Glacier White 200 Cup

[LiamP]

I have booked another track day at Lydden Hill on 19th June 2021. It is another sessions day with 6 20 minute sessions.

I am hoping to acquire another set of wheels by June. Does anyone have any sensible semi slick recommendations for 215/45/17 size wheels? I had a quick look at some NS-2Rs or some R888Rs. Hopefully with two sets of wheels I can keep the Michelin PS4s for everyday road sue and wet track use, and use the semi slicks for track days or during the summer months.

I plan on doing exactly the same, booked in to get some PS4’s for road/damp track and then going to get some cheap wheels with R888Rs (although full slicks are tempting...)

 

[RSRowe]

I’d definitely urge you to be cautious of used slick performance in non ideal conditions

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[burrellbloke]

I spent a few hours today cleaning the Clio. I have managed to build up a nice collection of Auto Finesse products over the past year. The car was given a snow foam pre-wash, two bucket clean and a wipe down. I then used some AF Vision glass polish - it is supposed to remove any stubborn stains on glass and generally remove any layers of grime that have built up over the years. It is an abrasive polish which leaves a fine white powder which brushes away when the polish is buffed off. After using the Vision glass polish on the windscreen I realised that the original windscreen is covered in tiny stone chips as the fine white polish residue was sitting in all of the stone chips. I am pretty sure it is the original windscreen as it still has a sticker from the Renault dealer who sold the car in the windscreen.

After polishing all of the external glass I then polished the internal glass with the exception of the inside side of the rear windscreen due to the heater strips. The glass was then cleaned with some AF Crystal.

I then cracked open a bottle of AF Tripple polish. The Clio needs a few coats of wax but I need to buy some wax first. I had bought some AF Tripple a few months ago but had not used it before. I thought I would see how well it worked as it is a simple process to apply it with a microfibre pad and then buff it off with a microfibre cloth. It was quick and easy to apply and left the Clio paint looking glossy.



The sun was reflecting nicely off of the paintwork.



The paintwork on the Clio is not perfect. I had thought about getting the car machine polished to get rid of any swirls but have decided to try and do the job myself. I doubt I can do it as well as a professional but the whole point of owning this Clio is to learn some new skills and try to do jobs that I would normally pay someone else to do. I will hopefully acquire a polisher next week. I have got Thursday and Friday off next week to see if I can make any progress.



The good weather we have had over the past few weekends has made tinkering with the Clio a real pleasure in warm sunny weather.

 

[joehodges154]

Beautiful. Great effort with the clean. My GW has lots of swirls too, are they more visible on a lighter coloured car?

 

[burrellbloke]

Thanks.

Dark cars show up swirls more than a light colour car.

 

[Helpimonfire]

Thanks.

Dark cars show up swirls more than a light colour car.

Yeah... They really do! I had my Black 197 machine polished a while back, it came up great but the detailer that did it warned me that Renaults paint is quite soft and will mark easily. 2 years on and the swirls are back with a vengeance!

 

[Joec1996]

The Megane and Clio are both looking wicked mate the meguiars ultimate compound with the ultimate polish and tech wax 2.0 is really good. It helps all problems with the paint work especially if you get a polisher. I like the tech wax it’s really nice and makes the car pop and protects it well but it does have a really strong smell if you’re waxing it inside a garage will give you a headache. Would you say your megane is as fun as your clio mate ?

 

[burrellbloke]

Would you say your megane is as fun as your clio mate?

They have different characters. The Megane is instant boost and power, but not so agile round corners. The Clio is like a go kart but needs to be revving hard to get the power out of it.

 

[JMR]

Great thread lads I've just read right through from the start.

Hats off to you for putting all this effort in.

Engine bay looks top class

 

[burrellbloke]

Thanks

 

[JMR]

When you remove the drivers side upper engine mount do you have to support the engine or anything?
My bracket, like yours could just do with a little tickle up and a coat of satin black.

Mrs has had the car all week so I've not been able to lift the bonnet and refresh my memory of what's what?

 

[JMR]

This one that you painted. Upper or lower or whatever its called

 

[burrellbloke]

You need to support the bottom of the engine. @suj told me to use a reasonably long lump of wood, running from across the width of the sump, to support the engine weight with a jack. It worked well when we did the mount.

