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Paul’s Pearl



Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
Great progress mate, i’m still on the honey moon period with mine!

Are these actually prone to rust? They’re absolutely not the fastest things in the world but my god i’m enjoying it! Corners like nothing i’ve driven before!
Apart from the rad support and the rear beam I don't believe they do rust excessively. I expect there will be spots underneath that will be suceptible but probably no worse than the 1*2's are showing these days. My honetmoon hasn't started yet, I've driven it about 4 miles now 😆. At least it's a looker:love:.
 

leeds2592

ClioSport Club Member
  Bean 182 + E70 X5
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Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
I had the week off work after easter and the car needed prepping for an MOT attempt. I'm not a fan of bleeding brakes, I'd prefer someone else gets the blame when I cant bloody stop and end up a tangled mess. So I booked the car in at my local garage for a once over and a service and in a massively optimistic way I booked the MOT for a couple of days later. But the brakes needed a bleed so I could drive it to the garage so I bought a gunsen ezibleed and some fluid and set about making a mess. Starting at the rear it turned out it wasn't just new discs that had been fitted by the previous owner.
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New calipers on both sides too. After finally sealing the gunsen I managed to get a fair bit of air out of one side and the fluid was lioke new too so I moved onto the front. And then hit a snag. The bloody wheel won't come off! I wiggled it, waggled it and swore at it (lots) and then twatted it with a mallet and it didn't budge a mm! In a strop and with the Mrs telling me dinner was 10mins out I packed up and cursed myself for buying another clio😆. I'll have to revisit the front again but I'm hoping that the air that came out the rear will have done the trick. It only needed to get to the garage a mile away!
I also noted that the handbrake cable seemed fully withdrawn on the drivers side and yep the wheel was easily spun with it engaged.
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That'll need looking at then.

Up early the next day with the aim of getting the front wheels off first and then continuing the battle with the brakes. I'm not a fan of jacking clio sports up. I really don't know why they have a front and rear jacking point as they are so stiff either one lifts one side clean off the floor! With an axle stand under one side the 200 is even worse than the 182 as it was blowing in the breeze with 3 wheels in the air! With the front on stands and the rear back on earth my trusty deadblow mallet was recruited for some gentle persuasion.
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Ok so that's a tad rusty and gentle persuasion soon became full twatting to get the wheels off! At least I could carry on with bleeding the brakes.
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Oh that nipple doesn't look very friendly does it? After attacking them with a wire brush and spraying with WD40 I started cleaning the disc face with some emery cloth while the WD did its best.
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As expected the surface rust cleaned off easily and I ran a tap down to clean out the threads. At this point I had an epithany regarding the spastic blue. The previous owner told me the wheels were blue when he bought it at auction and he had later had them refurbished anthracite and fitted new discs and pads. Note the blue on the discs. So either he didn't fit the discs or he was the spastic with the blue paint! I'll have to remove the discs and clean the blue off but for now it's back to those scabby nipples.
No joy. As I don't have a flamethrower to hand I'll pass the job to my trusted mechanic and let him replace the nipples. After hammering off the other wheel that was in the same state.
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I cleaned up the hub and face and gave every nut and bolt I could see a good dose of WD, there's a good probability I'll be back to replace more parts here in the not too distant future! Note to self: buy a blow torch:thumb:.
At this point I considered taking the front bumper off to sort the peeling diamond out but I remembered the handbrake needed sorting so went to put the front wheels back on, but they were still tight as hell. The dremel was spun up with a scotchbrite wheel to shave off the powder coat in the spigot bore which had the desired effect and the wheels then slid on easily. A little coat of nail varnish to protect the ally and while that dried I cleaned up the rusty and blue wheel bolts.
The hand brake took a bit of fiddling around until I got it to a point where it actually locked the wheel. I'm not sure if the cable is the right one as it definitely doesn't have the same length of motion as the passenger side one does, and the cable is pretty rusty too. Its better than it was but mot worthy is another thing!
While I had the wheels off I noticed the passenger side front arch liner is broken so that will need replacing and all the mud cleaning out.
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To finish up I drove it 20 metres to park at the in-laws while they are away and I didn't die. The brakes worked a lot better than before I bled the rears and when I went past an hour later it wasn't in their kitchen so the handbrake appeared to be working too.

With sports cars in the park approaching on May 8th I booked the car in the garage on the 4th and an MOT on the 6th. There's more fun to be had before then though:cautious:.

