Hi everyone, I made a post a while ago under the bodywork thread only about the respray job my dad and I had done on my old Ph1 Clio 2, but:
1. I wish I had done it in more detail
2. There's plenty more that has been done besides the respray and will continue to be done (hopefully) to the car
So now, here's a full project thread in greater detail and I will continue to update it.
I'll begin when we first took ownership of the car, this was originally my mum's car and we bought it in 2011 as its second owner, it had 100k km's or around 62k miles on the clock. It's a 2001 1.4 8v (K7J):
Not the best pictures but it's what I've got... I forgot all about those ugly things on the doors, I was 8 years old at the time! As you can see, these rims are the ones we purchased the car with, so the previous owner installed them. I actually cannot be objective about how they look because I've looked at them so long they feel OEM to me, so others opinions on them would be appreciated!
Skipping ahead many years, I learned how to drive with this car, and when I got my license in 2023, the car essentially became mine and it's still only got 116k km's or around 72k miles (it didn't drive much since we got it). Now we kept up with the servicing, the car still drove fine barring a few small problems, but the South African sun really did a number on the paintwork given it wasn't parked in a garage or under any shade for a good 12 years. After getting quoted more than the car's worth, we decided to respray it ourselves. Before we did however, I took some extensive photos of the car, and this was after prepping the front wings but before any other work:
The clearcoat Renault had sprayed from the factory clearly was not designed with our climate in mind! Anyway, with the car looking dreadful, we had to decide on a new colour, and after some deliberation, we went with a slightly richer red (which turned out to be very similar to the Capsicum red found on the 182 Trophy, a happy accident).
That paint tag didn't even have any clear on it, yet it looked 100 times better than the paintwork on the car!
So, in December 2023, work commenced on what we thought would be a month-long project (spoiler, it wasn't):
All the red spots on the bonnet were dents, most likely from hail damage, and all the dents throughout the bodywork had to be filled.
Once the car was as straight as we could get it, we needed a booth to spray it in, so we made one from some wood, plastic sheets and some house fans:
Overall the booth worked well and kept the car protected from the elements, except when it rained, as our booth design was originally intended to go beneath a carport, however that did not pan out, so the roof would collect with rain and we would have to empty it quickly. One day however, we were too late:
The booth ceiling collapsed right onto the roof of the car, causing a massive dent. I was pretty pissed off to say the least, so I vowed to completely eradicate the dent before the end of the next day (despite having university work to do). The following day I pulled the majority of it out, filled the remainder and sanded it smooth, and so all in all it was not a major setback.
We cracked on with the rest of the job:
When it came time to do the loose pieces such as the bumpers, wings/fenders, doors and so on, we had a problem. How are we going to sand/spray the doors and fenders? Our solution was to fabricate a couple of door stands and a stand for the fenders. Then we completed all the loose items (the lighting changes that's why the colours seem different between pics):
Some smaller items aren't photographed (such as the parts of the mirror that bolts onto the car, the windshield wiper tray, etc.), but everything was given a nice coat of satin black.
To end the respray portion of the post, finally, the car was all assembled. Here's a before and after:
It looked fantastic! However, the car was too high and since it was a 1.4 8v, it had tiny 238mm solid front discs which faded after 5 minutes of spirted driving. (ignore the picture above, this was after I changed them out)
So we managed to upgrade the front brakes to 259mm vented by bolting them onto the stock 58mm knuckles, and while I was at it I sprayed the calipers bright red, which looks cheap on some cars but with the bright red Clio I think it suits it. Lowering the car however was a different story! In the UK and other parts of Europe, I'm sure finding some lowering springs for a 1.4 Clio 2 isn't an issue, but in South Africa, it's a tall order indeed! The only ones that can be found here are Eibach Sportlines, and they costed about twice what a comparable set would cost for a Mk1 Golf (which is incredibly popular in South Africa, being produced until 2009 here). So, I made some calls and decided on another route. We took the springs out and had them compressed and retentioned by a professional spring works, dropping the front by 40mm and the rear by 30mm, and I think the results speak for themselves:
The ride quality is excellent (unlike chopped springs) and it handles much better now! And it passes Mighty Car Mods' Shoe Test™!
That's the car as of early November 2024. I'm in two minds about the car, as we put a helluva lot of effort in and I grew up with it, but it's also really slow in a straight line
I'm currently still studying, but once I get a job I'll have to decide whether to keep it and upgrade it or sell it for an RS172/182 (which are very rare in SA) or even a Clio III RS197/200 (which are relatively common).
