Pre 172 owner looking for advice on suspension

[Emajane]

Hi

Currently looking for a 172 Cup and got recommended this site, so far very good

Have not been to see one yet but i would deem myself a novice when it comes to viewing cars, i know what i want in a way.
Cut a long story short, there is one local to me but its not exactly pristine.
The mechanic side of things i can figure out myself but im coming from a VW Audi background and a bit lost in the Renault world!

I used to have an Octavia vRS with a few mods but mainly it boasted KW V1 Inox's which were a cracking set of coilovers but rather expensive but at the time the car was worth it, the Clio's im looking at are all around £1500-£2000 i dont really want to go blow £800+ on a set of coilovers..

So the point im getting to, this certain Clio has coilovers, the lad apparently does not know what make (this is slightly putting me off but i can work with the price) depending on what make/condition their in its most likely im going to change them.
Do i go for OEM? (which i predict are not cheap!) or go for another set of coilovers? I know good coilovers aren't cheap and cheap coilovers are no good.

Like i said VAG suit KW well but i dont know about the little Clio's do they suit something else?

 

[DannyR]

OEM setup all around is less than £200 from Adam on here.

Worth doing top mounts too for around £150

And then bang a set of cooksport springs on for £120

Also replace bump stops about £15

Better handling than any coilovers for road use, I've tried a lot and am happier with this setup.

 

[Chri5]

Danny is right, if they're some cheapo coilovers then they won't be great on British roads!

Decent springs (Cooksport or Eibach Sportlines/Prolines), some new OEM cup shocks, or Koni Yellows if you've got a bit more money to spend will make it feel and handle so much better than cheap coilies

 

[DannyR]

I had ASTs on the road and they were shocking too!

Coilovers are not made for road use.

 

[Dan@SJM]

Bilsteins are circa £700 and are a really nice ride.

 

[Emajane]

Thanks for advice. Been to see it tonight and alot of stuff was wrong, very wrong! As predicted the coilovers were horrendous, was like driving with blocks of wood for suspension, skittish and crashy.
One im seeing tomorrow is completely OEM which is what i wanted, so you'd recommend just a set of springs on the cup dampers?

Do the cups and sports share the same dampers?

 

[BoatNonce]

The cups have different shocks.

Cooksport Springs + Cup shocks = Really good.

However those springs sell out SO quickly. Went from fresh batch of stock to sold out in less than a day last time.

 

[Dan@SJM]

172 cups have different dampers but the same fitment.

 

[Emajane]

Ah right thanks, sorry I seem like I right novice! A lot of stuff and VAG's is shared from the standard Golf to the Octavis vRS so never too sure what model has what.
bilsteins I've never had the opertunity to try but I could get KW's for £700 and cant justify the price of them against the cost of the ATM. Once I work out what the car is going to do for me then I might consider spending more, the Clio is going to be my first track car and if it would hugely benefit me and the car from a more expensive set up then ill for it then. It turns out ill be doing one to two track days a month and really get into it ill look to spend more on it if you catch my drift ha!