The following week it seems the keycard has given up as I had to unlock the car with the key. I'd not been near it all week but no amount of handle pulling or sensor caressing had any effect on it. Even the boot wouldn't open. It also seems that the buttons on the keycard are unresponsive, although after putting the card in the dash slot to stop the alarm from going off the car did then lock with a press of the boot button. I have a feeling its going to be expensive to get it working as it should. New sensor for the drivers door at leas, new handles and a new key card as the buttons on that don't work either and although I've put 2 new batteries in it the car still says to replace the keycard battery. Damn.
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
With scitp in mind;
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The mk3 RS really does look rubbish without a spoiler imo. In all honesty the cup spoiler wouldn't have been my choice if it wasn't already bolted on but if the car came like that I'd be fitting a sprint spoiler before having it MOT'd 😂. As it is I can't live with the crazy paving paint job on there so I've removed it to have a go at wrapping it gloss black. Of course removing it adds more questions as to wtf the blue spakka was playing at!
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More blue which is making me wonder if the end caps were painted the same as the wheels? And having had a close look at the end caps I was surprised to learn they are genuine Renault items!
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The porosity and sharp flashing on the inside edges is embarrassing and I'd have been asking for a refund if I'd bought it like that. The screws were quite rusty so I dropped them in some deox solution and will spray the ends matte black. I'm still trying to pluck up the courage to attempt wrapping the spoiler😆.

Gave the interior a quick wipe with some disinfectant as some parts of the dash were definitely alive. It needed doing before the car goes to my mechanic because the twingo is getting booked in too so if I poison him I'll have to fix that myself Dashboards are horrible things to clean, that stupid faux leather look clings onto muck and it's a right stretch to reach the bottom of the windscreen!
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It looks a bit better after. All the edges were full of muck and god knows what and there was a whole ecosystem opened up when I dropped the steeing column down. No before pics as I had my marigolds on and didn't want to infect my phone.
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Needs some interior trim restorer wiping over now but it's definitely getting there. After that I just had enough time to strip all the sticky pads off the number plates and velcro them on. In 2 days it's going to the garage and I'm scared of what they will find underneath😟.
 

Chocice

ClioSport Club Member
  172 Cup, RSI, 200
Does the glovebox on yours close properly? Mine has a outward facing spring clip which has warped it.
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
The other week I booked the car in for a service and pre mot check over but first it needed some petrol as the needle didn't even register. No worries the BP is only half a mile away. Except I got home from work at 7.20 and the bypass was closed so there's a queue of traffic as far as can possibly be! Great.
Quick cuppa and a wee and off I go to brave the traffic jam. But no. The car decided not to start. And that was after it unlocked the very first time, for the first time since I've had it! Judging by the fit the dash lights had I diagnosed a flat battery. Not having any jump leads I stole the battery from the 182 and swapped them over. Omg how did they design battery terminals with nuts that are so bloody difficult to get at? By now I just wanted to set fire to it and go to bed, but there wasn't enough petrol in it for that:rolleyes:.
It starts and off I go to play petrol light chicken. Bugger me BP is expensive, and they were out of ultimate! £25 later and I managed to fight through the traffic again and reach the garage. I didn't clean the windscreen and it's filthy, and it's raining and the wipers are knackered. Mechanic wasn't there yet. That cuppa wanted out and I had to walk home yet ffs.
Rang the garage when I got up at 4, they said it has a broken spring and needs a new ball joint type thing that's part of the hub, swivel bearing? I didn't have time to go get it so had to wait until the following day before I could find out the true horror that awaits.
Mot cancelled. ☹️

After a look over the car they discovered it has a broken front spring, a broken rear spring, swivel hub bearing needs replacing and the handbrake cable is corroded and jammed.Could have been worse. He then started explaining why they weren't keen to strip the hub and fit new joints to it, worried that it may break and the car then be stuck on a lift until a new hub was sourced he suggested buying a new one from Renault😆. So the search for a used hub was on. @Yorkshire Pudding had one, for the opposite side of the car🙄 but using his rollerdex of Renault fwends he managed to source the other one for me👍. I was givena place and a time and off I went to pick it up, turns out it was @RenaultRy, Nice to meet you mate and thanks again for the hub👍. That just left the ball joints and springs. After some searching I ordered the joints from @Kev@KAM as I'm 100% confident they will be right and the service is second to none, they were with me the next day🙂. Unfortunately I couldn't overlook the £70 saving on some Eibach springs autodoc offered over Kam, sorry Kev😆. Shame they don't have the same delivery times. With the necessary parts all at hand I went to re-book at the garage for it all fitting and the earliest date was June 6th. I left the hub and joints with them and I'm contemplating fitting that and the springs myself and then sending it for MOT. But that means rolling around under a bloody clio again🤔.
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After the chatter about pcv valves and thermostats recently I fired it up and left it to get upto temp.
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I think the temp is sitting about right but I will clean the pcv as a precaution when I service it. Speaking of servicing are the timing tools the same for the 182 and 200?

