The pic is terrible, as it was the only one i took the day the springs were fitted But anyhow it closed the arch gap a lot but still needed more.
I then decided to colour code the side strips and spray the bullets silver myself after doing a somewhat ok job on the interior plastic i thought why not.
I was happy with the end result, the paint matched well and it got rid of that horrible plastic look! Also as you can see I added sport stickers to the bullets aswell to mix it up a bit and be different(not a great pic, sorry)
I then wanted to spray the exterior door handles silver, to break the black up. I had seen this on a few other models but mine came with just standard black/grey plastic look handles. After some tricky spraying and a lot of masking tape this was the finished result
So now, on to my most effective and most time consuming mod. I hated the mahonia wheels that came as standard with my model. I had wanted something different for a long time but i didnt want to spend 400 quid on a set of alloys just for looks purposes, because up till now my mods had mostly been cost effective. So i picked up a set of canasta alloys locally on gumtree for 100 quid (3without tyres), not sure if this was good or not but i was happy with the price as I planned to refurb them at some point before i got them fitted.
This was the pic i saw before i bought them(the most damaged wheel)
They sat for about a month in the shed as i waited for some time to get refurbishing them myself. I was unsure how this would pan out but i thought for 100 quid and about 60 quid in paint and other materials, i don't have much to lose compared to paying an alloy refurb shop to do it for me. After all, it was just for looks purposes.
So i went about refurbishing them, i spent about 2 weeks on and off sanding all the wheels down as best as possible. Firstly with an orbital sander, then through each grade of halfords wet and dry. I then filled each wheel where they had been curbed with a cheap filling compound from halfords(2 quid lol) this worked perfectly. I then sanded the filler down and the alloys where ready for painting.
Firstly i etch primed each alloy, because after a lot of research i figured this was the best primer for the base coat to cling to the alloy to prevent more work down the line when paint flakes off..
The next step was using grey primer on top of the etch primer giving a couple of good coats, wet sanding lightly between coats.
Then came the colour. I originally wanted black wheels but i changed my mind after having a long time to think about it while i prepped the wheels. I decided a dark/gun metal grey (anthracite) would look best. I had read a lot of colours like ford graphite and rover stone grey were best for this but every time i went to halfords both were sold out lol. So i took a risk and went for ford Polaris grey, which i am glad i did as the colour was better than i imagined.
Then finally came the lacquer which was pretty straight forward and luckily i was able to apply without any problems of running lacquer needing to be resanded etc...
I also did the centre caps the same colour and the diamonds black as i had some left from the interior.
They sat for about a week or more before i got new tyres and fitted them to the car.
So this is where she is at now
The wheels turned out better than i thought for someone who hadn't spray painted anything until a few months ago lol.
other small mods i have done without pictures atm:
LED cutosey light
LED Numberplate bulbs
Black/red seat covers cheap set
smaller arial
Future things in mind:
RS grille(ordered)
spacers
Whiter legal lights
Thats the lot, thanks for reading and im sorry if this was long and boring , hopefully some of you guys like what ive done. im happy with it and proud of the work ive done, and i enjoy driving the motor even more than before now
I've had my mk3 1.2 clio for about 2 years now and only recently started to give it some TLC and put my own stamp on it
.I began modding after coming across the site here and seeing what all different mods and upgrades people have done, and of course it got me started lol
So now ill post my progress so far with pictures along the way for you guys to tell me what you think and discuss any other mods or upgrades you would suggest. Thanks for taking a look and i hope you enjoy :approve:
Ok so this is how she looked when i got her.(not my actual car but exact same model etc)
So the first thing i did was give it some TLC on the inside by fitting a new stereo unit for ipod use.
I then went on to spraying the interior strips on the dashboard and the air vent surrounds.
Result,
Also added a sport sticker along the dashboard strip, just because i felt like it lol.
Another small mod i added was buying some cheap red trim to stick around my speakers to give something different to the inside.
I then took the plunge after a lot of asking around members on here and searching the web, i got it lowered 45mm on H&R springs to kickstart the exterior look of the car
The pic is terrible, as it was the only one i took the day the springs were fitted But anyhow it closed the arch gap a lot but still needed more.
I then decided to colour code the side strips and spray the bullets silver myself after doing a somewhat ok job on the interior plastic i thought why not.
I was happy with the end result, the paint matched well and it got rid of that horrible plastic look! Also as you can see I added sport stickers to the bullets aswell to mix it up a bit and be different
(not a great pic, sorry)
I then wanted to spray the exterior door handles silver, to break the black up. I had seen this on a few other models but mine came with just standard black/grey plastic look handles. After some tricky spraying and a lot of masking tape this was the finished result
So now, on to my most effective and most time consuming mod. I hated the mahonia wheels that came as standard with my model. I had wanted something different for a long time but i didnt want to spend 400 quid on a set of alloys just for looks purposes, because up till now my mods had mostly been cost effective. So i picked up a set of canasta alloys locally on gumtree for 100 quid (3without tyres), not sure if this was good or not but i was happy with the price as I planned to refurb them at some point before i got them fitted.
This was the pic i saw before i bought them(the most damaged wheel)
They sat for about a month in the shed as i waited for some time to get refurbishing them myself. I was unsure how this would pan out but i thought for 100 quid and about 60 quid in paint and other materials, i don't have much to lose compared to paying an alloy refurb shop to do it for me. After all, it was just for looks purposes.
So i went about refurbishing them, i spent about 2 weeks on and off sanding all the wheels down as best as possible. Firstly with an orbital sander, then through each grade of halfords wet and dry. I then filled each wheel where they had been curbed with a cheap filling compound from halfords(2 quid lol) this worked perfectly. I then sanded the filler down and the alloys where ready for painting.
Firstly i etch primed each alloy, because after a lot of research i figured this was the best primer for the base coat to cling to the alloy to prevent more work down the line when paint flakes off..
The next step was using grey primer on top of the etch primer giving a couple of good coats, wet sanding lightly between coats.
Then came the colour. I originally wanted black wheels but i changed my mind after having a long time to think about it while i prepped the wheels. I decided a dark/gun metal grey (anthracite) would look best. I had read a lot of colours like ford graphite and rover stone grey were best for this but every time i went to halfords both were sold out lol. So i took a risk and went for ford Polaris grey, which i am glad i did as the colour was better than i imagined.
Then finally came the lacquer which was pretty straight forward and luckily i was able to apply without any problems of running lacquer needing to be resanded etc...
I also did the centre caps the same colour and the diamonds black as i had some left from the interior.
They sat for about a week or more before i got new tyres and fitted them to the car.
So this is where she is at now
The wheels turned out better than i thought for someone who hadn't spray painted anything until a few months ago lol.
other small mods i have done without pictures atm:
LED cutosey light
LED Numberplate bulbs
Black/red seat covers cheap set
smaller arial
Future things in mind:
RS grille(ordered)
spacers
Whiter legal lights
Thats the lot, thanks for reading and im sorry if this was long and boring , hopefully some of you guys like what ive done. im happy with it and proud of the work ive done, and i enjoy driving the motor even more than before now
