Pearl Black 172 PH1

Filipe Dias · Oct 17, 2021

This weekend as filled with frustration. A simple brake flush turned into a shitty job!

Starting...

Old fluid looking a bit old.

Motul RBF600 more than enought for this car use

Rear up in the air to start with the rear right side

Everything looking good over here.

Filipe Dias · Oct 17, 2021

Oil ready to be pressurized on the system.

Bleeding rear right side...

And when loosening the left rear side ...this happened.

F@ck my life!

Tried to remove it with a extractor...and broke the extractor inside the brake caliper. So now i´m double pissed. Don´t really know what to do.
I was looking and this ones :

https://www.auto-doc.pt/pecas-sobresselentes/pincas-de-travao-10907/renault/clio/clio-ii-bb0-1-2-cb0-1-2/14183-2-0-16v-sport-cb0m?criteria%5B100%5D%5B0%5D=HL

Any good?

Filipe Dias · Nov 1, 2021

Since all the rear brake parts arrived, i decided to tackle the job on this rainy weekend

Preparing the car to lift it.

On axle stands and looking at the offending rear caliper

The broken bleeder ...

And the caliper bracket with the pads. To be honest i thought they were on the limits but had still plenty of life left on them.

And original too

Filipe Dias · Nov 1, 2021

Time to start loosening the 30 axle nut.

And after that the disc came out without any effort. Was surprised to be honest.

Plenty of dust from the 20 years of road use.

A quick wipe down

And the new caliper to be installed

Filipe Dias · Nov 1, 2021

So, with the new caliper in place i did not like the look of the pads bracket. So decided to use the old one and paint them with high temperature silver paint.

The old pads bracket receiving some paint.

Time to lub the axle

Filipe Dias · Nov 1, 2021

Oem rear brake discs and bearings .

Filipe Dias · Nov 1, 2021

Installing them

New nuts

A bit of anti seize and 180 nm on them .

Filipe Dias · Nov 1, 2021

New caliper in place and caliper bolts torqued to 60nm.

And rear pads

And yes, that´s a k20. But not for the Clio

.

Since the pads brackets were curing i decided to remove the disc from the passenger side (Uk driver side), should be peace of cake right? Wrong.

The disc refused to come off even with a giant hammer. Had to use a extractor to remove it for the hub. And removing the disc...the bearing was stuck on the axle.

I won´t get defeated by a french bearing

And the bearing exploded.

And was left with this...

Filipe Dias · Nov 1, 2021

No wonder why it didn´t want to came off...

And all cleaned and ready to install.

After this, the process was the same as the other side so no pictures were taken.

Everything in place .

Adjusting the parking brake

Filipe Dias · Nov 1, 2021

And everything bleeded and installed.

Now i need to find time to replace the front ones

Thanks for reading.

Optimista · Nov 1, 2021

Perfect!

Filipe Dias · Nov 17, 2021

Some goodies for the Clio

Oz Ultraleggera withR888R

And then decided to weight them

Stock Clio Rs172 ph1 wheels with Michelin 195-50-15

15,2kg tyre+wheel !

Filipe Dias · Nov 17, 2021

And the OZ with the R888R

13,8kg . So about 1,3kg saved on each corner even considering the R888R weight 1kg more than the road michelins.

And some pictures after installing them

Will try to take some better pictures on the weekend

k_Leo · Nov 17, 2021

Must be a crazy blast driving with semi slicks now !

Optimista · Nov 28, 2021

You will be amazed with the R888Rs !

But you need to lower it, it looks odd now

Here's mine

Filipe Dias · Nov 29, 2021

Optimista said:
You will be amazed with the R888Rs !

But you need to lower it, it looks odd now

Here's mine

Yours looks amazing

Mine is the 4x4 Version

!

What springs do you have on yours? If you have some more pictures (static) would love to see it

Optimista · Nov 29, 2021

It sits on eibach sportline, but the front springs are cut 1 ring, and at the rear it has springs from coilovers with adjustment.. It's kinda frankenstein and at the time when it needs replacement.. I have B14 in mind

And this 2 pictures are when the car was on eibach sportlines, front + back. Comparing it to STD springs, it did lower it quite at the front, not so much at the rear.
For me it was good in the begining, but now i dont like it because the springs are too soft, they are progressive ( softer at start and they harden as you compress them ). On turn in the car gets quite soft and i get the feeling i'm on a boat, if that makes sence to you

They are comfortable in town ( potholes etc ) but when going for a spirited drive they kinda lack the stiffnes. If you don't want to go for coilovers, i would go for H&R springs, as they are known to be the hardest, and i've been in a car that has H&R and cup shocks and it behaves very nice.

Cheers from Croatia

Filipe Dias · Nov 30, 2021

Optimista said:
It sits on eibach sportline, but the front springs are cut 1 ring, and at the rear it has springs from coilovers with adjustment.. It's kinda frankenstein and at the time when it needs replacement.. I have B14 in mind

View attachment 1568541

And this 2 pictures are when the car was on eibach sportlines, front + back. Comparing it to STD springs, it did lower it quite at the front, not so much at the rear.
For me it was good in the begining, but now i dont like it because the springs are too soft, they are progressive ( softer at start and they harden as you compress them ). On turn in the car gets quite soft and i get the feeling i'm on a boat, if that makes sence to you
They are comfortable in town ( potholes etc ) but when going for a spirited drive they kinda lack the stiffnes. If you don't want to go for coilovers, i would go for H&R springs, as they are known to be the hardest, and i've been in a car that has H&R and cup shocks and it behaves very nice.