Oh and yes I have only driven it 4.4 miles!
 

SKINTasPER

ClioSport Club Member
  Clio 182/MK4 GT 120
Ah here he is!! Nice to meet you too mate! And yes the timing tools are the same buddy. Same across the f4r range. Hope to see it soon! Mines back on the road now finally 🤣🤣😅
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
I've been ignoring this while the Twingo has had some repair work done recently. The pearl has been in the garage today for the new springs fitting along with the refurbished swivel hub and new handbrake cables. It's first service in 3 or 4 years and it's ready to be subjected to an mot. I hope 😂.
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
Well that's it modified now🙄😂. Lowered a bit on the eibach Pro kit and luckily didn't need any other parts replacing. I'm massively surprised that it all came apart to be honest.
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Drive wise I can't really say if it feels different or not and 80% of the road between the garage and home was resurfaced last week and is super smooth! They were supposed to service it too but somehow hadn't noted that when I booked it in so it didn't get done. I've spent enough there recently and £40 an hour labour at a small back alley garage is a bit steep these days so I'll do it myself.
They did look into the airbag light and pulled a couple of codes; DTC8001 and DTC8002 which both relate to the drivers airbag apparently. I think I'll start by removing the airbag and checking the connections as I've a feeling it may have had an aftermarket steering wheel fitted. I suspect the car has spent more time on track than I was told over the last 3 years.
 

Chocice

ClioSport Club Member
  172 Cup, RSI, 200
Well that's it modified now🙄😂. Lowered a bit on the eibach Pro kit and luckily didn't need any other parts replacing. I'm massively surprised that it all came apart to be honest.
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Drive wise I can't really say if it feels different or not and 80% of the road between the garage and home was resurfaced last week and is super smooth! They were supposed to service it too but somehow hadn't noted that when I booked it in so it didn't get done. I've spent enough there recently and £40 an hour labour at a small back alley garage is a bit steep these days so I'll do it myself.
They did look into the airbag light and pulled a couple of codes; DTC8001 and DTC8002 which both relate to the drivers airbag apparently. I think I'll start by removing the airbag and checking the connections as I've a feeling it may have had an aftermarket steering wheel fitted. I suspect the car has spent more time on track than I was told over the last 3 years.
Is the airbag light always on or does it come and go? It might be the connections need some contact cleaner if it goes away when u go over bumps.
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
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Suppose I'll have to tax it now then. 1817 miles in 4 years and 3 months! 😆 Tester said it has got a new steeing rack on and the manifold flexis have been replaced so hopefully that's 2 jobs I don't have to worry about, although the cat needs removing because it's rattling it tits off. There's also a horrible squeak from the rear that wasn't there before the springs were fitted, sounds like a dry bush so that needs investigating too. It may have an mot but there's still plenty of work to do.
 

Pegasaurus Rex

Bon Jovi Officianado
ClioSport Club Member
Are the lights not just painted with that crappy black out spray paint? Bit of thinners and a SA should clean them up no?

f**k the stickers off mate, I drive a silver clio and have more taste than whoever stuck them on
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
Are the lights not just painted with that crappy black out spray paint? Bit of thinners and a SA should clean them up no?

f**k the stickers off mate, I drive a silver clio and have more taste than whoever stuck them on
Yep it's chav tint spray and I've hit it with thinners and it didn't budge it. I've got far better things to be doing than sanding that s**t off so I'll just grab some from a breakers that aren't tanned and give them a polish.
Do not look at my BG thread if you're a sticker hater🙈😂.
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
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Yep they are renault springs for sure😂. I had to pick my daughter up from work yesterday so did my longest journey in the 200 so far. The ride is perfectly comfortable and my god does it corner well, it feels so much better planted than the 182 although you can feel the extra weight and I'm yet to find out how that affects the handling on a bumpy b road. That will probably wait until I've found out what's squeaking as it's really really annoying and I'm struggling to tell where it's coming from. Yesterday's trip gave me the chance to test the brakes properly too thanks to an utter bellend in a 3 series who didn't even look as he drove straight onto the roundabout I was halfway across. I honestly thought I was going to hit the pillok and if he'd slowed at all I probay would have. I think I'd still be kicking him in the bolloks now if we'd have crashed! The seat belt buckle needs looking at too as it randomly decides the seat belt isn't plugged in and starts with the warning beep. A slight wiggle shuts it up for a few mins and having had a look it seems to be full of muck. I'm not sure how I can get it clean so I'll probably sack it off when I fit the recaro's.
I put half a tank of momentum in this morning and reset the trip and 60 miles later its reading 32.9 mpg, I'm sure that will drop when I take it over 2000 rpm though 😂. The 182 was doing about 35 mpg on my 8 mile commute so it'll be intresting to see how this compares.
It's due a wash but the weather is rubbish today but there were a couple of little jobs I got done.
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Finally glued the RS badge back on the front so now I just need new plates and to decide what I want to do with the peeling diamond.
And just for @Louis
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The stickers are gone! I'm sure I'll get used to it but it looks like a huge blank space now that's perfect for some graphics😆.
Lastly I sprayed some wd40 on the rear suspension bushes in the hope it would cure the squeaking. While I was there I noticed something I'd not realised before.
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Someone decided some extra outlets in the backbox would be a good idea. That could explain why it sounds different to the other 200's I test drove. So that's a new exhaust for the next mod then.
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
Been using the car for work this week but taking it steady as the belts are probably the originals. I think I've figured out why the mk3 has s**t mpg, the gear ratios are so short. It will happily plod around at 30 in 5th gear and setting off steadily you either give it some revs or change gear 4 times before hitting 30! That aside it's more relaxing to drive than the 182 and the ride is noticeably better. The aircon doesn't work and the exhaust unsurprisingly sounds s**t. It's currently showing 30mpg which I believe is a miracle 😂.
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I left work at 1 this morning and the headlamps still both worked so that's a relief, and they are better than the xenons on the 182 too. The creaking suspension hasn't got any better with a few miles on the new springs so I'll have to pull it apart to see if I can find the culprit. I've found it's the front that's noisy not the rear though. I expected something to have broken by now but so far so good so I'll see what's what with the suspension and then move onto the belts.
 

