Online parts catalogues didn't seem to provide sufficient information. Question is how many different OEM spring types there are/were for the 225? The Cup springs are different, the Trophy ones too IIRC. R26 and R springs yet different, right? The dCi ones don't really concern me as I'm looking at petrol cars only. Did they change springs on the regular 225 when they did the Phase 2 facelift or were the springs still the same? Any other changes to the suspension between Phase 1 and 2? Mainly my interest is in what kind of setup would be best for every day driving (i.e. the most supple setup that was available from the factory when these cars were new).
Apparently a 5-door non-Cup 225 is in Renault's classification system the same base variant B0M0 whether it is a Phase 1 or a Phase 2 car. According to CatCar the front springs have the same part number 8200266355 no matter if it's a Phase 1 or Phase 2. Same goes with the rear springs, number is 8200266250 for both cars. FRONT https://www.catcar.info/renault/?la...8Y3JudE5vcHI9PTEzMzR8fHJlZmFjY2VzPT1OMzEwMjE1 REAR https://www.catcar.info/renault/?la...8aW1nPT18fGdycF9pZD09MzN8fHN1YkdycF9pZD09MzNB I was hoping someone would be able to confirm this is the case? Perhaps someone could look at their own springs and report what the colour codes are on them? Thank you in advance.
I think you should only be looking at the R26 set up. as standard,with the Eibach springs,its pretty much perfect for everyday driving,being on the right side of a firm ride. This is brought into contrast when lowering springs like cooksports are used ,as you realize just how good the OEM set up is. As you say leading meganesport parts suppliers,like RPD only sell the R26 dampers,and springs, stating them as OEM for both 225 and R26 variants. Obviously R26R set up is irreverent,as the car is much lighter.
Thanks again! The only concern I have with that suggestion is that the car would very likely become stiffer than a base model 225. Having now driven about 1000 kilometers with a base 225, I'm pretty sure it's just what the doctor ordered for our use. In terms of ride vs. handling it has way more grip than we'd ever be able to use on the raod and the turn-in is very crisp in my book. The dampers are getting a little tired though. RPD does seem to have 225 dampers available still (at least on the web page they're still showing) and I did manage to source a set of stock 225 springs that have only a few thousand miles on them - just in we need replacement springs. Bottom line I guess I'd like to know what the difference is in terms of ride quality if you compare a regular 225 to an R26. If the 225 is softer than the R26 then I see no reason for the upgrade because we don't want more stiff and we don't need more grip.
its virtually nothing..driven dozens of both variants. These cars were just subtle evolutions from ph1 225,finishing with the R26/R. The suspension revisions were not sweeping changes. The only glaring difference between a 225 and the R26 is the diff. Just makes it much easier to get out of corners. Whatever suspension you chose from the Renault OEM range..you wont feel any real difference. I live in a really rural area,and have always marveled at how the R26 can go down a bumpy road at 70mph,and still feel utterly planted on OEM suspension. My brand new MPV cant do this,even with far softer,higher riding suspension. You are honestly worrying over nothing..
^^ Yeah I guess I might be worrying over nothing, however I would assume there was a reason for Renault to offer so many different suspension setups for the cars when they were new. The goal for us is to get the suspension to 100% condition at some point and it then makes sense to try to figure out if any upgrades are beneficial for the car's intended use or not. It would seem funny if the R26 setup was indeed a complete upgrade without any down sides, as that is typically impossible on street cars. I am sure you are right about the differences being small but that would just emphasize the point that it wouldn't make much sense spending extra to upgrade to the R26 spec when renewing the normal setup would in our case be much cheaper (got the springs for next to nothing and have most of the original suspension intact on the car). The locking diff would be useful in the winter time, but in the summer I doubt we'd be missing it too much because we're not planning to do any track days, and on public roads around here it's not really feasible to go above seven tenths at any time.
The R26 was evolved to go round corners with everything else playing second fiddle. Its dampers are as stiff as they are to achieve this.. But in comparison to japanese Honda type R`s and hot Subarus/Evo`s, you begin to realize just how good the R26 set up is. The R26 soaks up bumps it really has no business in coping with on OEM Eibachs. Renault would have liked to use less stiff dampers,but that was only possible by removing the weight. In doing this they turned a class leader in the R26,to one of the best handling cars of all time in the R26R. And as you say,the diff comes into play when pushing hard,and also in the case of Tuned cars..getting the power down cleanly out of tight corners. So in your scenario..as long as the dampers and springs you have ,are in good condition. You should achieve what you are looking for.
