Glacier White 200 Cup

[Albert540]

That's quite worrying...maybe a result of pressing out the ball joints (possibly with the use of heat)?

 

[EthanMenace]

That's quite worrying...maybe a result of pressing out the ball joints (possibly with the use of heat)?

The balljoint is on the opposite side so even with heat it shouldn’t be that.

 

[Dowling93]

That's nuts! Have ye any idea what might be the contributing factor to it?

 

[burrellbloke]

That's nuts! Have ye any idea what might be the contributing factor to it?

Not yet. The hubs had been blasted and cerekoted - I have no idea if that has caused any issues.

The car does a fair number of track daysand it always has a driver and passenger.

I am not sure if this is just wear and tear? The Gaz Golds have been serviced twice and each time at least one of the front dampers has needed a new rod.

 

[Dowling93]

Not yet. The hubs had been blasted and cerekoted - I have no idea if that has caused any issues.

The car does a fair number of track daysand it always has a driver and passenger.

I am not sure if this is just wear and tear? The Gaz Golds have been serviced twice and each time at least one of the front dampers has needed a new rod.

Yeah I guess it can be hard to pin down! The trackdays ye do usually have a good elevation changes so maybe that could be a factor too? Anyways it's something we'll all be adding to our checklists every other trackday then!

 

[VeiRoNv2]

No way that's wear and tear I don't think,there must have been something that weakened both hubs for it to crack, that's pretty worrying,glad you spotted it early.

 

[Marsch]

That's quite shocking. Good you noticed it before your trip next month.

I'm no expert on this and it could be simply the way these parts are casted but to me it looks like the surface structur on the side where the crack in the hollow part is is corroded. Like the metal is macerated/swolen there or a bit like rust that "blooming" under paint. Not sure what cerakoting does? Is there maybe some heating involved in the process or some pre-cleaning with corrosive liquids?

 

[Helpimonfire]

I've heard a few people saying any kind of cerakote/powdercoat on cast alloy parts can cause weaknesses. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen. Could be a contributing factor maybe?

 

[burrellbloke]

The old/spare hubs have been put back on to the Clio now. The cerakoted hubs are knackered.



All of the parts have been torqued up to spec according to the workshop manual.

 

[burrellbloke]

The Clio has been given an oil service. We like to give the Clio 200 regular oil changes as it is usually driven hard, and the easiest miles it will do are usually a drive to or from a track. The Clio has used Fuchs Titan Race Pro 5w40 oil for a very long time.



Along with the oil change, we have replaced the oil filter with another genuine Renault oil filter.



We use a paint pen to write on the filter the current mileage when the new oil filter is fitted so that we can keep a track of how many miles were done since the last oil change.



This time it was just over 2,000 miles.



The spark plugs have also been replaced with some Renault-branded plugs, which are actually NGK plugs.



The old plugs looked good when they were removed. The worst plug was on the furthest right driver’s side cylinder, which often suffers with water pooling around the coil pack due to water from/around the washer jets leaking through the bonnet.



We also replaced the upper and lower inlet manifold gaskets.



We have had the upper and inlet manifolds off of the Clio several times but have never bothered to replace the gaskets. There seemed to be a very slight oil weep/mist coming from between the rocker cover and cylinder head.



The excess oil was cleaned up and the inlet manifolds put back on the car.



The belts are due on the Clio next year, so the oil weep/misting issue can be resolved then.



The Clio has been checked over and should now be Ring ready. We are travelling over to the Nurburgring on Friday 3rd July 2026 via the tunnel. The plan is to have some gentle TF laps on Saturday, a Genesis Ring Taxi lap on Sunday, and then do the Circuit Days track day on Monday. We will travel back on Tuesday 7th July 2026. We are driving the Clio over to Germany - although I have a functioning converted camper van we still have not sorted out a tow bar.