Wider wheels for clio??

atrixblue.-MFR-.

how much do you want to spend.

wider aftermarket alloy wheels with a decent set of rubber will have have to have spacers and bore reducers. you could fit upto 16 alloys on without modding the inner arches. hit 17 the rear arches will have to be rolled.

clio's are hideous for roll, tightening the anti roll bars with some poly bushes and rear bushes with poly will give you more stability, powerflex do the kits for these and are not so expensive as youd think.

if you have the standard suspension shox set up on your car they will be mostly hydrolic fluid filled, GAS ones are better and have a better ride and handlng will improve slightly.

if you go down the suspension rout of lowering and toughening with aftermarket spax or something youll compremise ride quality being low and hard with bigger wider wheels be prepared for bad backs and aching butts.

here if you have some cash spare, i would get on fleabay find some deals for alloys with good rubber fitted and the spacers and bore reducers. then get the poly bushes, and head to a local motor factor for the gas shock absorbers like KYB excel G all round. take to your good indipendant to have fitted then have the cambers adjusted and tracking done at same time, have the alloys balance checked, then fit them.

oh and poly bushes naturally squeek a little bit this is common nothing to worry about.

silkyuk9

Trebor16 wrote: »

Why would you want to be "throwing" the car into corners anyway? The comment suggests that you are driving without much of a safety margin should things go a bit Pete Tong.

have you driven a car?

well Ive driven quite a few but non so small as a clio. Take my megane, i could sensibly go into one of the corners im talking about without any issues, nice and sticky on the floor, no screeching or sliding. Now take the clio, going in the same corner it feels kind of different. maybe its me and not really comfortable with a small 3 door at present.

Im not talking about driving carelessly its just a completely different drive.

silkyuk9

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

how much do you want to spend.

wider aftermarket alloy wheels with a decent set of rubber will have have to have spacers and bore reducers. you could fit upto 16 alloys on without modding the inner arches. hit 17 the rear arches will have to be rolled.

clio's are hideous for roll, tightening the anti roll bars with some poly bushes and rear bushes with poly will give you more stability, powerflex do the kits for these and are not so expensive as youd think.

if you have the standard suspension shox set up on your car they will be mostly hydrolic fluid filled, GAS ones are better and have a better ride and handlng will improve slightly.

if you go down the suspension rout of lowering and toughening with aftermarket spax or something youll compremise ride quality being low and hard with bigger wider wheels be prepared for bad backs and aching butts.

here if you have some cash spare, i would get on fleabay find some deals for alloys with good rubber fitted and the spacers and bore reducers. then get the poly bushes, and head to a local motor factor for the gas shock absorbers like KYB excel G all round. take to your good indipendant to have fitted then have the cambers adjusted and tracking done at same time, have the alloys balance checked, then fit them.

oh and poly bushes naturally squeek a little bit this is common nothing to worry about.

This is the kind of reply I like, some who talks sence!!

Trebor16

silkyuk9 wrote: »

have you driven a car?

well Ive driven quite a few but non so small as a clio. Take my megane, i could sensibly go into one of the corners im talking about without any issues, nice and sticky on the floor, no screeching or sliding. Now take the clio, going in the same corner it feels kind of different. maybe its me and not really comfortable with a small 3 door at present.

Im not talking about driving carelessly its just a completely different drive.

The expression you used was "throwing this car around corners" which suggests that you are not driving the car normally.

And yes, I have plenty of car driving experience.

cardinalbiggles

Trebor16 wrote: »

The expression you used was "throwing this car around corners" which suggests that you are not driving the car normally.

And yes, I have plenty of car driving experience.

I am with you on this one, and indeed will go further by stating the OP sounds like an idiot. If your going fast enough that a Clio on normal tyres cant handle a corner then you're going far too fast.

Throwing cars into corners is not what you do on roads when you don't know what may be round the bend. Keep this type of nonsense to the racetrack!

Jakg

What tyres / pressures / tread do you have?

If you have LingLongLoveYouLongTime tyres that might explain your issues.

forgotmyname

Wider tyres on a lightweight car maybe better in the dry but much worse in the wet. It could reduce the
speed where it aquaplanes.

Are the tyres cheapo ones?

Decent set of shocks and springs, Maybe a touch lower but not too low.

Weird_Nev

175/65 is ample for a 1.2 clio.
I'd suggest making your next set of tyres a more sport oriented purchase -perhaps michelin Primacys (only because I thrash them at work and they're great tyres)

The other option is to pick up a set of "standard" but bigger alloys for the car off of ebay or an owners club, might take your tyre width up to 185 and the setion down to 55. Idon't know what the original "upgraded" wheel sizes were for clios, but if yours is on the bog standard wheels, moving to the upgraded optional alloys might be the simplest way of increasing the tyre footprint a bit. BEware of changing the rolling radius too much.

It sounds to me like what you are feeling is the more playful grip envelope of thinner higher profile tyres - they do "squirm" a bit as you load them up in bends. It's actually very useful in informing you how much grip you have. Some of the best fun cars have smaller high profile tyres, they tend to have playful handling, exploitable limits and better ride quality as a result. I'm thinking here of the MX-5, The Peugeot 205's, and Toyota MR2's (mk1 and Mk3).

I wouldn't spend more than £500 - either on slightly bigger low profile wheels or on a good set of tyres (Perhaps no more than £400 for new tyres)> the car simply isn't worth it.

By the time you've bought polybushes, decent lowering springs/sports shocks and sorted out other issues associated with lowring a car, and paid the insurance on the modifications, you may as well have bought a Clio 172/182 which has a heap more power and handle properly in the first place.

Weird_Nev

TiTheRev wrote: »

I think the problem is, that you have a French car obsession! None of them drive well.

Try a:
Citroen AX
Peugeot 205GTI
Clio 172
Clio Williams
Clio 182 Cup
Clio V6 if you're a bit nutty.
Megane 225

The Frnech pretty much defined the hot hatch era, and continue to produce some of the most capable hot hatches around. A clio 182 is a fantastic car to drive. and I do mean Drive!

TiTheRev

Weird_Nev wrote: »

Try a:
Citroen AX
Peugeot 205GTI
Clio 172
Clio Williams
Clio 182 Cup
Clio V6 if you're a bit nutty.
Megane 225

The Frnech pretty much defined the hot hatch era, and continue to produce some of the most capable hot hatches around. A clio 182 is a fantastic car to drive. and I do mean Drive!

:rotfl:the French defined the hot hatch era???

I used to work for Peugeot & Renault and have driven most of the above (although only the 1.6 205GTi), and was far from impressed with the Clio's, although had the Megane for a few months and that was OK until it broke down (not even 3months old!).

I 'experienced' brand new French cars for 3 years, and will never own one I've bought with my own money...