1. I wish I had done it in more detail
2. There's plenty more that has been done besides the respray and will continue to be done (hopefully) to the car
So now, here's a full project thread in greater detail and I will continue to update it.
I'll begin when we first took ownership of the car, this was originally my mum's car and we bought it in 2011 as its second owner, it had 100k km's or around 62k miles on the clock. It's a 2001 1.4 8v (K7J):
Not the best pictures but it's what I've got... I forgot all about those ugly things on the doors, I was 8 years old at the time! As you can see, these rims are the ones we purchased the car with, so the previous owner installed them. I actually cannot be objective about how they look because I've looked at them so long they feel OEM to me, so others opinions on them would be appreciated!
Skipping ahead many years, I learned how to drive with this car, and when I got my license in 2023, the car essentially became mine and it's still only got 116k km's or around 72k miles (it didn't drive much since we got it). Now we kept up with the servicing, the car still drove fine barring a few small problems, but the South African sun really did a number on the paintwork given it wasn't parked in a garage or under any shade for a good 12 years. After getting quoted more than the car's worth, we decided to respray it ourselves. Before we did however, I took some extensive photos of the car, and this was after prepping the front wings but before any other work:
The clearcoat Renault had sprayed from the factory clearly was not designed with our climate in mind! Anyway, with the car looking dreadful, we had to decide on a new colour, and after some deliberation, we went with a slightly richer red (which turned out to be very similar to the Capsicum red found on the 182 Trophy, a happy accident).
That paint tag didn't even have any clear on it, yet it looked 100 times better than the paintwork on the car!
So, in December 2023, work commenced on what we thought would be a month-long project (spoiler, it wasn't):
All the red spots on the bonnet were dents, most likely from hail damage, and all the dents throughout the bodywork had to be filled.
Once the car was as straight as we could get it, we needed a booth to spray it in, so we made one from some wood, plastic sheets and some house fans:
Overall the booth worked well and kept the car protected from the elements, except when it rained, as our booth design was originally intended to go beneath a carport, however that did not pan out, so the roof would collect with rain and we would have to empty it quickly. One day however, we were too late:
The booth ceiling collapsed right onto the roof of the car, causing a massive dent. I was pretty pissed off to say the least, so I vowed to completely eradicate the dent before the end of the next day (despite having university work to do). The following day I pulled the majority of it out, filled the remainder and sanded it smooth, and so all in all it was not a major setback.
We cracked on with the rest of the job:
When it came time to do the loose pieces such as the bumpers, wings/fenders, doors and so on, we had a problem. How are we going to sand/spray the doors and fenders? Our solution was to fabricate a couple of door stands and a stand for the fenders. Then we completed all the loose items (the lighting changes that's why the colours seem different between pics):
Some smaller items aren't photographed (such as the parts of the mirror that bolts onto the car, the windshield wiper tray, etc.), but everything was given a nice coat of satin black.
To end the respray portion of the post, finally, the car was all assembled. Here's a before and after:
It looked fantastic! However, the car was too high and since it was a 1.4 8v, it had tiny 238mm solid front discs which faded after 5 minutes of spirted driving. (ignore the picture above, this was after I changed them out)
So we managed to upgrade the front brakes to 259mm vented by bolting them onto the stock 58mm knuckles, and while I was at it I sprayed the calipers bright red, which looks cheap on some cars but with the bright red Clio I think it suits it. Lowering the car however was a different story! In the UK and other parts of Europe, I'm sure finding some lowering springs for a 1.4 Clio 2 isn't an issue, but in South Africa, it's a tall order indeed! The only ones that can be found here are Eibach Sportlines, and they costed about twice what a comparable set would cost for a Mk1 Golf (which is incredibly popular in South Africa, being produced until 2009 here). So, I made some calls and decided on another route. We took the springs out and had them compressed and retentioned by a professional spring works, dropping the front by 40mm and the rear by 30mm, and I think the results speak for themselves:
The ride quality is excellent (unlike chopped springs) and it handles much better now! And it passes Mighty Car Mods' Shoe Test™!
That's the car as of early November 2024. I'm in two minds about the car, as we put a helluva lot of effort in and I grew up with it, but it's also really slow in a straight line
I'm currently still studying, but once I get a job I'll have to decide whether to keep it and upgrade it or sell it for an RS172/182 (which are very rare in SA) or even a Clio III RS197/200 (which are relatively common).
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