Chocice

ClioSport Club Member
  172 Cup, RSI, 200
My personal view is they should have used a 5 gear box as there is a lot of changing of gears which I’m not always in the mood for and I think that’s why 3 and 4 get knackered first on these cars due to that constant gear changing.
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
I gave it a service this weekend, god knows when it was last done and as its been behaving itself i thought it was worth it. Ordered the parts from @renaultpartsdirect which arrived promptly as always 👍.
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The cabin filter and air filter weren't that bad, but why would they be when the cars not moved for ages? Still new ones are always nicer.
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The oil filter was a different story though. How the incredible hulk got his hand in there to tighten the bloody thing up as tight as it was I really don't know😂. Some snappage occurred.
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The chain tool I'd bought from halfords for the job, and got refunded today! In the end I punched a big hole in the filter so I could get a crow bar in it which did the job. I was not impressed.
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I remembered to put the new oil in and its stayed in so job jobbed at 67400 miles. New wipers fitted and then into the spark plugs. No3 was tight but thankfully warming the engine and a spritz of wd40 freed it up. The car runs sweet now.
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Hopefully they don't come out looking like that again.
While the car was jacked up I investigated the creaking suspension. I'd narrowed it down to the front nearside and it turned out to be the arb bushes creaking.ive drowned them in wd for now but I guess they'd be better replaced at some point. I'll pass that onto a garage though I think. For now I feel a bit more relaxed driving it but it still needs the belts doing before I enjoy it properly.
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
Booked the car in for the aircon gassing on Monday, yeah I know summer will be long gone by then but bolloks to not having aircon in the car. I've also dceloped a knock from the front end, time to start shopping for suspension parts. Csf prep was going well until the sun decided to show up and I'd only managed to polish half the car.
 

Clio_fool

ClioSport Club Member
With CSF in a week the car needs lots of prep, so it's hotter than Satan's armpit making doing anything bloody hard work nevermind trying to wash and polish a car. There were a couple of jobs I really did need to do though.
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The peeling black paint on the front diamond really let the car down. I've got some new badges on the way but there no time to swap them this week so I got to scraping the paint off hoping that the plastic chrome wouldn't suffer too much.
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Ooh nice and shiny. Not perfect but still much better than it was. I might do the rear one if I can bare the heat again.
The other job I wanted to do was to fit an alpine HU I have sitting around. I've had more than enough of the radio now, modern music is painful to my old ears 😆 . So I dug out my radio removal tools and pulled then scabby renault unit out. And then it all went pear shaped. There's 3 plugs on the back and only 2 on the alpine. So I guess I need some sort of adaptor harness? Anyone able to link me what I need?
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And what's with this aerial connector that I've never seen before? Seems no one on YouTube has either and I can't get the thing off!
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And being a renault there's not enough room for the cables behind the radio😩, so:
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If I can get the right harness this week I'll rip the dash apart and fit the alpine. If I can't I'll be driving to Blyton with earphones in 😂.
The heat was good for one job today though.

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Soaked in a bucket of vanish and then given a little scrub they are now several shades lighter. Still got some muck spots on and the edges will never be clean but better and now they aren't like cardboard they actually retract easier too. Silver seat belts ffs renault!
 


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