Clio 172 Project

Picked this up today ready for the track time at ISTS and hopefully more in the coming months, waiting to decide on FCS until after ISTS…see if I’m shit or not lol, bargain at £39.99 from J&S Accessories.  Gold A.C.U. approved and it even matches the colour of my car PMSL.

Also ordered two new Toyo Proxie T1-R tyres to replace the worn ones currently on the back, but I’m considering swapping the fronts around so I have more grip where I really need it.  Black Circles came to the rescue at just £95 fully fitted local to me, including balancing, valves and disposal.  So I’m off down there on Saturday to get them thrown on. 

I’M.
FUCKING.
KNACKERED.

I’ve just spent seven and a half hours detailing my car.

As I’m nearly falling asleep typing this I’ll keep it brief.  The process was this:

• Rinse
• Wash wheels with AutoGlym Clean Wheels
• Rinse
• Wash
• Dry
• Clay with Meguiar’s Smooth Surface Clay Kit
• Rinse
• Wash
• Dry
• Polish with Clearkote’s Vanilla Moose Wax Hand Glaze
• Buff
• Glaze with Poorboy’s White Diamond Show Glaze
• Buff
• Seal with Poorboy’s EX-P Sealant
• Buff
• Wax with Victoria Collector’s Wax
• Buff
• Dress tyres with AutoGlym Instant Tyre Dressing
• Clean windows with AutoGlym Fast Glass
• Death

In the pictures you can see the before, including the bird shit on the boot from a Terradactyl, and after.  All in all a good result, but the sun meant that I couldn’t let the products linger for a more “wet gloss look”, which is really what I was after, and made it a fucking pain in the arse to buff the wax off.  But it needed doing to save me a job come ISTS and fuck knows when we will next get any decent weather.  If we do then I’ll get another layer of wax on, hopefully in the shade this time.

Ran the car into Renault yesterday, not in a ram raiding way, for them to check over the bonnet catch as they couldn’t find out if any of the previous owners had bothered to get the work done following the recall…and it looks like they didn’t.  After an hour I drove away with a lovely shiny new bonnet catch and hopefully now I won’t die when driving at speed, at least not from a bonnet in the face.  Win!

Also picked up the parts I needed to fit my boot net correctly and fitted them along with the clear Ph2 side repeaters, which I’m still not sure on tbh.

No not that Season Affective Disorder thing, just sad.

I got home to find that the postie had brought me lots and lots of wonderful parcels, well ok three.  One isn’t important as it’s just something to let me try out a camera mount…but the other two.  WOW!

Ok I’m concerned, I’m actually excited about this shit and can’t wait to try it out lol.

Yup more cleaning products!  PMSL

What you see is a Meguiars Smooth Surface Clay Kit, from eBay £20 delivered which is the cheapest I could find it anywhere for brand new.  Clearkote Vanilla Moose Wax Hand Glaze, oddly it’s actually polish.  Poorboy’s White Diamond Glaze.  Poorboy’s EX-P Sealant.  Annnnnnnnnnnnnd the thing I can’t wait to try out as I’ve never used the real stuff before, Victoria Collectors Wax.  Oh and for the eagle eyed I’ve got some OEM side repeaters from a Ph2, not all that sure on them tbh but figured for the price and as I’ve already got some silver bulbs for them I’ll give them a whirl.

All of the detailing stuff was from DetailedObsession.co.uk and I can’t recommend Gareth’s services enough.  He spent a long, LONG, time going through the options for my paint with me and explained what each thing would do and which would work the best, not which was the most expensive/fashionable.  Really friendly guy, a good price and really fast delivery.   Oooh and he included full instructions on how to use each individual product and in what order.  I don’t know many other companies out there that offer such a personal service, not for a reasonable price.

So now all I need is some spare time and some half decent weather.  Ideally I’d prefer to of been able to machine polish the car, but as I don’t have a DA that’s impossible lol so it will have to wait till later in the year for that but hopefully it will correct the scratch I found on the rear n/s quarter when I do.  Saturday is out of the question for this big detail as the cars in at Renault to have the bonnet catch recall work carried out and then I’m off, unless it get cancelled due to lack of interest, to meet some of the ClioSport lot from my area. So Sunday, weather permitting will be the big day!

In other Clio news there has been a creaking noise coming from the front suspension which I put down to the common turret nut problem, which I ordered some washers from a “company” (which will for now remain nameless) to fix it with nearly a month ago and they still haven’t arrived…worst service EVER, but I noticed some play in the steering, a wobble at errm “speed” and the odd knock.  Guessed it would be a balljoint gone so I ran it into the garage again, I swear to god they sees more of my car than I do atm lol, and confirmed that “both the balljoints are fucked” which is the technical term IIRC.  So it’s booked in there for the 3rd April to have them replaced ahead of ISTS/MOT.

Speaking of MOT it’s booked in on 17th April.

With ISTS only three weeks away and the car finally being back and not, touch wood, having to spend it’s days in the garage I decided to lay down a good layer of cleanliness to save me effort closer to the time.  I’ll build up the layers over the next few weeks.

Used all of the AutoGlym products you see in the picture and yes I know that AG stuff isn’t the bestest super dooper shizzle on the market, but I’ve got a load of it and until I have used it up/bought something else better I’ll keep using it.  Although I am already looking at waxes and sealants and fucking confusing stuff.

Anyway pictures:

Took five solid hours but I think it was worth it.  Discovered a scratch on the n/s/r quarter panel, which I’ve tried to photograph but it’s not showing.  I’m hoping that with an oribital polishing machine and the right products I’ll be able to correct it, but that will have to wait.  Also need to get the parking dints pulled out at some point too.

One thing I realised though is that the car NEEDS claying.  So once ISTS is out the way and my MOT I’ll get on with that and then start building the layers back up in preperation of the next show/blizzard/raining frogs etc.