Nimbus 2008 197
- Thread starter Barney626
- Start date
Barney626
Winner - POTM December 2017
So, been a long while since I updated this thread....
Got the car back, ended up costing over £1500. Had to be done though due to surrounding circumstances.
Car seemed to have developed a very slight rattle around 6-8k revs, but ignored it for a while until a few days ago. Noticed a burbling sound coming from the middle of the car which never normally happens, next day it developed into a rattle.
Past few days the rev ranges which it rattles at has increased. Sounded like something had come loose in a cat or silencer. Had it in a garage today. I was sat in the car revving it while the bloke was listening under it. Appears that the centre silencer has had it's day and is now rattling madly.
Now I need some input.
Have a trackday at oulton booked in about 2 days time, is it wise to still do that with the silencer on it's last legs?
Also, where to go from here? Struggling to find a replacement silencer so if anyone can point me in the right direction that would be appreciated.
Edit: Found this (http://www.autosessive.com/products/12688/box-centre-pipe). So expensive almost tempted to just go with a full catback...
The obvious other option is a catback exhaust. But then I'd need to declare that and the necessary remap to insurance and who knows what that'll do to it...
Opinions?
Got the car back, ended up costing over £1500. Had to be done though due to surrounding circumstances.
Car seemed to have developed a very slight rattle around 6-8k revs, but ignored it for a while until a few days ago. Noticed a burbling sound coming from the middle of the car which never normally happens, next day it developed into a rattle.
Past few days the rev ranges which it rattles at has increased. Sounded like something had come loose in a cat or silencer. Had it in a garage today. I was sat in the car revving it while the bloke was listening under it. Appears that the centre silencer has had it's day and is now rattling madly.
Now I need some input.
Have a trackday at oulton booked in about 2 days time, is it wise to still do that with the silencer on it's last legs?
Also, where to go from here? Struggling to find a replacement silencer so if anyone can point me in the right direction that would be appreciated.
Edit: Found this (http://www.autosessive.com/products/12688/box-centre-pipe). So expensive almost tempted to just go with a full catback...
The obvious other option is a catback exhaust. But then I'd need to declare that and the necessary remap to insurance and who knows what that'll do to it...
Opinions?
Last edited:
There's usually someone selling the original system/centre silencer every now and then. I realise that the replacement may also go wrong but it'll be much cheaper than the alternative you've posted a link too. A remap isn't necessary either in all honesty. A lot of my driving is around town and I don't really have issues with the flat spot.
It's definitely worth giving your insurance company a ring and seeing if an exhaust system would increase the premium. My insurance company (Sky insurance) didn't increase the premium but then again the policy itself wasn't exactly cheap.
It's definitely worth giving your insurance company a ring and seeing if an exhaust system would increase the premium. My insurance company (Sky insurance) didn't increase the premium but then again the policy itself wasn't exactly cheap.
Barney626
Winner - POTM December 2017
Unfortunately, being 20 years old makes the insurabce very twitchy to mods. As much as I'd love having a new catback, my wallet would be seriously stretched doing it. If anything else went wrong with the car it would be difficult to afford it...
Barney626
Winner - POTM December 2017
Right, been a long while since I updated this thread and a decent amount has happened.
So went to the Oulton park track day (First one in this car) and had an absolute blast. Everyone was behaving most of the day (Apart from two 172/182 clios who were pushing it a bit racing each other) and everyone was really friendly too
.
Filmed the whole day on my dash cam, not the best quality but it'll do.
Couple of clios there including Dan who posted above. Quick vid of dan passing me a few times:
The only major crash of the day was an MG who was pushing it to the limit all day and ended up going into a barrier:
Also had a little butt clench moment when I ran wide on a corner. Thought I could nip past the red car just before the corner as they were still slowing right down, they ended up accelerating just as I went to pass them so was on my inside during the corner. Forced me into the outside and went off, thought I might end up in the barrier as totally lost steering on the grass but somehow got traction back after a few seconds. Felt way more dramatic than it looks on video
So really enjoyed that day, defo want to do some more track days in this thing in future.
Still had to deal with the dodgy exhaust which was indeed loose baffles in the silencer. Ended up getting the silencer replaced at four ashes and so far sounding all good. If it goes again though, gonna be difficult not to get a catback system...
Just after I got the car back from that, rear brakes started grinding quite badly. Knew they were not in the best condition when I got the car but thanks to my little incident with sheet ice didn't have the funds to get that sorted.
Obviously with them grinding was forced to pay up and get new pads/discs as they looked pretty poor. Luckily ECP was having a 45% off sale on brake parts so saved over £150 on that. Went for a pair of Pagid discs and brembo pads as they were available to pickup the next day.
