Body side protectors

[continentalgt]

Hi there first post having just bought a red 2 litre 2004 cc, should be picking it up next Thursday.
Had a look at several recently and found they all tended to have quite a few dings, dents and paint chips on the doors and rear wings, fortunately I found one with only minor problems.
I guess the problem is down to the fairly vertical lines of the car side panels and also the absence of bump strips.
Now I'm the sort of saddo that always selects parking spaces at the far end of car parks and always avoid spaces next to cars with child seats, 4 wheel drives yada, yada, yada and so far it's seemed to work pretty well for me.
What I really want to do though is fit some sort of side protection, I can get black plastic bump strip on a roll from fleabay but that doesn't match my grey bumpers, anyone got any ideas ?

[ChrisM]

Its not sad to park away from morons, I do it as well.
Problem you will find with the doors and end chips is they are large and rather heafty with not a lot ot get hold of inside, the handle to hold the door should have been further back towards the rear of the car, where it is now gives you vertually no leverage on the door and when a gust hits it, well it almost pulls my wife out with it as if flies open, also the (not sure what you call them) but the groves most doors have which enables them to open is stages don't seem to be strong enough for these doors mine you can hardly feel them and door opens to full extent with ease.
As for bump strips sorry but Ewwww never been a real fan, especially the stick on type, you could always paint the bumper stips black I supose to match the side bump strip, but me well would not bother and would paint bumper caps red as well.
Best investment I made for my car was a set of rear parking sensors (just 2 Sensors) from
https://parking-sensor.co.uk/gallery/ren ... ane-cc.asp
I find it quite difficult to reverse this car as low objects disapeare under the boot lid quite far away so you never know how close you are and the sensors have helped wonderfully, colour matched of course. nothing worse than a bumper with black spot! bad enough on my roses!
What colour red have you got
Metallic red or the capsicum pepper solid red! if it is the solid red I have gone off you already! I wanted a solid red one and could not for the life of me get hold of one which was a reasonable price ended up with the silver blue pearl one, still I belive dulux do a nice post office red in a gloss paint perhaps I should give it a go, then you wont be able to miss me, mine is the red kippy one with the brush marks and bits of fluff stuck to it!
I think you spot the dinks more as most of the panels are quite large flat areas. and as said it is a difficult car to go backwards in, this is the only car/van I have ever driven/owned that gives me a feeling of uncertanty in reverse, never the less enjoy the sun is coming out and the roof WILL be off!

[willholdsworth]

are you talking about vinyl wrapping your doors ?

[synchro]

paint the bumpers black, they look much better that way anyway.
I've not tried side bumper strips, but I do have long vertical bumpers on
the opening edge of my doors.

enjoy the car. the weather is great at the moment!

[continentalgt]

Thanks for the reply guys, really nice people here by the sound of it.
I also run a Peugeot 206 diesel as a hack for the 50mpg average and £30 a year road tax, their forum seems to have more than their fair share of members with only sarcasm to offer and others that obviously know nothing about cars ( I should know I'm an engineer) although it has to be said there are also many knowledgeable people there, guess it's to be expected.

Anyhoo ChrisM not sure of the color it's a sort of brownish red in overcast conditions that looks more red in sunlight, its got factory fit reversing sensors, red leather comfort pack, hands free card and CD auto changer.
It's not really door end chips I'm referring to but dings and chips on the panels themselves.

willholdsworth No I'm talking about the plastic mouldings that most other cars have along the side of the doors and wings for protection.

synchro Quite like the sound of black bumpers what did you use?

[synchro]

I did a how to on bumper painting..

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=14699&p=89117#p89117

I think it looks much better than the standard grey.

I know you meant the horizontal bumper strips. I think they'd need to be quite wide in order
to stop likely damage from other doors, making them pretty ugly too!

I just park away from other cars if I can.

[ChrisM]

Quite like the sound of black bumpers what did you use?

Paint! See we can be sarcastic as well !!

