Greg's Albi Blue Clio 200

Gave it a half day clean.

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Pet dryer worked well on the wheels. I cleaned the engine bay and also sprayed the alarm bracket black, as I've been meaning to do for ages. I also took the spacers off as I need to give them a coat of paint also. Still a number of things to make it look good enough for me. Just ticked over 70k, and I passed a gritter the other day, so there are stone chips galore :worried:

Process was:

Snow foam with Blizzard extreme
While that was doing it's thing, I cleaned all the badges and black bits with G101 and a brush.
Red7 on the wheels and washed with a wheel mit and a spray of Bilberry
Pressure wash the whole thing
Two bucket wash with CarChem 1900:1
Rinsed it off and then dried with Auto Finesse Green drying towel and air dryer.
No need for a wax or QD as it was Fusso'd 2 weeks ago.
 
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That's completely stock cup suspension :tongueout:. I removed the spacers I had on before as I felt that it affected the handling. Quite a big difference between spacers and no spacers. Only thing I can think of is that they wheels weren't mounted correctly.

Can't wait for the summer as the sunlight doesn't reach where my car is parked in winter.
 
Anyone got a leather gear knob available for sale? Mine is peeling and is spoiling the look and the feel of the car.

Spacers
I removed my spacers as I felt that the handling was adversely affected. It felt like it was tram lining and taking more effort to turn than normal. Could this be as they might not have been mounted correctly? They are the 20mm spacers Raptor6767 made, which are hubcentric (I think?) and using the 17mm bolts he provided. Is 20mm too much? I think 15mm might have been a better bet. Or should I get stub axle spacers for the rear and normal spacers for the front?

Year end
End of 2016 and I feel that I haven't really achieved anything with the car in the year I have had it. Sure, new Scorpion Exhaust and new tyres and alloys are an achievement, but next year, I am looking to do much more (I need a new job as, while the NHS is good to work for, it pays rubbish)

(Hopefully) in this order:
  • New pads and discs front and rear (I have, but yet to fit...)
  • Another service (gearbox and engine oil)
  • Cup Spoiler (Finally decided, looks awesome with it)
  • Front drivers side and passenger side wheel arch liners - again, anyone know where I can get them, let me know! (mine are cracked)
  • Remap to remove the flat spot and improve torque
  • Trackdays
  • New steering wheel
  • B14's (fingers crossed)
I think that's it really. I would love to 'Megane' it, but costs far too much at the moment.
 
Someone here has mentioned they have a good condition standard leather knob for sale in the last few days. Hopefully they'll see this and chip-in.

You may have felt you've been a bit 'static' this year: but boy - you've got some big plans for 2017 by the sounds of it :smile:

I've just fitted 10mm stub-axle spacers rear and 8mm hubcentric fronts. For the very reason of wanting some slightly better looks in the stance department without compromising the handling too much. Hopefully ! Cant report back yet - as its just sat in the garage all Holidays.

Look forward to your progress......
 
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i sold my spacers after a few months..never liked them..
good plans..fingers crossed mate
 
Thanks @sevenfourate , Im indeed selling my leather gearknob, in very good condition came off my Clio 200 with 28k miles on the clock so barely used.

£15 + postage and it's yours!

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That looks awesome! What's the price for snail mail? :smiley:

Pet dryer for wheels? I'm intrigued!

Yeah, well the one I have is actually sold as a computer duster, but it can blow a candle out across the room! I would only use it on wheels and little nooks and crannies where water can settle, it is strong enough for the paint and glass, but for me it just makes the beads smaller :tongueout:. You'd use if in conjunction with a towel.


What I did today? Brakes!
Well, I finally did what I have wanted to do since I got the car, new brake discs and pads at the front. Stuck with the tried and tested Brembo HC discs and pads, but I can always go M1144 or DS2500's now in have new discs.

I spent 4 hours doing just the fronts as - you guessed it - the sodding pins were stuck and the brake disc screws were seized. It only took 20 minutes a side to fit the new discs and pads, so the rest of the time was getting the pins out!

A lot of WD40 and lots of large blows with a sledgehammer and punch and the pins were out. New ones refitted, using ceratec lube so they can come out in the future. The screws on the discs came out after using a 10ft pipe with gentle force so not to strip the thread. These were also lubed up.

Now, hopefully after lubing everything up, I can remove the pins etc and give the caliper a good clean and paint the discs this weekend. I unfortunately ran out if time to do it today as it was getting dark. I should be able to just unbolt the caliper and then spray it, as unlike the old disc, there isn't a lip to stop the pads coming out.

I have 0 patience at all and it really bugs me, as I wanted to paint them today but had other things to do. I feel dirty as it hasn't had a wash this week also, but it is meant to be icy tomorrow so I don't really want to wash it as it'll freeze the door shut...

Now where can I get bulk brake cleaner, as I'm fed up of using aerosols for about £4 each
 
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Well done on the brakes. Dont you feel even slightly smug inside you've all but done THAT job yourself......:smile:
 
Sunday Update:

Well, where do I start. I managed to find a RenaultSport Aluminium Gearknob on Gumtree for £40! Bargain from a breaking 197. Its the older style RenaultSport logo, not the newer RS badge (I prefer the old style). Should be getting it next week! Super happy as my current one is peeling badly.

After fitting my new pads and discs earlier this week, I went on an hour long jaunt over the Mendips at about half 7 this morning. I started at Burrington Combe, and ended at Cheddar Gorge. Not a person in front of me and it allowed me to do a number of 60 to 15mph brakes, and now they perform brilliantly. Quite foggy though.

I fitted my spacers on Friday, but was apprehensive as they didn't feel right the last time they were on, but they must have been mounted incorrectly, as the car feels awesome now!

One thing I noticed is that, even though I ordered the HC discs, and I am sure they are the HC version, the box they came in doesn't have a tick next to the HC logo. I've noticed it on other peoples logs as well. The product code is the same, yet it isn't ticked as HC. Oh well, they work well so I'm not worrying.

I did want to paint the discs today as well, but a combination of running out if light and exhaustion prevented me from doing it. Next week.

Today, I gave it another full exterior clean with a little treat. I started by snow foaming and then did the wheels with Red7. Rinsed it all off and then covered the entire car in Red7 to remove any iron fallout. Now, I live right next to a railway, so I would have thought it would be really bad. It wasn't, there was hardly any bleeding. I rinsed it off and then applied Tardis to the lower areas of the car and any spots that I could see. Again, not much was being removed as I seem to be able to keep it free of contaminants.

I then snow foamed the entire car, and used the snow foam as a lubricant for the claybar. The only bits it picked up were tardis from under the sills, but none from the paint and it felt like glass. Fusso light was then applied, using the included sponge it comes with (actually very good, more an open cell sponge than a normal applicator) and let that sit for 15 mins. I then applied H2Go on the rear and side windows (with 2 applications on the rear). It looks awesome but too dark to get pictures, but hopefully tomorrow.
 
Huge update !

Lucky you finding the more sought-after knob. Nice....

Apparently the discs often or always were HC. They just wern't advertised as such. So yours still may well be :smile: What pads are you using with them ???

Detailing session sounds a 'proper' one. Look forward to some snaps of it.