Long story short, I'm amazed I'm still alive and am ashamed at how bad I let it get.
The corner that was grinding:
Because the disc had a slot carved out in the middle where the pads had been, had to grind down the edges to get the caliper off it:
What we saw when we got the caliper off:
You can see the slot that had been carved and comparison between new/old disc:
And now for the real kicker and probably the reason it was grinding so badly, I didn't really have a pad left:
That was the inside pad so couldn't really see that while the wheels were on...
So got the new disc on, tightened to 200Nm torque on the hub nut, new pads in (now realise I left the paper on the pads, was tired and wanted to just get that corner done, oh well) and wheel back on.
Next morning started doing the other side, this one wasn't in as bad a state but still pretty poor...
Also looks like whoever last did work on these brakes cut some serious corners. brake pads were different on either side so someone only changed one side:
Had to grind this disc as well but not as much as the other side.
Not as much of a slot in this one, makes me wonder whether this disc is newer than the other side?
Condition of the pads, are they meant to have a VW logo on them?
Then realised one of the caliper pins had seized and wasn't moving freely. After a lot of struggling ended up reattaching the caliper to the car and just bashing the shit out of it with a rubber mallet which eventually shifted it. The pin with no grease on it was the stuck one.
Regreased with copper grease and it slides much better now. I know copper grease isn't good for the seals but tbh, I'm probably going to end up replacing that caliper because....
Someone has drilled a bloody hole in the caliper. I suspect this pin has stuck before and the owner tried to pass it through an MOT, failed it for seized calipers and got the garage to just unstick it for the MOT. Drill a hole down there, shove a punch in and hammer the shit out of it. Re-grease, MOT pass, sell the car. Only thing I can think of...
Got the new disc on, new pads and bolt everything up. Happy days.
While I was at it swapped front and rear wheels for tyre wear:
Havent noticed a huge difference in braking power but it's only the rears which don't tend to do a lot of braking anyway...
So that's me pretty much up to date.
Just a good reminder to never work on a car only supported by a jack. Both were the same level when I started:
Got a fairly busy next few weeks to plans are limited.
Would like to get calipers repainted in red sometime but that's reliant on funding. Also gotta battle with my Xenon lights which are misbehaving a lot (details here: http://www.clio197.net/threads/xeno...oing-up-on-main-beam.57800/page-3#post-693098)
Also developed a really annoying rattle coming from my right steering wheel stalk (Washer/wipers). Certain vibrations just set it off. Sounds like a loose spring or bit of plastic, tried pulling the stalk out, started opening it and realised how many loose little bits are in there. Just know if I do open it properly I'll never get all the bits back in the right place...
Car is also asking for a service. I could easily replace it's oil but tempted to send it into a renault service centre just to get the stamp for the book. Thoughts?
So went to the Oulton park track day (First one in this car) and had an absolute blast. Everyone was behaving most of the day (Apart from two 172/182 clios who were pushing it a bit racing each other) and everyone was really friendly too
.Filmed the whole day on my dash cam, not the best quality but it'll do.
Couple of clios there including Dan who posted above. Quick vid of dan passing me a few times:
The only major crash of the day was an MG who was pushing it to the limit all day and ended up going into a barrier:
Also had a little butt clench moment when I ran wide on a corner. Thought I could nip past the red car just before the corner as they were still slowing right down, they ended up accelerating just as I went to pass them so was on my inside during the corner. Forced me into the outside and went off, thought I might end up in the barrier as totally lost steering on the grass but somehow got traction back after a few seconds. Felt way more dramatic than it looks on video
So really enjoyed that day, defo want to do some more track days in this thing in future.
Still had to deal with the dodgy exhaust which was indeed loose baffles in the silencer. Ended up getting the silencer replaced at four ashes and so far sounding all good. If it goes again though, gonna be difficult not to get a catback system...
Just after I got the car back from that, rear brakes started grinding quite badly. Knew they were not in the best condition when I got the car but thanks to my little incident with sheet ice didn't have the funds to get that sorted.
Obviously with them grinding was forced to pay up and get new pads/discs as they looked pretty poor. Luckily ECP was having a 45% off sale on brake parts so saved over £150 on that. Went for a pair of Pagid discs and brembo pads as they were available to pickup the next day.
Long story short, I'm amazed I'm still alive and am ashamed at how bad I let it get.
The corner that was grinding:
Because the disc had a slot carved out in the middle where the pads had been, had to grind down the edges to get the caliper off it:
What we saw when we got the caliper off:
You can see the slot that had been carved and comparison between new/old disc:
And now for the real kicker and probably the reason it was grinding so badly, I didn't really have a pad left:
That was the inside pad so couldn't really see that while the wheels were on...