Ho ho ho I am so funny!!! well I think so, even if the wife doesn't

I didn't like the grey either on the bumper caps, I painted mine same as the car, looks much better just have to watch the front bumper as it takes quite a pounding (stone chips and air! worse place for mine was the towing eye cover, the colour was taken off around the edges of it), there was someone on here bought some bumper black in a spray tin off ebay I think may have been syncro not sure now but it looked good. I find the grey a bit wishy washy really.
Still not a fan of horitzontal bump strips, I have not seen a car yet that I thought "thats looks good" they where quite a thing a few years ago the body on these cars is quite deep you know from cill to window ledge and flat so not sure what it will look like it will either split it and make it look narrower which could be a good thing or it will just be plain hidious, perhaps before you buy give the side a good polish and stick some black electric tape along it, the thickness of the strip, it will give you an idea of how it will look, your main problem will be keeping it straight as there is no lip to follow .....
I know what you mean about dinks my driver door is full of them, don't you hate it when you find the furthest space in a car park that is nearly empty, park, go back to it find the car park still empty but some idiot usually in a 4x4 has parked so close to your car you have to revesre it out to let the passenger in, yet there are loads of free spaces around you or is that just me that happens to, or the person with one child and a people carrier (mini bus) that parks across the back of you and just sits there, so you have to get out and ASK them to move up a bit, at which point they snort at you and inform you they are waiting for someone! then roll forward just enough so you can SQUEEZE past the back of it, even though there are about 30 odd free parking spaces next to you, they park across the back of you and then of course as you drive off the obligatory V sign is given to you, as you can tell this happened to me on Sunday, AGAIN!!!
Anyway just going off on one, back to bump strips it may look good it may not I would try the tape 1st before you buy just in case, at least it would give you an idea of what it will look like, it may not stop all the dinks though as there is no lip on our doors and the bump stips are quite flat, my dinks are quite high up above the line of the bumper at a guess I would say it is vans, 4x4s and people carriers that hit it, so your bump strip might not catch them, I supose it depends on where your dents are.
Sounds like your is the metallic red one.
You should buy a wind break as well, totally differant to drive with it in, I had my car almost 3 years, I have just bought one, not a genuine one far to expensive, as er in doors moans about sunburn, well wind burn really on her shoulder fitted it on Thursday night drove home lid off on Friday WOW, I never realised how much differance it would make, no more cold shoulder or hand, brilliant bit of kit!
Hope you had a great weekend in it, its now raining here, typical!

[JasonS]

Looks like Skoda Fabia ones just stick on..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/120694478608

I suppose the trick will be getting a set that blend in and are long enough for the doors..

[continentalgt]

Synchro those painted bumpers look the dogs, gonna have to think seriously about doing that. Seriously though grey, what were Renault thinking of.

ChrisM I take your point and think you got it spot on with the tape, at least it will give a good idea of how it's gonna look.

JasonS thanks for the input will keep it in mind.

Not picking the car up until Thursday, I gave the dealer a fairly long list of the things that needed doing so I'm hoping most of it will be done, well you always ask for a bit more than you think your gonna get don't you.
I gotta admit I'm still pretty apprehensive about buying a Megane CC, their reliability record doesn't look that great but I researched the most common faults and figure I could deal with most of them cheaper and easier than a 307CC and of course the Megane looks better than the pug with the lid on.
Frankly if I couldn't do most of the repair work myself I probably wouldn't get one but there are no realistic alternatives for me unless you go rag top and I don't want to, too many seagulls around here.
Have to admit I'm a staunch Vauxhall man and cant afford a twin top so what the hell, my little 1.4 206 diesel has been superb after 6 months of ownership and I was concerned about that at the time I bought it.
Already planning a few things on the Megane after I tire a little of driving the new toy, gonna see about sealing the window motors from moisture and lubricate the mechanisms, locate as many of the earthing points as possible and clean them, already got some halfruds silicon door seal spray for the roof and door seals and it looks like it's wise to investigate the door and under bonnet drains to make sure they are all free from crud.
I would also appreciate any comments on any other areas that you owners feel would be good to check.
As I said once I get over the initial wanting to take the Megane to bed with me I'm sure I will have lots and lots of questions for you all, you have been warned

[ChrisM]

