It purely down to the track work, the discs are very good but the constant heat cycles and not the best cooling will result in this. I will be adding some cooling ducts at some point which will help the discs. Its strange how all that heat and not once have I had brake fade. The fluid, pads and discs do great without the cooling but the cooling will help.
Hi All, back for a small update. Not much happening really just trying hard to get some track time and enjoy what I've created. As summer began i fancied a changed, so swapped over my 19" Steevs for my red track wheels. While doing this I noticed that the passenger front tyre on my 19" had a section down to the cords . I couldn't believe it, the tyres are almost brand new. I expect a bit of wear on the inside due to the camber but this was odd. I did have some issues with my ball joints which could have caused this additional wear but also im wondering if i locked the wheels up while bedding in my new pads. So 2 almost new tyres, 1 with 60% and the other thats going in the bin..... grrrr. Anyway im fed up of spending so much on road tyres ive decided to keep the red 18's on and sell the Steevs. So if anyone is interested send me a message. This means I need some new track wheels . After some hard consideration and not wanting to spend a fortune on new wheels and new AR'1s i opted for a second had set that came with some Goodyear slicks on some cup wheels. the tyres are a 265/660 which i believe is a tad bigger than a 265/40/18...eeek. It seems to be a controversial subject used slicks, however if these work then the cost of some 75% life slicks is amazing compared to £1200 for AR1's. To test the new suspension setup, new calipers, pads and the new wheels and tyres I booked an evening session at Donnington. The look of these wheels on the car was insane, these tyres are big and Im very low it seems. Sighting laps were done and they felt great and very weighty. Went out on the first session, first corner, a tad hot for cold tyres and I educated everyone on how to do a beautiful spin .... idiot and lesson learned. these things are like driving on ice untill they are warm. About a lap and half later and they felt incredible so i started to push. Compared to my other wheels which have the budget Acelleras on it was night and day, the grip is insane. However im too low and the tyres are too wide and were scrubbing quite badly on the front. 5 laps in total and I was back in the pits swapping the wheels over to my Acellera's. Carried on with the day and even on these budget tyres the car performed fantastic and the suspension felt great. Really pushed the car but the tyres just couldn't keep up. Managed a 1:25.4 on the short circuit which I believe isnt bad, i reckon the slicks (if fitted) would have got me an easy 3-4 seconds quicker. All in all a great evening session. Ive defo got the slicks bug so ordered a smaller Michelin 25/64/18 which is bang on a 245/35/18 and ill raise the front about 10-15mm. perfect Remember great condition Steevs are for sale
Great looking car you have there! I'd love to try some slicks on a Meg! Have you done anything to the oil system, or are the Meg engines fine with the additional load?
So with my google searches and most posts are on here suggest that those who have been using slicks have never experienced any issues. Ive done nothing with mine but its something to potentially look at. I think its more suspension components that take a beating. ive upgraded most of these so hoping they will be ok. Oil cooler however is on the list to do, oil hasnt got too hot but its normally the a common cause for engines to go bang.
Yes, suspension and wheel bearings take a lot of stress with the slicks too. On other cars wheels I run on slicks, wheel bearings are a proper consumable. Oil cooler is already in, so that's fine on mine, but I'd have thought that slick running would be quite an issue on a transvers engine car. Glad to hear that people have good experience with slicks on the Meg! Might eventually give it a try when my car runs! edit: Thanks for the info, appreciate it!
Car looks lovely. One question, with that half cage in the back, can you still fit your 4 track wheels in the back? I'm wanting to put the same cage in mine, i also have a set of slicks so would need wheels to fit in the back.
Yes, just. So I put one wheel in the wheel well and then I put one wheel facing up towards the roof and then slide it under the middle of the cage where the rear bench would be. And then the other two wheels in the boot section. I then put a tool kit behind one seat and then a few other bits behind the other. Helmet on my passenger seat and my back pack with general bits in the passenger footwell
So traxk day did some damage, apart from the arch liner I'm afraid the passenger cv joint and lower ball joints both sides had perished... badly. Annoyingly if you look back at my posts you will see I've replaced the lower ball joints multiple times. This last set was maybe 2000 miles and the even session at donnington.... not impressed grrr. So this time opted for some rally/track ones which are renualt approved. These beauties come with metal dust caps aswell which stop the heat from eating them up. Also the grease from the drive shafts went everywhere grrr. Took ages to clean that up. Anyway back to BIB performance to fit all the new parts and then finally raise the suspension and re corner weight it. Hoping that will be the last of the ball joint replacements for a while. Car is back to feeling good. Now I need to book some more track days to try put this car properly on slicks.
Not great, the rear sections were ok but the fronts were too short and must be for a normal megane. Luckily the main damage was to the rears so ive used the old fronts.
Ah! The lower ball joints, the big fault of these cars. I replaced one side with an OCAP one, and the other side with another from @Raptor6767 , this last looks better than the OCAP, but the time will say!! From where do you get yours?? Anyway, glad to see your machine ready for action again. Simply love the pics on track!!
The ball joints im trying this time are from AP Motorsports, apparently they are Renault approved for their race/rally cars. time will tell. https://www.apmotorsport.co.uk/product-page/megane-3-lower-ball-joint
Ive only changed my lower ball joints less that 300 miles ago, thing they are knocking again.... i hate this design.
Big and last update. So after only doing a half day track day this year, plowing lots of money into the car and unfortunately my 3 year old spending some time in hospital I decided to sell the megane. 24 hours later and it was gone to a good home who will be threshing her around the nurburg. So I decided to go back to my old life and buy a mk1 golf clipper. Its immaculate, recently restored and its like a brand new car. And then a solid and reliable 320d estate for the everyday. Anyway thanks to all that have commented and helped over the years, I'm sure ill be back into a track car at some point but good luck to all. Dan
Sorry to read this! But life is full of choices and everybody have to chose the best one to every moment. So, I wish you luck and fun for your new step. Thanks to you too for your advices and shared experiences. I say you again, you are a good man Dan!
if you don't mind me asking, where did you get that CV joint? I believe I've knackered mine and don't want to spend on a whole shaft
Hi Dan. Thanks for this awesome thread on your car's journey. Brilliant detail and an awesome read for a fellow car enthusiast! I've got a Q regarding the rear camber shims. How much of a pain was that to get set-up? My car will primarily be fast road with the odd track day. I think your set-up was -2 camber at the rear. I don't think I'll need that much, but wondering what the process of dialing in rear camber is like, as I'm under the impression it's not that straight forward and car dependent. Cheers again mate.