Cheers from Croatia

Your car looks awesome

! Thanks for the pictures.

I was thinking about the HR springs and Cup shocks as you mention.

Optimista · Dec 1, 2021

Thank you. The pictures can do wonder, just like instagram haha

That combination will amaze you!

Can't wait for the update

Filipe Dias · Feb 20, 2022

Time for a small update.

Since i bought the car i noticed that the gearbox had two oil leaks. One from the gear selector shaft, witch it seems is a known issue and another one by the gearbox bell housing. Since i have a low mileage PH2 172 Gearbox to install (50 000 km only and the bonus of the shorter final drive) i don´t want to remove this gearbox right now to reseal it. So, i just need to add some oil .

Removing airbox and clutch cable to get to the filler.

Oem oil is good enough for now.

Also decided to take advantage of having some parts apart and decided to make two new ground wires for the car. The original ones look a bit tired and are too flimsy .

And the new 8mm wire.

Filipe Dias · Feb 20, 2022

Some proper terminals

And clamped with the proper tool . Looking very good.

One of them decided to use the same path as the original coming from the battery.

The other one connected from the head to the air box bracket that connects to the chassis. I think it´s better than nothing. Correct me if wrong

Where it connects.

Some free play and does not get caught in anyplace (Fan/Clutch cable etc).

Filipe Dias · Feb 20, 2022

And all done and ready for a blast with some friends next weekend

. Will do about 400 km and hope the little french behaves well!

Filipe Dias · Feb 28, 2022

Annnnd it survived

About 350km performed without a single issue. I really love this little car.

I was the organizer of this small tour with my friends so the clio was 99% the leading car of the convoy and everyone was amazed with the performance on the country roads

Managed to cook the PBS pads and the once silver front calipers are now almost black. After cooling down the pads were good as new regarding initial brake torque and feel, but they don´t withstand so much heat as i was expecting. I think next time will go to my trusty carbon lorraine RC6.

Some pictures for you.

k_Leo · Feb 28, 2022

What a nice convoy !

Marvão ?

Filipe Dias · Mar 10, 2022

LeonardoMonteiro said:
What a nice convoy !

Marvão ?

Montejunto/Serra Mira de Aire

So, this week performed the yearly MOT (IPO over here in Portugal). Nothing but praises from everyone.

Decided to take a few pictures before tucking it away in the garage.

Filipe Dias · Aug 2, 2022

Time for a small update.

A couple of months ago participated in a gathering with some friends. A lot of Ph1 present!

After that i decided to tackle something that i was getting postponed multiple times. And that was to take care of the center silver trim. Thanks to @Optimista who shared previously the color code i managed to get a very good result (at least for me!).

Before (The stains on the silver were due to some kind of cleaner).

During sanding

And the final result

Filipe Dias · Aug 2, 2022

After that interior work, decided to give a wet vacuum on the carpets, seats and a fresh coat of sealer on the paint. As you can see the color of center silver trim perfectly matches the original from the door covers and gearknob.

And since the Clio is due for belt service i have been trying not to use very much. But the belt service has become a major upgrade mechanically .

So, now the Civic is being more used than the Clio.

Thanks for reading.

Optimista · Aug 4, 2022

Really nice taste in cars you got there.

Filipe Dias · Aug 18, 2022

Since i am a dumbass noticed that i never had uploaded the front brake service pictures.

Nothing special, but i like to keep track of everything.

Filipe Dias · Aug 18, 2022

Brembo HC and PBS ProRace.

To be honest i don´t rate the PBS very high. Specially for the price they are in my country (180€). Next time will change them for my favorite pad, CL RC6.

Thanks for reading

Filipe Dias · Sep 12, 2022

This Sunday woke up at 06:00 am and headed to some of my favorite mountain roads . Empty roads, no traffic.

Always a pleasure to drive this car.

The Chubby Pirate · Sep 12, 2022

Cracking photo that last one!

Filipe Dias · Dec 2, 2022

Time for a small update

Last summer i picked up from a friend (In exchange of some euros, not for free

) a full interior for the PH1, front seats, rear seats and door cards. Why you may ask. Because they were in really good condition (85%) and you can never have too many spare parts 😄

Since i have a spare set, i decided to try to refurbish mine. I talked to a friend of mine who is a very good detailer and he recommended me Colourlock products. I contacted them and ordered "Renault blue", i told them that it was for a Clio 172 RS PH1 and they seem to know what blue i was talking about.

The kit upon arrival. Very well packed.

Besides the sandpaper, this were the products that i have received.

And some before shots of my driver side seat (The passenger was not it much better condition)

Filipe Dias · Dec 2, 2022

Then started to clean the leather with the product provided by them.

Now the sanding part

After a few light passes

Filipe Dias · Dec 2, 2022

After the sanding, wipe the dust and cleaned the seats again. After that applied the paint in very small quantities. This is the final result before applying the sealant on them.

Filipe Dias · Dec 2, 2022

Today, 24H after the paint application i applied the sealant , looks great and the interior now looks really good. Can´t recommend this product enough .