The Twin top out handles the Meg CC with ease, I have driven a few now and thier road holding is in my opion excellent, however the roof lets them down, all those fancy little plastic bits that flick around, hire cars I feel are a good point of sale, every Meg CC I have hired has worked fine, and are always there, yet when you end up with a Twin top or similar you kind of know you are in for a battle as they never seem to be availible when you get there, they seem to spend a lot of time in the workshop with "roof problems" lets face it hire cars are kind of abused so if they can take it they can't be that bad!
The twin top does do a neat littl etrick mind you when the roof is in the boot, you can open the boot lid and press a button inside and the roof lifts out of the boot it s a bit strange but it does which enables you to get stuff out that is under the roof, neat trick but ours threw a wobbly on the keyside in Croatia and would not shut, I think we must have pressed the button to many times in panic, after around 5 mins it went down, Phew!!! but we missed the ferry.
I find the meg way to soft, mine just wallows everywhere as if you have around about 2/4 inches of play in the suspension, there isn't but that is how it feels, any rapid direction change or uneven surface and you feel it, maybe it needs new shocks don't know, but with the roof in the boot it handles 10 times better, gusty side winds are a pain as I feel my car does not have time to settle so it rocks all the time in this type of wind again giving the sensation of this 2/4 inch play really quite strange.
The problem with internet searches as well, is you will find all the problems this car has, I have winged on here a few times about mine, but I have never winged about it working fine, if you know what I mean, you only winge when it is not right, same as asking a franchise mechanic about it he will say "crap car" as all he sees are the broken ones, otherwise why take it to a garage apart from service and MOT, no they are not he best but neither are VW or Audi these days, I find the CC worse build quailty than the Meg 1, my wife has a Meg 1 and it never goes wrong hardly and is quite solid inside yet mine squeeks and rattles, you will find most trims on the CC held in place by plastic clips, so they rub on each other as they are not 100% secure, most anoying noise is the sun blind rattling behind your head, you will hear it when you go over those ridges most councils now put on corners now just to anoy CC drivers I think!
My opion, it a nice comfy car, afforadble hard top driving for the masses, handling is an issue, I think the roof has a lot to blame in this, I find with it up the point of gravity seems to be to high, drop it into the boot it is a differant car, parts have always been expensive for Renault, so notihng new there, also what out for speed cameras, as in 6th gear it does not do engine braking as I found out with a speed awaness course thanks to a slight down hill gradiant and top gear, foot off throttle and it just carried on past he 30 sign at 34, cars weight keeps it going so watch for it, braking is superb it will stop on a sixpence, stupid cans in the boot to inflate tyre, no spare, once used tyre is useless. keep your roof/boot seals lubes with pure silicone otherwise it makes lots of noise, and keep boot/roof locks and hindges lubed with silicone as well helps the roof work try not to use something that will drag like white grease sprays etc, whatch out for steering joint problems they seem to suffer with these a lot, again down to electric rack and a very hefty car, you will notice it wandering over cats eyes, but check your ball joints as well as it gives a very similar simptoms, watch out for keycard in your pocket, the card is soft plastic and flexes the motherboard is not and you endup breaking solder joints if you are not carefull then card wont open car, again it is Renault not really thinking it through, ok if you have a handbag, but jeans on a fella in summer, front pocket it sticks in your whatsits, rear pocket in bends a little when you sit down, little to heavy for a shirt top pocket, we done going backwards in it, seating I supose is a bit strange, you have tons of room up front and nothing behind, if you push your seat forward upto the steering wheel and find it really hard to reach the seat belt, + the gear shift then is almost behind you and there doesn't seem to be enough room for your forearm, some how the angles inside do not seem quite right, it has less room in the back then my wife Meg 1 Coupe on the driver side, yet the car looks massive, I belive it was rushed out as Peugot where ahead with their CC so Renault was missing the boat a Renault salesman was telling me, they where slow in developing it then rushed it at he end, as he said it shows, and you will see once you own it, these are just some of the things I have noticed about it but all cars have thier faults not one is perfect, my car before this was a Fiat Bravo, everyone said not to buy it they are terrible cars, electrics are shot on them yet I drove it from 40k to 150k with no problem, the funiest quote I heardwas from a Fiat tec not long after I bought it when I was lookingto get its cam belt done, he said to me " Hu I would nevr have a fiat, crap cars, you should have bought something decent" like what I asked, he said "A RENAULT" funny I thought Renault where universally crap cars, now all I hear is the same from the Mazda tecs, Vw tecs, Audi tecs and Mitsu tecs the only ones that seem to like thier product are the Seat lads, so I have come to the conclusion the ALL cars are crap now, they are not made to last, the pride is no longer having a product that will run a million miles but instead a product that will sell a million new units, so they don't want them to last, every one buys VW becasue they are Very relaible, yet possibly 80% of thier parts are now made in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and you can see the "quality"of these parts, Passats are always in for suspension and turbo problems as well as ABS units going on them, they are all made as cheap as possible now.
The one thing I will say about my CC, not matter how much it winds me up in the winter, wets me, throws me around in the wind, empties my wallet, once the sun is out and roof off, well ALL IS FORGIVEN, till next winter anyway!

