2012 clio 3RS RB7 #166
- Thread starter peter
- Start date
peter
POTM Winner - February 2017
the car has had a quiet life during the summer months. it was used for the daily commute to work, but that's at nanny speeds. i still had a trackday booked in november at spa-francorchamps, which got cancelled last year. desperately wanted to do one before that, so booked a day at mettet (october).
front brake pads were finished, ordered a new set of DS1.11's and set about replacing the old one's. i've done it before and it's a quick fix, even for me. not so this time. it was two years since i last replaced them and due to the amount of crud, the 'mr.pink pins' were very hard to get out of the calipers. brute force did the trick in the end. when i wanted to put the new pads in the calipers, i noticed that the rubber seals were worn out and that the pistons weren't exactly moving smoothly. i'm not that mechanically savvy and thought it best that i'd let a specialist have a look at the brakes. got the car booked in, pistons were checked for corrosion and new rubber seals were put in place by my ace mechanic. bedded them in next day and a couple of days later, i set off to mettet.
track was damp in the morning, so took it easy. car felt ok at first. later in the morning the track got dryer and dryer and speeds went up. immediately felt the car breaking away to the left when hard on the brakes. gradually got worse. lost any confidence in the car and called it a day early afternoon.
MOT was coming up. so instead of first checking over the car, i went straight to the MOT station and was curious to know if they could find anything. first test over here is the emission test. failed big time. the car has it's second cat removed, but that couldn't be the issue since it passed the test the previous year. so maybe a small air leak in the exhaust system, the manifold or flexible joints. bummer. then on to the suspension test. another fail. difference between left and right side was too big. bummer again, but possibly the reason why the car moved to the left when braking hard.
back to the speed shop, where my #1 mechanic quickly diagnosed a knackered right front shock (left one wasn't in top shape either). the spa-francorchamps trackday was coming up fast, so had to quickly decide what suspension to choose. always wanted a bilstein B14 kit, but couldn't find one quickly enough, so in the end decided to go for two new oem cup shocks. right, shocks were quickly delivered/replaced and my mechanic would drive the car to the MOT station himself. then a telephone call ...
"why is your car still pulling to the left when braking hard?"
"i don't know. you're the mechanic. i thought it was because of the wanky shock absorber."
car back up on the car lift, getting another check over. brake lines are looked into and yes sir, the brake line on the right is clogged. getting new oem rubber brake lines from renault takes three days. it's friday now, the car needs to pass MOT that very friday to be road legal and the spa trackday is next monday. i'm stressing big time by now. a little improvisation is needed. my mechanic has some stainless steel brake lines lying around, putts them on the car, covers them up with a rubber hose and dashes off to the MOT station. car drives great again. he gets there just in time, for the car to fail again! stainless steel brake lines aren't allowed over here and the guy doing the MOT spots them. that rubber hose didn't do the trick apparently but, there's good news too. the car gets a two weeks' extension, so we decide to leave the ss lines on the car, do the trackday and then replace them with the rubber ones after.
and the emission test? well, no leak was found. no faults were found on the computer read out either. nothing was done to the car and it passed the second emission test with flying colours. the guy who tested the car first probably missed the exhaust, which is easy enough to do seemingly.
so, on to spa-francorchamps ... a good day. car drove brilliantly. had fun on track with a couple of friends. got some great photos too ...
last week the ss brake lines where replaced by oem ones and the car finally passed its MOT.
unsure if i'm going to track the car next year. it still looks great from afar, but it really needs some cosmetic care (bodywork, brakes, wheels, steering wheel), it is nine years old after all. so funds will probably go in that direction. i would like the car to sit a bit lower (been delaying that mod for several years now), but with two new front shocks, a coilover set is out of the question. eibach springs perhaps? we'll see.
front brake pads were finished, ordered a new set of DS1.11's and set about replacing the old one's. i've done it before and it's a quick fix, even for me. not so this time. it was two years since i last replaced them and due to the amount of crud, the 'mr.pink pins' were very hard to get out of the calipers. brute force did the trick in the end. when i wanted to put the new pads in the calipers, i noticed that the rubber seals were worn out and that the pistons weren't exactly moving smoothly. i'm not that mechanically savvy and thought it best that i'd let a specialist have a look at the brakes. got the car booked in, pistons were checked for corrosion and new rubber seals were put in place by my ace mechanic. bedded them in next day and a couple of days later, i set off to mettet.
track was damp in the morning, so took it easy. car felt ok at first. later in the morning the track got dryer and dryer and speeds went up. immediately felt the car breaking away to the left when hard on the brakes. gradually got worse. lost any confidence in the car and called it a day early afternoon.
MOT was coming up. so instead of first checking over the car, i went straight to the MOT station and was curious to know if they could find anything. first test over here is the emission test. failed big time. the car has it's second cat removed, but that couldn't be the issue since it passed the test the previous year. so maybe a small air leak in the exhaust system, the manifold or flexible joints. bummer. then on to the suspension test. another fail. difference between left and right side was too big. bummer again, but possibly the reason why the car moved to the left when braking hard.
back to the speed shop, where my #1 mechanic quickly diagnosed a knackered right front shock (left one wasn't in top shape either). the spa-francorchamps trackday was coming up fast, so had to quickly decide what suspension to choose. always wanted a bilstein B14 kit, but couldn't find one quickly enough, so in the end decided to go for two new oem cup shocks. right, shocks were quickly delivered/replaced and my mechanic would drive the car to the MOT station himself. then a telephone call ...
"why is your car still pulling to the left when braking hard?"
"i don't know. you're the mechanic. i thought it was because of the wanky shock absorber."
car back up on the car lift, getting another check over. brake lines are looked into and yes sir, the brake line on the right is clogged. getting new oem rubber brake lines from renault takes three days. it's friday now, the car needs to pass MOT that very friday to be road legal and the spa trackday is next monday. i'm stressing big time by now. a little improvisation is needed. my mechanic has some stainless steel brake lines lying around, putts them on the car, covers them up with a rubber hose and dashes off to the MOT station. car drives great again. he gets there just in time, for the car to fail again! stainless steel brake lines aren't allowed over here and the guy doing the MOT spots them. that rubber hose didn't do the trick apparently but, there's good news too. the car gets a two weeks' extension, so we decide to leave the ss lines on the car, do the trackday and then replace them with the rubber ones after.
and the emission test? well, no leak was found. no faults were found on the computer read out either. nothing was done to the car and it passed the second emission test with flying colours. the guy who tested the car first probably missed the exhaust, which is easy enough to do seemingly.
so, on to spa-francorchamps ... a good day. car drove brilliantly. had fun on track with a couple of friends. got some great photos too ...
last week the ss brake lines where replaced by oem ones and the car finally passed its MOT.
unsure if i'm going to track the car next year. it still looks great from afar, but it really needs some cosmetic care (bodywork, brakes, wheels, steering wheel), it is nine years old after all. so funds will probably go in that direction. i would like the car to sit a bit lower (been delaying that mod for several years now), but with two new front shocks, a coilover set is out of the question. eibach springs perhaps? we'll see.
Last edited:
peter
POTM Winner - February 2017
some tasty cars were present. find the odd one out ...
