New Megane RS Trophy owner - some questions

[NightDriving]

Hello!

I recently became the owner of a Megane RS Trophy MK4 (facelift model)

Thoroughly enjoying the car so far, as it is a significant upgrade from my old 2007 Mazda 3.

I did a lot of research on the car before purchasing it (thank you to the posts on this forum!) and also had a pre-purchase inspection done that helped identify a few things that I was at least aware of before purchasing the car.

First was the brake rotors getting close to minimum thickness. After driving for a couple of days I started to hear a click noise from the front passenger side wheel when travelling at low speed. I thought it was a loose pad or similar in the calliper but popped into a mechanic and turns out the rotor is slightly warped and is causeling the clicking noise against the pads, but it is otherwise safe to drive. So at least I get to address something I was aware of early with new brake pads and rotors on the front wheels!

Second was that the battery had low efficiency, but was unsure if it was due to the car sitting idle at the dealer. I've read about the issues with the DESS battery, so another thing I knew was a potential issue before purchasing. Something I did notice while driving today was that running the car in the 'Save' drive mode - if the car enters Stop / Start for too long, on restart of the engine it treats it like a cold start and it resets the drive mode to MySense (not sure if it does the same when already in MySense with Stop /Start enabled). Wondering if anyone else has noticed this occur. I didn't encounter this on the weekend driving it for an extended period, but was only doing a couple of short trips today and was experiencing it (battery not holding enough charge?), so now wondering if the battery is something that should be looked into (it had a reading of 12.35v after leaving it overnight). Seems like it is difficult to get a replacement DESS battery from a store other than through a dealer or mechanic and have also read that it may not be ideal to replace the DESS with a standard battery (although it seems to solve the issue for some people if you buy an appropriate alternative). Any recent thoughts or experiences on this would be helpful.

Not letting some otherwise minor issues impact my enjoyment of the car and planing to do some fun drives on the weekend before maybe attempting a track day in the future (after some track lessons)!

 

Edited 29, October 2024 by NightDriving

[SuperNewbie]

Welcome, what state are you in? I just wonder if thats my old car as it seems to share some of the same issues

[NightDriving]

17 minutes ago, SuperNewbie said:

Welcome, what state are you in? I just wonder if thats my old car as it seems to share some of the same issues

I'm in Queensland. The car is red (if it helps to narrow further).

[SuperNewbie]

3 minutes ago, NightDriving said:

I'm in Queensland. The car is red (if it helps to narrow further).

All good, not mine. Funny how its similar issues though.

I replaced one of the batteries for $400. I was told there is another battery that can cost upwards of $2k. Neither covered under warranty.  

[NightDriving]

3 hours ago, SuperNewbie said:

All good, not mine. Funny how its similar issues though.

I replaced one of the batteries for $400. I was told there is another battery that can cost upwards of $2k. Neither covered under warranty.  

I knew what I was getting into with the brakes. From what I understand it's a common thing with European performance vehicles - they just like to eat up the rotors.

On the battery, I'm tempted to just put a standard one in the car (though one of decent quality), given that appears to be what many others have done. I will probably wait and do some more research / get some additional insights first.

Overall, I (currently) have zero regrets. The car is heaps of fun to drive and I intend to enjoy it right up until I need to getting something more sensible!

 

[SLUGGO33X]

I popped a full size Delkor battery in a few months ago and it solved all the electrical gremlins. I also disable stop/start feature every trip. 

Are you certain the trophy rotors are warped? They can take a fair amount of punishment. I have project mu pads which are a bees d!ck shorter than OEM, so I get a click sound when changing direction forward/reverse as the pad hits the caliper.

[NightDriving]

7 minutes ago, SLUGGO33X said:

I popped a full size Delkor battery in a few months ago and it solved all the electrical gremlins. I also disable stop/start feature every trip. 

Are you certain the trophy rotors are warped? They can take a fair amount of punishment. I have project mu pads which are a bees d!ck shorter than OEM, so I get a click sound when changing direction forward/reverse as the pad hits the caliper.

I get the clicking at only low speeds when I take off from a stop, but not while at speed. I had a Euro mechanic check over the brakes because I thought the pads were maybe loose but they diagnosed it as the rotor having a slight warp that was catching the brake pads. The brake rotors were already assessed as being borderline on the minimum thickness by the pre-purchase inspector so I was already planning to replace them in the next few months, so just doing it earlier.

[SuperNewbie]

Not sure how many people drive these in Save mode, but I started using it during my long commute and only after then did I start having problems.

I'd suggest treating it mean, seemed to like that better

[NightDriving]

29 minutes ago, SLUGGO33X said:

I popped a full size Delkor battery in a few months ago and it solved all the electrical gremlins. I also disable stop/start feature every trip. 

Are you certain the trophy rotors are warped? They can take a fair amount of punishment. I have project mu pads which are a bees d!ck shorter than OEM, so I get a click sound when changing direction forward/reverse as the pad hits the caliper.

Do you have a link to the exact battery that you purchased?

[NightDriving]

14 minutes ago, SuperNewbie said:

Not sure how many people drive these in Save mode, but I started using it during my long commute and only after then did I start having problems.