[continentalgt]

The Twin top out handles the Meg CC with ease, I have driven a few now and thier road holding is in my opion excellent, however the roof lets them down, all those fancy little plastic bits that flick around, hire cars I feel are a good point of sale, every Meg CC I have hired has worked fine, and are always there, yet when you end up with a Twin top or similar you kind of know you are in for a battle as they never seem to be availible when you get there, they seem to spend a lot of time in the workshop with "roof problems" lets face it hire cars are kind of abused so if they can take it they can't be that bad!
The twin top does do a neat littl etrick mind you when the roof is in the boot, you can open the boot lid and press a button inside and the roof lifts out of the boot it s a bit strange but it does which enables you to get stuff out that is under the roof, neat trick but ours threw a wobbly on the keyside in Croatia and would not shut, I think we must have pressed the button to many times in panic, after around 5 mins it went down, Phew!!! but we missed the ferry.
I find the meg way to soft, mine just wallows everywhere as if you have around about 2/4 inches of play in the suspension, there isn't but that is how it feels, any rapid direction change or uneven surface and you feel it, maybe it needs new shocks don't know, but with the roof in the boot it handles 10 times better, gusty side winds are a pain as I feel my car does not have time to settle so it rocks all the time in this type of wind again giving the sensation of this 2/4 inch play really quite strange.
The problem with internet searches as well, is you will find all the problems this car has, I have winged on here a few times about mine, but I have never winged about it working fine, if you know what I mean, you only winge when it is not right, same as asking a franchise mechanic about it he will say "crap car" as all he sees are the broken ones, otherwise why take it to a garage apart from service and MOT, no they are not he best but neither are VW or Audi these days, I find the CC worse build quailty than the Meg 1, my wife has a Meg 1 and it never goes wrong hardly and is quite solid inside yet mine squeeks and rattles, you will find most trims on the CC held in place by plastic clips, so they rub on each other as they are not 100% secure, most anoying noise is the sun blind rattling behind your head, you will hear it when you go over those ridges most councils now put on corners now just to anoy CC drivers I think!
My opion, it a nice comfy car, afforadble hard top driving for the masses, handling is an issue, I think the roof has a lot to blame in this, I find with it up the point of gravity seems to be to high, drop it into the boot it is a differant car, parts have always been expensive for Renault, so notihng new there, also what out for speed cameras, as in 6th gear it does not do engine braking as I found out with a speed awaness course thanks to a slight down hill gradiant and top gear, foot off throttle and it just carried on past he 30 sign at 34, cars weight keeps it going so watch for it, braking is superb it will stop on a sixpence, stupid cans in the boot to inflate tyre, no spare, once used tyre is useless. keep your roof/boot seals lubes with pure silicone otherwise it makes lots of noise, and keep boot/roof locks and hindges lubed with silicone as well helps the roof work try not to use something that will drag like white grease sprays etc, whatch out for steering joint problems they seem to suffer with these a lot, again down to electric rack and a very hefty car, you will notice it wandering over cats eyes, but check your ball joints as well as it gives a very similar simptoms, watch out for keycard in your pocket, the card is soft plastic and flexes the motherboard is not and you endup breaking solder joints if you are not carefull then card wont open car, again it is Renault not really thinking it through, ok if you have a handbag, but jeans on a fella in summer, front pocket it sticks in your whatsits, rear pocket in bends a little when you sit down, little to heavy for a shirt top pocket, we done going backwards in it, seating I supose is a bit strange, you have tons of room up front and nothing behind, if you push your seat forward upto the steering wheel and find it really hard to reach the seat belt, + the gear shift then is almost behind you and there doesn't seem to be enough room for your forearm, some how the angles inside do not seem quite right, it has less room in the back then my wife Meg 1 Coupe on the driver side, yet the car looks massive, I belive it was rushed out as Peugot where ahead with their CC so Renault was missing the boat a Renault salesman was telling me, they where slow in developing it then rushed it at he end, as he said it shows, and you will see once you own it, these are just some of the things I have noticed about it but all cars have thier faults not one is perfect, my car before this was a Fiat Bravo, everyone said not to buy it they are terrible cars, electrics are shot on them yet I drove it from 40k to 150k with no problem, the funiest quote I heardwas from a Fiat tec not long after I bought it when I was lookingto get its cam belt done, he said to me " Hu I would nevr have a fiat, crap cars, you should have bought something decent" like what I asked, he said "A RENAULT" funny I thought Renault where universally crap cars, now all I hear is the same from the Mazda tecs, Vw tecs, Audi tecs and Mitsu tecs the only ones that seem to like thier product are the Seat lads, so I have come to the conclusion the ALL cars are crap now, they are not made to last, the pride is no longer having a product that will run a million miles but instead a product that will sell a million new units, so they don't want them to last, every one buys VW becasue they are Very relaible, yet possibly 80% of thier parts are now made in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and you can see the "quality"of these parts, Passats are always in for suspension and turbo problems as well as ABS units going on them, they are all made as cheap as possible now.
The one thing I will say about my CC, not matter how much it winds me up in the winter, wets me, throws me around in the wind, empties my wallet, once the sun is out and roof off, well ALL IS FORGIVEN, till next winter anyway!

