Racing Blue R27 392/500 - 24/04/15 Polished up/Recaro bases changed over

[DanT]

Update: Cup racer front arb fitted!



Been down to see Danny at 519 automotive today just on the A1. Proper easy to get to!

Setup there is really good and in a nice area of the country too!





Plenty of cool cars about round the workshop and plenty of equipment for all your Renault sport needs

Fitted the front arb in about 2.5 hours. Annoyingly difficult to get out having to drop the subframe and disconnect steering rack etc but after all that's done relatively easy replacing the arb and just the reverse to put back together. That said I wouldn't say this is an easy job which is why I went to 519 in the first place.

Results having fitted to the car are a noticeably sharper steering response, noticeably tighter steering at low and high speed. Compliments the KWs beautifully IMHO.

Cornering in the car before was a joy tbh but now I feel like I have an even bigger edge with it being even sharper offering more control and feedback through a corner. The front doesn't lean into a corner as easily now yet I'm not experiencing any understeer either. I'd say with the coilovers and this arb along with everything Ultra Racing offer it's a great setup for fast controlled cornering.

Until next time!

 

[MikeLYR27]

Nice mate, how much was the arb?? Think I might get one as I'm on coilies as well!

 

[Leigh]

Glad your happy dan

 

[Raptor6767]

Results having fitted to the car are a noticeably sharper steering response, noticeably tighter steering at low and high speed. Compliments the KWs beautifully IMHO.

Cornering in the car before was a joy tbh but now I feel like I have an even bigger edge with it being even sharper offering more control and feedback through a corner. The front doesn't lean into a corner as easily now yet I'm not experiencing any understeer either. I'd say with the coilovers and this arb along with everything Ultra Racing offer it's a great setup for fast controlled cornering.

Until next time!

So true...

 

[RalphyBMW]

New ARB is £95.22 inc delivery, part no. 7711160155.

If you have factory xenons with auto levelling you will need to modify your front level adjuster to suit the thicker bar.

Do not try this bar with standard [197 Cup] suspension, it is awful, understeer city. While the part itself is expensive it is time consuming to fit and then time consuming again to remove to refit the original part when you realise that the rest of the car isn't stiff enough to benefit from the thicker ARB.

You should generally speaking only stiffen the front when you have already stiffened the back; reading between the lines the benefit of a stiffer front end seems to be in part to balance out a tricky rear end.

Anyone considering this should thoroughly research the pros and cons of a stiffer front ARB before buying one. I didn't, I rushed in (perhaps partly on the basis of a recommendation) because we were dropping the subframe anyway, and for my car it was an enormous mistake. Aside from the cost implications it also ruined a track day as I just couldn't get the power down coming out of tight corners, so it isn't that the road was too bumpy, etc. which can also cause issues with a stiff ARB.

 

[MikeLYR27]

Ralphey didn't u have the rear arb?? Would It be a better option to do this with coilovers as dan said turn in is better? Shane whiteline don't do a rear arb, love it on my 182!!

 

[RalphyBMW]

No, no other suspension mods, just Cup springs and dampers.

 

[DanT]

Hey dudes thanks for all comments.

Mike as you said I think by the sounds of it you want coilovers as a starting base for this mod and preferably the rear arb as well id suggest!

I've found it be a worthwhile mod with all the others I've done chassis wise. Certainly get a significantly more direct front end. It's more pointy straight off into a corner. It can dart around/changing directions sharply at speed.

Let me know how you get on!!

 

[DanT]

Just pulled over the other day and took some shots at a suitable location. All is looking good.

Have been thinking more and more about just sticking with the standard wheels and spacing them 10mm all round. I'm looking for the standard look but with an even better stance with some handling upgrades. I've done a lot for upgrading roll bars and braces etc add the coilovers to the mix and it's not bad at all. But I still find myself looking for better stance!

Anyway........











Looking at getting some carbonne lorraines soon I think. We will see. That's all for now!

 

[sideways danny]

Ralphey didn't u have the rear arb?? Would It be a better option to do this with coilovers as dan said turn in is better? Shane whiteline don't do a rear arb, love it on my 182!!

FYI, we're now looking to stock rear ARB's. Just sorting out the details

 

[m4t7-g]

Another update!