I'd suggest treating it mean, seemed to like that better

Coming from having driven only manual transmission cars since I got my licence nearly 15 years ago, I do tend to prefer driving the car in both Sport and manual modes haha. Definitely feels right!

[Pokinacha]

2 hours ago, SLUGGO33X said:

I have project mu pads which are a bees d!ck shorter than OEM, so I get a click sound when changing direction forward/reverse as the pad hits the caliper.

I have the same pads and get this as well as a bit of shudder at slow speeds. Quite noisy too. But good stopping.

 

2 hours ago, NightDriving said:

I get the clicking at only low speeds when I take off from a stop, but not while at speed. I had a Euro mechanic check over the brakes because I thought the pads were maybe loose but they diagnosed it as the rotor having a slight warp that was catching the brake pads. The brake rotors were already assessed as being borderline on the minimum thickness by the pre-purchase inspector so I was already planning to replace them in the next few months, so just doing it earlier.

@BNothling can help out with disks and rotors

[NightDriving]

1 minute ago, Pokinacha said:

 

@BNothling can help out with disks and rotors

I've already ordered new rotors and pads through the mechanic, but will keep this in mind for the future. Thank you though.

[SLUGGO33X]

2 hours ago, NightDriving said:

Do you have a link to the exact battery that you purchased?

https://www.delkor.com/products/product-details/ln1-554-400-053

[xeno182]

9 hours ago, Pokinacha said:

I have the same pads and get this as well as a bit of shudder at slow speeds. Quite noisy too. But good stopping.

 

@BNothling can help out with disks and rotors

 

9 hours ago, NightDriving said:

I've already ordered new rotors and pads through the mechanic, but will keep this in mind for the future. Thank you though.

Just curious guys, how long did the OEM brakes/rotors last in your cars? I realise this depends on how you drive the car, but assuming normal daily driving in the city. 

Also the replacement cost for both?

Mine is a 280 sport.

[NightDriving]

4 hours ago, xeno182 said:

 

Just curious guys, how long did the OEM brakes/rotors last in your cars? I realise this depends on how you drive the car, but assuming normal daily driving in the city. 

Also the replacement cost for both?

Mine is a 280 sport.

I bought the car with 20,000km on it, and it still had the OEM brake rotors and pads. Not sure how the previous person drove the car over the 2.5 years they owned it, but the wear on the rotors indicate to me they did have some fun with it, but there weren't any other concerns identified (other than the battery's low efficiency).

I looked at the cost of ordering the rotors and pads from K-Tec Racing in the UK which was going to cost me about AU$2k, which includes $400 postage.

For OEM rotors and Brembo pads front and rear, the mechanic quoted me $2.6k total for parts (same as those from K-Tec) and labour, and I also don't have to wait a month or more for the parts to arrive in the post (lead time is 3-4 business days with the mechanic). So works out to be roughly similar all things considered, as I wouldn't be installing the parts myself.

[hamstrung]

FWIW, when I’ve used K-tec in the past, delivery was 3-4 days over a weekend. You do pay for the privilege though, and at that number it is Customs who will probably hold you up.

[Pokinacha]

11 hours ago, xeno182 said:

 

Just curious guys, how long did the OEM brakes/rotors last in your cars? I realise this depends on how you drive the car, but assuming normal daily driving in the city. 

Also the replacement cost for both?

Mine is a 280 sport.

Mine has just ticked over 50k and just did the discs and pads about 2 months ago. 
 

chat to @BNothling as I got some Bremtec slotted (OEM trophy style) bi-metallic discs and Project Mu street pads for a fraction of the cost of OEM parts. 
 

 

[NightDriving]

By way of an update, although the brake rotors were in need of replacing (some serious lipping and wear), the clicking noise that I was hearing was instead a rattle noise from inside the tyre, where they found a large hard piece of rubber/plastic. The mechanic thinks it may be a piece off the machine used to fit the tyre to the rim. Glad it was not something worse!

On a related point, I currently have Kumho Ecsta PS91 tyres on the car (fitted with the car when I bought it). I was considering maybe changing them for the PS4S in the next few months, but want to know if there are any other recommendations.

[Matt205]

Are the Kumho's in need of replacement? If not, I personally rate the high end Kumho's, have run them on a few cars and had no issues. May be a small advantage going to a PS4S, but if you are pushing that hard on the road to notice, the tyres ain't the problem.

[JNINE]

On 29/10/2024 at 9:32 PM, NightDriving said:

 

Second was that the battery had low efficiency, but was unsure if it was due to the car sitting idle at the dealer.

 

If it is a phase 2 - just check on the warranty for the battery.  Mine was replaced under warranty.  I chose the replacement option of a AGM model Delkor from Allstar Batteries LN1 554 400 053.  No issues since.

[FlatFour]

On 29/12/2024 at 7:14 PM, JNINE said:

If it is a phase 2 - just check on the warranty for the battery.  Mine was replaced under warranty.  I chose the replacement option of a AGM model Delkor from Allstar Batteries LN1 554 400 053.  No issues since.

Mine is a Phase 2 also and had some minor issues with the standard DESS lithium battery - it was fine for a while but then intermittently started bringing up all the check lights. So replaced it with an AGM battery and haven't had any issues since either.

Edited 31, December 2024 by FlatFour