Phew I cant remember what the question was

Seriously Chris I appreciate you taking the time to comment, I think we are both on pretty much the same wavelength. As you say it's only those that have problems with their car (all so often self inflicted) that complain and the people who comment that something is crap without being able to give reasons really p**s me off as they really haven't a clue what they are talking about.
As regards the Megane I've bought, I was pretty impressed with the two test drives I had (around 12 miles in total), it was very comfortable had a smooth engine and transmission, didn't really have any serious rattles even though I purposely headed for every pothole and road repair I could find. The handling seemed fine but then I didn't and don't intend throwing it around bends, I had an MR2 up until last September and frankly with the large boot and almost proper seats in the back the megane will be a much more usable car. Problem with the Toyota was that you had to manually remove each roof panel liner, then the glass panels and put them each in their own little protector bag and then stow them away behind the seats and even then it wasn't a true convertible. Most of the time I just couldn't be bothered with it all. It was also a very, very thirsty car even when driven carefully, I've had two now and both were the same but it has to be said 100% reliability from both.
I still intend using the 206 diesel as the main car as it's so cheap to run, £30 road tax and a true 50+mpg established over 6 months of filling brim to brim and getting out the calculator and doing the sums and yes I know it's not that efficient filling right up and carrying all the extra weight of fuel but it's the only way to get an accurate figure.
Regarding the twin top yes I had heard they suffered with roof problems, thinking about it I don't think I've heard of a convertible that doesn't !

[willholdsworth]

Well I think Ive got the fix for all your CC issues, buy a newer CC

Ive had no problems yet, and the only squeek ive had so far is from the polystyrene tyre foam and jack holder in the boot (wasnt tightly enough held down)
I think they made some significant changes as they went on through the phases

Roof problems..... When my warrenty is due to run out, I either buy a new 3 year warrenty from my Renault dealership £380, or buy a new CC, I dont trust the roof an relaiable for the life of any cab!

Also Handling I find is not an issue with either the roof up or down, I was quite impressed when I first drove it having come from an Renault Sport 197 which was on rails, was expecting a floppy turd, but I was wrong..... Maybe they revised the shocks?

I know the interior was revised with new silver bits and a change in the climate control dials, the only moan I have is why did they not give heated seats to the leather interior! lol

Cold leather!

