2012 Renault Clio RS200 Ange et Demon #486

[RS200A&D]

This project thread was originally on the Ozrenaultsport site. Nearly all the content on there is blocked though unless you go through the tiresome process of registering, so I though I'd throw all this up on here so other Renault enthusiasts can see it as well!

Here's the history so far:


Sat Apr 21, 2012 1:44 pm
Went to check out my new car at the Waterloo dealership today and took some quick pics with my phone. Mine's the A&D on the left. Looks great, the matte grey goes kind of purplish in bright sunlight, just like in the pictures. Seems to sit a bit higher than the Cup on 17" wheels.

Only disappointment is that these Aussie editions don't have the leather dash the Europe models get. Hmmm...wonder if I could source one from the UK...

The French Racing Blue looks pretty nice in the flesh too.













Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:06 pm
Dropped in again at the dealership today to finalize a few things and drop off my RS mats. Decided I'll be tinting the front windows only, to match the tailgate window and rears. Apparently solartint has done some other Clios like this with good results.

A few more pics:

 

[RS200A&D]

Akrapovic exhaust:







Sat May 05, 2012 1:55 pm
Carbon diffuser from Streamline Carbon:

 

[RS200A&D]

Akra exhaust fitting:






After fitting:



















BMC air filter:

 

[RS200A&D]

Here's the full set of pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkie86/7278972698/in/photostream/

 

[RS200A&D]

Sat Jun 30, 2012 3:02 pm
New carbon tail light trims just arrived:






Huge weight savings:

 

[RS200A&D]

[FONT=Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Reinstalled the exhaust resonators inexplicabley left off when the new diffuser was fitted.
[/FONT]

Without resonators:







Got some titanium bolts for it:






Removing the diffuser is tricky with the clips around the rear bumper, but managed to get it off eventuallly after much cursing. With the diffuser off there's a good view of the Akra exhaust and the new KW v3s:

 

[RS200A&D]

Sun Jul 29, 2012 5:32 pm
Not the greatest pictures, but at least give an idea of the ride height with the newly fitted KW coilovers. Stance is much better and less SUV-like on the 18" wheels now.

And that's my brother's 205 next to it.

 

[RS200A&D]

Audio install with FHRX studios Sydney:

Focal Utopia Be Kit No 5 in the front, 4 Utopia Be 13WS 5" subs in the rear (two in each side), all powered by Arc Audio KS125, KS500 mini amps and an Audison BitTen processor. For the tweeters, ended up going with some Seas Lotus Reference, which are less bulky and much more cooperative for slotting into the factory dash tweeter hole.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/97926826@N06/

 

[LukeRS]

Very nice car, some good mods there.

 

[LiamS77]

Looks great, like the carbon diffuser. What else you got planned for it?

 

[Rogue]

Very very nice.

Looks ace on the coilies. nice plate too!

 

[930Tech]

That looks ace :thumbup:

The carbon is fantastic.

 

[Yiannis197]

L1027261 by ponz27, on Flickr


Stunning!!

I loved the diffuser, Chris and his team do a splendid job!!

 

[Giles]

Very nice mate

 

[Stevoox]

Very nice car. The carbon diffuser looks spot on!

 

[Stephen]

L1027261 by ponz27, on Flickr

This picture :001_tt1:

 

[RS200A&D]

Next item on the agenda: footrest.

Ordered all the parts from the UK but was disappointed to find that while the footrest matches the brushed aluminium of the pedals, the backing plate is steel. So in the eternal quest to shave off grams I've had another backing plate made up in aluminium.

Here's the original backing plate:




And here's the alu one I had made up. Half the weight...





...despite being more than twice as thick:





Footrest fitted:

 

[RS200A&D]

Carbon front bumper from Streamline Carbon:








Removing the front bumper is a b^&%$ of a job. All kinds of screws and nuts had to come off, even some weird ones I've never seen before can't be removed unless you rip them out with wire cutters and pliers.

And these have got to be the world's biggest pain in the @!$$ bolts to remove. When I put the whole thing back together again I couldn't get them back in, so I've left them off for now.






Front end off:









Replacing all the black plastic with the Streamline Carbon full front package: bumper, blade, front badge, fog-light surrounds, and splitter:






Front end re-attached:

 

[RS200A&D]

Much cursing during the time it took to get this done, mostly at the way Renault puts cars together. There were a couple of problems with the SC stuff, but it's mostly to do with the lack of clips on the CF parts and lack of flexibility compared with the factory plastic parts. I had no issues with sizing and lining things up though.

Here's some guidance for anyone contemplating taking the plunge on some of the SC parts:

FOG LIGHT SURROUNDS: The easiest to fit. Simply unclip the old ones, and put the carbon replacements in. The carbon clips are virtually identical to the factory plastic ones.

F1 BLADE: Also a good fit. The clips along the top slot in nicely, and they've included the screwhole to press the ends where it swoops up into the bottom of the bumper so there's no panel gap. You lose one screw on the back because it's simply not included on the CF version, but this doesn't seem to make much difference.

BUMPER: Clips in nicely, but you'll need a replacement nut/bolt for the one you'll have to rip off the top corners of the bumper. I didn't bother with it, as it seems to be pretty firmly clipped in already.

SPLITTER: Comes in two sections like the factory plastics, but is missing one hole for one of the clips so there will be a bit of a gap at each outer edge. It's barely noticeable but if you're a perfectionist it could bother you. And again, more rip-out bolts to contend with. I replaced these with new nuts and bolts. After a bit of fidgeting, you can get this to fit quite nicely.

FRONT BADGE: No clips on the back of the carbon badge, so once you've unclipped the original badge there's no choice but to bond it onto the base plate permanently. I ended up completely botching it, and had to order another from SC, then asked them to order a backing plate from Renault UK and bond it on for me. Needless to say they did a much better job than I did!


Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out. Was a bit worried about the excessive fully sick bling factor but it's actually quite subtle. You can barely tell it's carbon from a distance, it just looks like black or dark grey, and goes nicely with the matte paint. And the blade looks absolutely awesome in carbon.

 

[RS200A&D]

Here's the car just after applying Swissvax Opaque: