My Mate's Clio 172

[Alex_225]

Well after me raving about RenaultSport cars for the last 6 years of knowing my mate Si, he bit the bullet and bought himself a RenaultSport Clio 172!

He asked me a millions questions about what to look out for and what to expect and pick himself up a minter. It's got 54k on the clock but has a full service history including all the belts being changed. It's also had some worthwhile modifications made. The wheels have been recently refurbished in a metallic grey and don't have a mark on them. Also it has an induction kit, Cup splitter and I'm pretty sure it's a stainless exhaust as it makes a great noise, not too loud but definitely louder than the stock item. Anyway, here it is.......

I just can't believe what a bargain these cars are and he let me have a drive and it was just as great as I remember. The last time I drove an RS Clio was about 4 or 5 years ago.

The only flaw on the car that needs attention is that the headlights have weathered a bit. Not seen it before but I reckon with a slightly abrasive polish, even T-Cut you could get them as clear as they should be.

 

[singlespeed]

The only flaw on the car that needs attention is that the headlights have weathered a bit. Not seen it before but I reckon with a slightly abrasive polish, even T-Cut you could get them as clear as they should be.

If the plastic has discoloured, like cheap perspex in the sun, recovering it may not be possible as it will be through the whole thickness.

If it is opaque from tiny gravel rash chips on the surface, wet sanding/DA buffing would help a lot, probably getting back to nearly new condition as you would on a painted plastic panel with medium/soft paint. Keep the speed down to prevent it getting hot and watch out for static build up attracting crap which starts scratching


Looks and sounds like a nice buy

 

[DrDrew]

Looks pretty good

 

[weebob]

Looks like a win.

Always considered just buying something cheaper.

 

[Leanne]

Wow he got himself a good buy there then Mint!

 

[Alex_225]

He's certainly onto a winner with this car. For what it cost and the condition it's in he's found a good example of a great car.

If I was in the market for a cheaper car to buy, I'd certainly consider another one! It just reminded me of how good my one was!

The only flaw on the car that needs attention is that the headlights have weathered a bit. Not seen it before but I reckon with a slightly abrasive polish, even T-Cut you could get them as clear as they should be.

If the plastic has discoloured, like cheap perspex in the sun, recovering it may not be possible as it will be through the whole thickness.

Thanks for the post mate, funnily enough we did try a slightly abrasive polish on it by hand last night and it lightened the effect somewhat.

I was worried it was, as you mentioned, discoloured through the entire plastic lense but you can feel it's not smooth. I'm reckoning with something like Meguiars Scratch-X you could minimise the problem.

Very strange it's happened though as I've not seen it on other cars of this age.

 

[madmatt]

Very strange it's happened though as I've not seen it on other cars of this age.

They've done the same on my Dad's '54 Plate 172 Cup.
Have a funny feeling they're notorious for it :/

Looks pretty good though, I'm a sucker for one in blue

 

[pritchp]

The only flaw on the car that needs attention is that the headlights have weathered a bit. Not seen it before but I reckon with a slightly abrasive polish, even T-Cut you could get them as clear as they should be.

use wet and dry sandpaper, look on cliosport.net loads of threads about this issue and how to restore them back to new

 

[singlespeed]

The only flaw on the car that needs attention is that the headlights have weathered a bit. Not seen it before but I reckon with a slightly abrasive polish, even T-Cut you could get them as clear as they should be.

use wet and dry sandpaper, look on cliosport.net loads of threads about this issue and how to restore them back to new

If you need a sheet of 2000 and 3000 grit, let me know

 

[Alex_225]

Cheers for the info guys, I'll pass the message on.

What is stupid is that the MKI Clio 1.4 next door that used to be mine, has perfectly fine headlights and that's from 1993!! haha

 

[maggi200]

it's a common problem alex. Light sanding and quick polish will sort em out. Every clio i've seen has this :lol:

 

[Gordini_133]

quick question, i had a clio 1.2 extreme, and the alloys on that are the same as the ones in those pictures (but mine were silver), im sure the clio sports werent sold with those alloys, is that an original 172? or has it had an engine conversion on a normal clio? the clio sports wheels are bigger than a normal clio, because i tried to get the sports alloys put on my clio, and i couldnt because of the size differences

 

[maggi200]

No they are 172 wheels. Perhaps a very similar design? I'm not familiar with the extreme

 

[Alex_225]

They are original Clio 172 wheels mate.

When the Clio 182 was released it came with a different design wheels to the 172. They then put 15" versions of the 172 rims on normal Clios. The 172 had 16" rims with 195/45/16 tyres.

You may be thinking of the 172 Cup rims which were the Turini multispoke design in silver, the same as the 182 Trophy. Also the phase 1 Clio 172 had 15" OZ rims.

Either way these are the OEM wheels for this model just finished in anthracite.