[ChrisM]

Think my shocks need revising but not 100% sure, the ride is hardish, you feel chippings, cats eyes etc, bonce test it passes with flying colours, does not "feel" soft on the test in fact it is quite firm, yet put it on the road with the roof on and you get this feel of "play" around 2/4 inches before the shocks catch it or maybe springs perhaps, and try to smooth it out. on gusty days it smoetimes makes the wife car sick, becasue it does not seem to be able to settle in a constant side wind it is fine, same on a quick change of direction in a bend it "rocks" as if the cars suspension is struggling to control its weight change. some examples of answers I have had are low profile tyres, ok but that means buying larger wheels around 17/18" along with tyres x 4 around £800/£1000, I was told it is flexing on the tyre walls, yet it has re-enforced tyres on it now to take extra weight, also told to change suspension for a 25mm lowered kit again for a 1.9 CC you are looking at around £500 andup don't really want to lower it though to be honest not that keen on the collapsed suspension look plus on some of our wonderful Welsh speed humps I already catch the little black lip on the bottom of the front bumper if you are going more than 10mph on the other side of the hump so dropping it 25mm would make it scrape them all.
Did mention it to a chap in Aldi car park in an 56 CC and his reply was yep it just crap Renault suspension, which it is one way to look at it, my wifes Coupe is the same not stiff at all, it was always a moan when we where Renault, coupe owners always moaned about it, it is a sportier car than the hatch so they should have stiffened the suspension, they didn't!
I am trying to work out what would be cost effective to stop the roll, my first thought was a set of springs and see what happens, but really it is all about what suspesion component is doing what in that first few seconds what is not tight enough anymore the springs a little weak or the shockers now a bit lose in that first few seconds of compresion, all suspension componets are ok (no play in any joints, mounts), and no leaks, so a bit more investigation before I move on it me thinks.
As for buying a newer one Will sorry I work in the car trade, in Wales, wages are a joke indeed, at least the tecs and sales get to earn a bonus, I don't so it is a standard weelky pitance for me and a 60 mile round trip per day to boot, er in doors is a retail shop manger so she earns a little bit more than me, last pay rise 5 years ago when I was given two jobs to do here, now I have 4 jobs, come on Saturdays numbers!!!!!! bit fed up with just two numbers I need the lot! but if I did get em, sorry chaps but its an Alfa Romeo Spider 2.2 diesel for me! reg CHR 1S AAaaaaa yes; 3, 2, 1 you are back in the room!

[sparky46]

Hi, does anybody know how to switch off the car park magnet that attracts other cars? I've done the same, park in a space well away from the others and leave as much space as you can and you come back to cars either side. As for the 4x4 comments, I run a 3 litre Shogun as well and try to look after it as well as I do the Megane. Even I get dents in this.Not all 4x4 owners are the same, some of us do care about other peoples cars.
I've been lucky so far, no dents on the Megane due to parking, only one this winter by an icicle falling off the house roof, creasing the side. Told I could get it fixed by a Paintless Dent Repair man.
Regarding what to look for on a car, one thing is look in the boot and check the tie wraps on either side that hold the roof control wires to the side. My brother's mates car peeled the roof quarter panel off when the roof went back up and the wire acted like a cheese wire. It cost a couple of hundred quid to put it right.
Had no problems with mine (08 plate) apart from a leaking roof sorted out by the dealer and an auto gearbox problem which has hopefully cured itself.
Chris, where did you get your deflector from and how much as we get the freezing cold arm and hand when driving a long time with the roof down (Usually anytime the sun is out, why spend all that money and ride round with the air con on?).
Cheers, enjoy the open top whenever you can.

[willholdsworth]

with regards to the bloke in Aldi car park Chris saying "crap renault shocks" All the Renault sportmodels have won awards for their handeling, so they do have the technology to make awesome shocks. RS 197 and 200 put the Vaux VXRs handeling to shame!
As Ive said though, my megs are a dream in my opinion, but then I guess every car is different, mine has only done 20k and im sure after a few more thousand miles the ride will start to feel different

Sparky, see here for wind deflector
this is the one I use, not a OEM part but it does the job. OEM part is considerably more! Ive used this one for all the day trips, Snowdonia in Febuary and it kept us very warm with the heaters on full.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/renault-megane-CC-04-wind-deflector-windstop-NEW-/160487101001?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item255dc6d249