Difference between 197 and 200 suspension set up

[petr.ol.head]

Hi all,
I am on the fence whether to buy Clio III 197 or 200. Is there any difference in suspension setup between these two? I read the facelifted one should be a bit softer. Is it true? Is it a noticeable difference? Is there anyone, who has driven both, and could compare them? Thank you!

 

[MarcB]

I know that the top mounts on the later cars are different but as for suspension wise I would just replace with cup shocks & springs.

 

[Beany]

The 200 cup suspension is stiffer than the 197 cup version.
If you sign up as a member £5 for the year.. I believe it has all this broken down as a buyers guide

 

[burrellbloke]

The basics are that both 197s and 200s come in different specs.

You can have a full fat, a full fat that is cup packed, or a cup. A non cup packed 197 and 200 will have softer suspension. A cup packed 197 or 200 will have stiffer suspension than a cup packed version. A 200 Cup will have the stiffer suspension.

Like @Beany says sign for £5 read the buyers guide and it will tell you everything you need to know.

For what it is worth I have a 200 Cup with OEM suspension which is fairly stiff - but as my car is more of a weekend toy than a daily driver it is not a problem and makes driving the car more enjoyable.

 

[Yiannis197]

Good luck with this - I tried to figure it out but I went literally nowhere.

You see when Renault made the 200, they stated that the cup version was stiffer than the 197 cup and the non cup was softer than the 197 non cup. All good there. Then, they revised the top mounts, so the large top mounts gave place to smaller ones (which were sh1t because they wouldn't allow camber adjustability of an after market top mount due to small aperture) - but this a different matter.

When I started looking into the colour coding of the parts on question I realised that the 197 cup and the 200 cup dampers and springs (before 2010) are the same. Same with the non cup items. Suppliers (Kam racing in specific) offer the same part for the cup chassis pre 2010 and a different one for after 2010. But before 2010 we had both versions of the car available so which ones are which? No-one seems to know...

 

[Sean197]

From an old post:

197 Standard Springs

Front: 170 lb/in 29.8 n/mm
Rear: 230 lb/in 40.3 n/mm

Going from what RenaultSport say the others are uprated by you can roughly work out the rest. 197 Cup 15% stiffer springs than standard. 200 Sport 15% softer than 197 Sport and 200 cup 15% stiffer than 197 Cup.

197 Cup Springs

Front: 195.5 lb/in 34.2 n/mm
Rear: 245 lb/in 42.9 n/mm

200 Standard Springs

Front: 144.5 lb/in 25.3 n/mm
Rear: 215 lb/in 37.6 n/mm

200 Cup Springs

Front: 224.8 lb/in 39.4 n/mm
Rear: 260 lb/in 45.5 n/mm