Been looking about for a while now trying to find a cheap one of these:



But after a week of looking and wanting it more and more each day I just admittedly gave in and bought it lol!

This bit of kit plugs into your alpine headunit and then into the wiring harness and whatever steering adaptor you might have will still work etc etc.

The benefit of this bit of kit is that you end up boosting the output of your audio from a standard 18w rms per channel (50 watt max) on an aftermarket head unit to 45w rms per channel (100 watt max). Basically more than doubling your output and at the same time cleaning up your audio signal even further through alpines amplifier unit.

The great thing about this is that it's plug and play and I mean literally. There is nothing to screw into any connections or any faffing about, just need to decide where to mount the unit.

Like here.......



Some retailers will tell you this will go behind the headunit due to the size but trust me it wont in the Clio.

Love having this fitted to my stereo system now it's made everything sound even better than before! I need to uprate the rear speakers in the near future to something that can pack some more punch than the paper cones. I have pioneer Renault components in the front as you all know.

Brilliant really as I find this eliminates the want for a sub (if you have that bug) because the bass response is even tighter now even from 13cm mid woofers! By doing it this way you dont add loads of weight to the car with complicated wiring/bigger amps/woofers and woofer boxes.

Would recommend to anyone with an ear for good sounding audio. 45w rms per speaker is definitely enough for a car like the Clio!

Lemme know what you think!

Cup racer front arb should be fitted tomorrow at 519 automotive which should also be good until then......

where did u get this from dan?
im looking to get an alpine bluetooth headunit, had a quick read this looks the mutts nuts just what i could do with to go with the head unit when i get it.

Il have to do some research

 

[DanT]

FYI, we're now looking to stock rear ARB's. Just sorting out the details

Which ones you getting Danny?

 

[DanT]

where did u get this from dan?
im looking to get an alpine bluetooth headunit, had a quick read this looks the mutts nuts just what i could do with to go with the head unit when i get it.

Il have to do some research

Thanks dude! It does doesn't it sounds properly good too. So so clear.

The unit is from dynamic sounds. Cheapest I could find. Having said that it's great value when you consider what your getting. Such a good sound when putting the two units together.

 

[m4t7-g]

cheers pal,

don't suppose you know the front and rear speaker sizes do you? and have you upgraded your speakers?

mine sadly didnt come with the rear ones fitted so thinking if i fit them i may as well do the front with some 50w rms speakers all round

 

[DanT]

cheers pal,

don't suppose you know the front and rear speaker sizes do you? and have you upgraded your speakers?

mine sadly didnt come with the rear ones fitted so thinking if i fit them i may as well do the front with some 50w rms speakers all round

They are 13cm front and rear mate. And yes I have pioneer Renault fitment components in the front the ts-q131c speakers. They are a very good upgrade over standard. Cost about £80 new. I'm currently looking to upgrade the rear ones too but haven't decided with what yet.

It's definetly worth upgrading the fronts. The standard ones aren't up to the proper job of being amplified. This is why I'm going to do the rears some time soon as well.

 

[sideways danny]

Which ones you getting Danny?

Ultra Racing. So much a better design than the whiteline stuff for the mk2

We'll likely keep their other braces to, but I think rear ARB's will be popular

We're always open to finding/developing good supply lines for products we think are worthwhile, and having seen their stuff on a couple of cars now, I'm very impressed

 

[DanT]

Ultra Racing. So much a better design than the whiteline stuff for the mk2

We'll likely keep their other braces to, but I think rear ARB's will be popular

We're always open to finding/developing good supply lines for products we think are worthwhile, and having seen their stuff on a couple of cars now, I'm very impressed

Yeh it's good stuff. If you need any photos feel free to take them out of my progress thread.

 

[DanT]

Sometimes you just gotta post this stuff......



Want!

 

[DanT]

Got bored today and decided to do some g220ing in the SLK.

Tbh the car has all sorts of surface defects from lack of washing in the past. Various surface corrosion it seemed especially all across the boot lid I guess due to it being a totally flat surface a lot of staining seemed to have happened. The g220 got all that out though!!

Overall came up pretty well:











Not bad for a few hours work I don't think!

 

[DanT]

Been doing some stuff!

Got bored.

As you can see this time of year is not great......





Spent a few hours using some g101







And some bilberry....



And those were the results. Not something I tend to do very often but it kills some time!