PH1 Clio 172 - Advice for track

[michaelw3628]

I have just bought a PH2 172 with the intention of using it a couple of times a year for trackday whilst the wife uses daily for a 8 mile commute in traffic to work.
As it is a cheap car and I do not have a large budget I am looking for advice on what exact products you guys have used to great effect in the followin areas.

: Tyres (Also suitable for everyday including wet.)
: Brakes (Front and rear) Redstuff pads?????
: Suspension/ Coilovers (Remember I'm on a budget so no £1K jobbies! What about K-Tec/ Raceland Coilover kits?

Any other advice is hugely appreciated.

Edited by michaelw3628 on Monday 13th September 21:32

[John D.]

If you're only tracking it a couple of times a year, and your wife needs to be able to drive it rain or shine to work, you don't want to go too extreme on rubber surely. A decent brand of normal road tyres rather than cut-slick style track orientated rubber is the way to go. I used to have Michelin PE2 on my Clio and they stood up to track abuse reasonably well - think the quickest I went through a set of fronts was 6k and that included two trackdays (dry) and plenty of hooning around on road. The Clio is relatively light on tyres and brakes.

For the brakes I'd just upgrade the front personally with decent pads, braided lines and perhaps fluid. Rears barely do anything on the Clio. I had Ferodo DS2500 pads which were great on track but worked from cold too. Think this is an important point considering the car will be a day to day runabout too. One thing to be aware of with them is if they get very wet and cold (say cruising on the motorway without being applied) then they can become a tad ineffective when you first apply them. This caught me out once!

No idea on suspension. I left mine alone.

[andye30m3]

I did SPA and the nurburgring in my clio 172 as well as a number of sprints and Lydden, Goodwood and Brands Hatch.

Tyres - I always used Yokohama Paradas which were very cheap on ebay at around £140 for 4 and seamed to last reasonably well whilst giving good dry grip and reasonable wet weather performance.

Brakes - I use Brembo High carbon discs (not drilled or grooved) with DS2500 pads, I think they came in at under £200 for disc and pads through a guy on cliosport.net and I never had any issues with them. A friend also highly recommended the Pagid but they were a fair bit more expensive.

Suspension I just left as standard and still had fun although it did used to lean a lot.

[nobodyknows]

I have a 172 Cup and after a fair bit of asking I ended up fitting Toyo T1-Rs on the front (couldn't get Yoko Paradas in the right size), the rears still have the original Contis - this set up has taken me hillclimbing a few times. Mine had upgraded brakes when I bought it but K-Tec recommended Brembo HC discs & Carbon Loraine pads, have heard a few people say the Ferodo DS2500 are great too. Haven't touched my suspension but again K-Tec suggested Eibach Sportline springs & a camber set. I am thinking about Powerflex bushing the front end of mine at some stage & apparently replacing the strut tops can make a big difference, don't think I can do this on mine within hillclimb regs though.

[996GT2]

I just did my first track day in my 172 on Monday. Mine's on a standard suspension setup, standard brakes and tyres I've never heard of before that the dealer put on (Marangoni Zeta).

Me and my brother both pushed the car pretty hard around the track for quite a few laps and the only thing that I'll be doing to it is upgrading the front pads and fluid to give some more confidence under heavy braking. The tyres were very noisy but when they warmed up the grip was impressive, I'd like to try Toyos on the car but perfectly happy with the current tyres. The car is ridiculous fun on track, we were all over Caterhams and other quick stuff through the bends.

There was a Clio cup with coilovers, big brakes, strut braces etc going round as well and he wasn't any quicker than us.

[Denno B]

996GT2 said:

I just did my first track day in my 172 on Monday. Mine's on a standard suspension setup, standard brakes and tyres I've never heard of before that the dealer put on (Marangoni Zeta).

Me and my brother both pushed the car pretty hard around the track for quite a few laps and the only thing that I'll be doing to it is upgrading the front pads and fluid to give some more confidence under heavy braking. The tyres were very noisy but when they warmed up the grip was impressive, I'd like to try Toyos on the car but perfectly happy with the current tyres. The car is ridiculous fun on track, we were all over Caterhams and other quick stuff through the bends.

There was a Clio cup with coilovers, big brakes, strut braces etc going round as well and he wasn't any quicker than us.

I'm not suprised you were sticking with much more expensive machinary round the bends, mines toatally standard and although it hasn't seen a track the standard suspension is very impressive straight out of the box in my opinion. Decent tyres and pads and jobs a good un.

[michaelw3628]

I've had some advice regarding the brakes but can anyone give me an idea if the Brembo high carbon brake kits supplied by KTR squeak either at slow or high speed with either the Carbon Lorraine or Ferrodo DS2500 pads? What about effectiveness in all weathers.

Thanks to those who have already answered....Your comments are much appreciated but I am looking for a few more people's opinions.

[Sir_Dave]

DS2500's will be fine with Brembo HC's.
Carbon Lorraines will squeak like a b4stard. Good only knows why ktec recommend them as daily pads lol.

[michaelw3628]

What about brake fluid? Carbon Lorraine appears to be just Motorsport and not neccesarily normal road use? Any ideas?

Like the comment re squeaking. Anyone else with more experience to guide me?

Thanks

[Ian_sUK]

2500's will be fine, its mostly down to how there fitted, making sure theres enough room for the pad to expand when hot without binding. The carbon lorraine brake dust is horrible - get the 2500's.

Brake fluid wise the more expensive fluids will have a higher boiling point, something like Castol super response (super dot 4) is a good comprimise.

Edited by Ian_sUK on Tuesday 14th September 17:04

[GarryA]

Braided lines on the brakes and top quality fluid.

[Sir_Dave]

michaelw3628 said:

What about brake fluid? Carbon Lorraine appears to be just Motorsport and not neccesarily normal road use? Any ideas?

Like the comment re squeaking. Anyone else with more experience to guide me?

Thanks

I'm on my 4th Clio 1*2, so ask away

As above, i use Castrol Response Super Dot 4, fine for road use & i've never boiled it on track/ring either. Combined with some braided lines & you'll have a nice, firm, progressive pedal. Always use DS2500 pads as a good compromise, but when on trackj, i tend to remove the front fog lights/arche liners to aid cooling - takes about 5 minutes to do both sides with he wheels off.

[eljeffo64]

Sir_Dave said:

DS2500's will be fine with Brembo HC's.
Carbon Lorraines will squeak like a b4stard. Good only knows why ktec recommend them as daily pads lol.

Have you tried them? My CL's don't squeak like a b4stard - when cold they squeak a little - work great as daily pads imo and awesome on track. I also tried DS2500's and hated the lack of bite; ..... this debate will never end will it ;-)

[Ian_sUK]

You can't deny that the CL dust is horrible though. I bought some wheels from a mate who had been using CLs, even wonder wheels couldn't shift it.

[michaelw3628]

To go by the vast majority it looks like people believe the DS2500s are the better option. Braided hoses, Dot 4 fluid and High Carbon discs and DS2500s. Job done.

Thanks for all your asistance. I'll let you know my results once everything's been done.