So got the new disc on, tightened to 200Nm torque on the hub nut, new pads in (now realise I left the paper on the pads, was tired and wanted to just get that corner done, oh well) and wheel back on.
Next morning started doing the other side, this one wasn't in as bad a state but still pretty poor...
Also looks like whoever last did work on these brakes cut some serious corners. brake pads were different on either side so someone only changed one side:
Had to grind this disc as well but not as much as the other side.
Not as much of a slot in this one, makes me wonder whether this disc is newer than the other side?
Condition of the pads, are they meant to have a VW logo on them?
Then realised one of the caliper pins had seized and wasn't moving freely. After a lot of struggling ended up reattaching the caliper to the car and just bashing the shit out of it with a rubber mallet which eventually shifted it. The pin with no grease on it was the stuck one.
Regreased with copper grease and it slides much better now. I know copper grease isn't good for the seals but tbh, I'm probably going to end up replacing that caliper because....
Someone has drilled a bloody hole in the caliper. I suspect this pin has stuck before and the owner tried to pass it through an MOT, failed it for seized calipers and got the garage to just unstick it for the MOT. Drill a hole down there, shove a punch in and hammer the shit out of it. Re-grease, MOT pass, sell the car. Only thing I can think of...
Got the new disc on, new pads and bolt everything up. Happy days.
While I was at it swapped front and rear wheels for tyre wear:
Havent noticed a huge difference in braking power but it's only the rears which don't tend to do a lot of braking anyway...
So that's me pretty much up to date.
Just a good reminder to never work on a car only supported by a jack. Both were the same level when I started:
Got a fairly busy next few weeks to plans are limited.
Would like to get calipers repainted in red sometime but that's reliant on funding. Also gotta battle with my Xenon lights which are misbehaving a lot (details here: http://www.clio197.net/threads/xeno...oing-up-on-main-beam.57800/page-3#post-693098)
Also developed a really annoying rattle coming from my right steering wheel stalk (Washer/wipers). Certain vibrations just set it off. Sounds like a loose spring or bit of plastic, tried pulling the stalk out, started opening it and realised how many loose little bits are in there. Just know if I do open it properly I'll never get all the bits back in the right place...
Car is also asking for a service. I could easily replace it's oil but tempted to send it into a renault service centre just to get the stamp for the book. Thoughts?
Last edited:
Barney626
Winner - POTM December 2017
great update..love your little vids too..them brakes look like they needed a bit of a TLC..
i love Oulton Park..done it a few times but never in the dry..wonder what that is like
Oulton really was fantastic, had some really nice cars there like TTRS and a mega BMW but the clios were holding their own. Has some really nice corners that the clios excel in compared to almost every other car there...
Barney626
Winner - POTM December 2017
So got through a fairly uneventful oil change on saturday. Car sounded and ran fine until monday afternoon when I started it up.
Not I'm getting a repetitive banging/knocking sound coming from the engine bay...
Made a post about it here: http://www.clio197.net/threads/knocking-noise-maybe-dying-ac-compressor.59727/#post-694442
Not I'm getting a repetitive banging/knocking sound coming from the engine bay...
Made a post about it here: http://www.clio197.net/threads/knocking-noise-maybe-dying-ac-compressor.59727/#post-694442
Barney626
Winner - POTM December 2017
So sorted the above issue with a new AUX belt.
Also just did another go over on my new pads with some more copper grease. Also replaced the cabin filter which looks/smells like it's the original factory one
Going to be bleeding the brakes/clutch with new fluid next week (Pagid DOT4 stuff)
As of recently my drivers side door handle lock button has stopped working. Passenger side always needed a really hard push for it to register and that still behaves the same, the rear boot button works still too. So fairly sure the button has died. Tried spraying wd40 into it to flush out any water but hasn't helped.
Will hopefully be taking the handle off next weekend to have a look. I'm guessing the only fix for these is a new handle? No special clio197.net tricks?
Also just did another go over on my new pads with some more copper grease. Also replaced the cabin filter which looks/smells like it's the original factory one
Going to be bleeding the brakes/clutch with new fluid next week (Pagid DOT4 stuff)
As of recently my drivers side door handle lock button has stopped working. Passenger side always needed a really hard push for it to register and that still behaves the same, the rear boot button works still too. So fairly sure the button has died. Tried spraying wd40 into it to flush out any water but hasn't helped.
Will hopefully be taking the handle off next weekend to have a look. I'm guessing the only fix for these is a new handle? No special clio197.net tricks?
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