 

[JMR]

You need to support the bottom of the engine. @suj told me to use a reasonably long lump of wood, running from across the width of the sump, to support the engine weight with a jack. It worked well when we did the mount.

Found the thread too thanks mate.

 

[burrellbloke]

The car polishing bits arrived. I now have a Ryobi DA car polisher together with some Auto Finesse polishing pads and a bottle of AF One-Step.



I had a well deserved day off from work today so I cleaned the Clio again even though it was cleaned at the weekend. After the clean it had a full dose of Iron Out. Today I used a clay bar on the Clio. I have not used a clay bar properly before - I mean I have used one to attempt to get some stubborn marks out of paintwork a few times before, but I have not set about the entire car to remove all the contaminants in the paint. It was surprising how much rubbish came off of the paintwork. It was really pleasing to see some stubborn black dots and flecks of orange metal in the paintwork come off. After the car had been clayed the paintwork felt smooth.

I then read a few web sites and watched a few YouTube videos to work out how to use the car polisher correctly. I had a go at the bonnet and roof with the polisher. I used it at a low speed first of all thinking that would be safer but I later realised that until the pad was spinning at about 4,000 rpm it just made it more difficult.

The weather was a bit overcast in Essex today so it was difficult to see any swirl marks in the natural light.



The roof certainly looks good, and it now feels really smooth - even smoother than it did after the clay bar. Unfortunately I ran out of time and battery power to do much more today. I am off of work tomorrow as well so will continue the polishing. Hopefully the sun will come out to highlight any swirl marks so I can get rid of them.

There are a few faint scratches on the car that I am going to try and polish out. Once the car has been polished I am going to give it a glaze and then apply three coats of wax.

This is a job that might stretch in to Saturday and Sunday.

The Wife thinks I am nuts spending my days off cleaning the car for hours - I think it is quite therapeutic. I now realise why car valeting is such an expensive business - it takes forever to do a good job. Hopefully the car will look really presentable and keep a glossy coat for a few months over summer once it is done.

 

[Sean197]

Well worth having a look at Forensic Detailing Channel on YouTube, a lot of very good informative videos on there.

 

[burrellbloke]

Thanks, I will have a look.

 

[burrellbloke]

Four days after I started I have now finished the latest Clio car clean.

The car has been machine polished with at least three passes on each panel. Every panel was given a glaze and then three coats of wax. Some stubborn tar spots have either disappeared or faded dramatically. A number of scratches have been polished out. Although I was hoping to get rid of all of the swirl marks I have realised that was a bit optimistic. I have managed to reduce the appearance of the swirl marks or get rid of some of them.

The paintwork is looking good now and feels really smooth to touch.

I only finished working on the car at 9pm when it was dark. I still have to get rid of some of the polish residue and a few adhesive marks left by the blue masking tape. That is a job for tomorrow.

 

[burrellbloke]

I had a good look at the paintwork in the light today. These are some of the tar spots before they were machine polished.



I had tried all sorts of products to remove the tar spots including Meguiars Ultimate Compound, Auto Finesse Oblitarate, a clay bar. Although the machine polishing has not got rid of the tar spots completely only a few faded spots are left. I only used a medium pad to make sure that I did not do too much damage to the paintwork.

This is an after photo.



The car is looking glossy.



In other news I topped up the oil with some more Titan Fuchs SuperSyn. I think that the car has probably used about 600ml of oil over the past 9 or 10 months, or about 4,500 miles. Hopefully burning 600ml of oil is about right for the miles it has done since it’s last oil change.

 

[burrellbloke]

A second set of wheels arrived today.



I had been looking for a cheap second set of track wheels for a few weeks now. I had found some last week that were for sale on eBay which were only 20 miles away for £250. I paid for the wheels and then the seller just blanked me. I paid by PayPal so I will get my money back.

A set of wheels then popped up on Facebook. @EthanMenace drove to Lincoln to collect the wheels today. The tyres are absolutely awful. The wheels were £225. The wheels appear to be straight and have no cracks. They are a bit tatty in places with a few scuffs, but they will do.



I think that we will probably get some R888Rs to go on the wheels - they seem to be the right compromise between price and performance.