OK guys, time to test your expertise These arrived today. Do they look standard, non-cup 225 springs to you? They're supposed to be off a '05 5-door 225 non-Cup. Again, thanks for your help guys!
well..they are not R26..thats all i can tell you. They have a green tag on them,and are stamped eibach in white. One thing though..they do look like new..no flaking paint..so at least you know they are decent. I doubt if anyone can give you this info,as any spring from a 2005 car will not look like that anymore!..it will be a tatty,rusty coil,with all identifying marks long gone..
Thanks. I guess I was hoping someone would have a low mileage car that has not been modified, or as in the case of these springs would have kept the originals when the car was modified. (These were driven for ~2 years when the car was new and once the owner switched to H&R springs he kept the originals in a warm storage room for all these years). Or maybe someone even has used OEM parts when replacing springs - I know this is a long shot At least the colour stamps are in line with what CatCar says the springs should have for colour coding. I guess I'll have to trust the info I have. I've got a feeling the original springs on wife's car after 100k miles aren't in 100% condition anymore...
BTW, might you know which French forums would be the most active ones? I'm pretty desperate in trying to find a community where there are more than one or two people willing to share information. Not that your help isn't appreciated, Andrew! It most certainly is!
I don't think its anything about sharing information, people will either replace with what Renault say the part should be by reg number or go for uprated springs or go for a completely different setup. I took the standard springs and shocks off and binned them, then fitted BC coilovers, so i didn't do any comparison because there was no point as it's a totally different set up.
its just a change in direction for the way people interact these days. everyone for some reason is on social media....Facebook. I dont like it either,but its the way it is. Years back Meganesport.net was a very popular site..then it slowly died a death,and now RS megane.com has gone the same way. Also,99% of people will have no idea about the technical questions you are asking..especially on older cars. You are obviously a very precise man, with what you wish to achieve with your car. As you say,your circumstances being in Finland are quite rare. I think people just simply dont have the answers. The reason i respond is i am one of the original members of both forums going back 10 years to Meganesport.net. Most people have moved on years ago,so a lot of earlier car info has been lost. I dont think anyone uses the French forums ,that i know off on here.
I get that. I wasn't referring to this particular post but to many I have posted trying to find information that more experienced Megane owners might have. But it seems this forum is quite inactive and maybe that's just how things are nowadays. I guess the VW community I used to be a part of before has also had a kind of a forum death, but since there are so many more people fiddling with VWs than there are on the Renault side of things it makes things difficult. Where I live the enthusiast is also a mechanic, and a self learned one at that. For learning model-specific information web forums used to be the way, but it appears world is changing so that forums are dying... Thanks for replying again, Andrew! My problem seems to be finding the hardcore DIY people who have accumulated specific knowledge about these cars through the years. With Saabs and VWs I used to work on (repair, restore and modify them personally) it was amazing how much information was available online - some enthusiasts knew more about the cars than the very best professional mechanics and engineers working for any main dealer or specialist garage. Now with the Renault I'm finding it very difficult to find the "deeper" knowledge. On this site there is still information available if I browse through the old topics, but specific questions are a tough nut. One thing that comes into play also is money. A lot of people these days seem to just pay for someone else to sort their car for them, and once a car gets older they trade it in for a newer one. I don't work like that and I actually want to do as much as I can myself. Wife also appreciates it if her daily driver doesn't cost a fortune to run. But the DIY info is hard to come by when the culture is such that most enthusiast just take their cars to a shop. Besides, in Finland it's almost impossible to find a garage that actually does their job - you wouldn't believe what the average quality of work is around here! Another thing I notice is that around this forum most people seem to be modifying and tuning their cars (or having such work done by others). Me and my wife prefer originality and my belief is also that despite having quite a bit of experience in modifying cars myself, I find that I trust RenaultSport more than I do myself when it comes to sorting the way a car drives and handles... Anyway, thank you so much for staying in touch - it really is helpful.
That's the problem, anti social media has a lot to answer for. I don't have anything to do with that stuff, whattsapp is about as far as i would go, too old. The other thing is the Renaults are a lot more limited by the numbers, there was something i saw a while ago, Renault sold a 1000 250 rs's and VW sold 65,000 golf r's or something like that, its nice to be exclusive and not run of the mill.
T this is it...people just trade a car in after 3 years these days. A lot of it is,people simply have to hectic a life to worry about a car. I am very much like yourself,and only trust ME to work on my car. Its in bits at the moment,as i am fabricating air cooling for the brakes..no easy task with the way Renault designed the Swivel hubs..very few places to secure the pipework. Your point about Renaultsport knowing suspension is very valid. I wish i has stayed OEM..as lowering the car has messed up its road manners. My mate has just come back from the Ring,and was absolutely shocked how good his standard 265 was on the track. He has came from a highly modified ek9 civic turbo,so to do similar lap times was a real eye opener. Another friends highly modified 182 turbo had a hard time keeping with him as well. Dont worry about asking questions..i enjoy talking to guys like yourself ,who put up intelligent questions,instead of the usual..`whats the loudest exhaust` and `how much BHP can i get out of my 2005 225 without it blowing up!`.
Yeah I guess I'm getting old too. I just don't like the idea of everything being on social media. That's almost like a car club outing that would have people setting their picknick tables on a big city main square at rush hour and being gawked at by gazillion bypassing people while trying to enjoy their baguettes and talking about their favourite hot hatches. The exclusivity of the RS models is one thing that got us interested but it seems that in the last 20 years the DIY side of things has died a death similar to the forums death. I see that happening in Finland too - actually things have gotten so funny that because there are so few DIYers left, people here are now exporting classic sports cars to mainland Europe and even to US because locally nobody wants to pay a reasonable price for an older car for the reason of not being able to service and repair them. Meanwhile people import tens of thousands of "premium" brand daily drivers to Finland from the same countries every year... A Porsche 930 is cheaper in Finland but a BMW 530 is cheaper in Germany (!) The world is indeed getting ever busier and people don't seem to mind enough to do anything about it. Me and my wife, we don't buy into the ever increasing demands of business life, downshifting feels way more natural. Older cars offer reasonable running costs and they offer more "feel" with new cars being ever more antiseptic and cold (even with increased performance that they might have). The thing about modifying a car's suspension is that one has to know and understand a great deal about the geometry and physics regarding car dynamics, and very few people actually have that knowledge. Most people just end up thinking their car has gotten quicker because it feels more hunkered down and stiffer. But when comparing lap times it quickly becomes clear just how good the original setups are on a good hot hatch. Naturally when running way more hp than original that starts to put pressure on upgrading the suspension, but it's very difficult to set it up so that it's actually quicker round corners - nevermind maintaining some level of ride quality. And then there's the question of use. If a car is driven 95% on the road and 5% on the track, what point is there to build the car specifically to trackday spec? A pure track car is a different story altogether obviously, but too many people just buy into the tuning industry's marketing. ....... Nice to hear you guys enjoy a good talk It almost feels like the old days (which is funny to say because I don't even have gray hair yet and I feel like a dinosaur sometimes with all the latest hype young people seem to be so heavily involved in). What are all the places where you guys order RS-specific parts from? I know there is Quippo and Rofag in Poland where you can get stuff and there's RPD and K-Tec in Britain. What else is there? Suspension parts, brakes, engine mounts, sensors, service parts, body parts, interior parts, original exhaust stuff etc. We're looking to return wife's 225 to 100% functionality and getting the correct parts for reasonable money is key. Thanks guys once again - this is all getting a lot better now with at least a couple of active discussions
@TurboJ That's the trouble now most of the younger generation want it all done for them, i used to enjoy getting dirty with my dad and uncle doing car repairs and stuff, i think now its a generation of video and computer games so they spend there time staring at a screen, don't get me wrong i have played games on the computer but the last time was over a year ago now, i much prefer to play in the workshop. I like having the Megane, i think there are 2 other mk3's in Plymouth and i have seen 4 225-r26's, 100's of golfs, fords, honda's etc, its nice being different. I never ever considered a Renault until i went to the Nurburgring, went first time in my SL55 and it cost me a lot in fuel and repairs, i lost all 4 wheel arches and damaged a coolant pipe, 4 weeks later went back but that time i hired a car, was going to get the "New" Scircocco but someone told me to go for the R26r, half a day and i was hooked on the Megane train. I have a very good parts guy local to me, i can give him a part number and then he gives me my options on suppliers of those parts there are certain parts that are Renault only but most stuff is available in the aftermarket now, one thing to remember is Renault don't make the parts, (body panels are about the only thing they make), they buy everything in and repackage. If you are struggling with finding parts just ask and if we can help
Mr Auto,which has a sticky post on here in the suspension section,do a lot of OEM TRW parts for Meganesport ,at sometimes silly low prices. I bought both sets of droplinks from them for a fraction of Renault retail costs. I also have a friend who works for our local Reanult dealer,in the parts dept. He gets me a decent discount,and really knows his stuff. so anything you are struggling with,i am sure he can help with. He has recently just bought for me ,basically a entire new front end of body parts for my R26 after a `handbrake`, incident,shall we say!
I am in North Devon Ian..so not far from you. We have only 1 265 in the area,and 1 R26(mine!!),as well as a few worn out old 225s! As you say hundreds of focus st/golf gti/vauxhall vxr etc,knocking about though..
