Hey all, Anyone used IE camberplates for Autox? I know Vorschlags are the crown jewel, but I don't need them to be pretty...just functional. I have Koni Yellows and Swift Spec R springs waiting for them. Any thoughts?
I seem to remember reading that they had issues.... Thinking it had to do with the bearing... Not sure, but it may have been resolved.... Other's may pipe up on this... I have the IE fixed camber plates and love them....
I had both the IE fixed plates on my R53 (when it had the stock shocks and TSW springs) and the Vorshlag adjustables (when it had coilovers). If you just do the occasional auto-x or aggressive street driving with the occasional track weekend, the fixed plates will be just fine.
I agree with the above because the IE fixed plates are exactly what I have on my MCS...Dragonslayer, daily driver and occasional track car.
I also remember posts of the IE Adjustable having issues. Also the IE adjustable raises the front end height about 3/16-1/4". Unless you really want adjustable I would suggest the IE fixed plates. If you really want adjustable I would look at the Hotchkis adjustable plates because they do not raise the front end height (unless you have coil-overs and can adjust the height back down). I have adjustable because the fixed were not available when I purchased adjustable. I Auto-X but I do not adjust the camber more negative for Auto-X because it changes the Toe-In quite a bit and I do not have an easy way to adjust toe every time I adjust camber. I just have the alignment shop set the camber to -2.0 and I leave it that way for street and Auto-X. The adjustable plates also add more noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH). If I was to purchase camber plates now, I would get IE fixed. The two advantages of adjustable is that you can adjust more negative than fixed and can adjust to exactly the camber you want and make up for any OEM differences side to side but that is really not that big of a benefit to put up with the NVH unless you are very serious about Auto-X and want to adjust to -3.0 just for Auto-X then back to -1.5 for street.
The IE fixed camber plates are built around a robust BMW OEM strut bearing hat... I believe it's used on the Z4 if I remember.... It gives additional negative camber, more than stock but less than hard core. Kind of a happy medium.... The bearing is captured by a significantly larger rubber cushion that mitigates the transfer of harsh road noise to the body.... Probably my best mod that improved the handling of my MINI.... When it's time to move onward to adjustable camber plates, these are not difficult to sell...
I have the adj plates and after 8 yrs they are still performing great. PS....you want to be careful about the class restrictions for camber plates, may bump you up into a modified class.
The car is being built to be a nationally competitive STX car. I'm very serious about autocross...and definitely need adjustable. ScottinBend, you are using the IE plates?
I have Helix adj. camber plates but you cannot get them anymore. The 2 above are great adj. camber plates also.
Excellent. Pads and rotors ordered. I've now spent about $2000 since that particular Atlanta vendor was rude to me on the phone. Amazing what a little good customer service will do.
We stopped selling the IE adjustable plates because we found they fell apart in a year or two and needed rebuilding if you could get them back apart without destroying the parts.. We never recommend the fixed camber plates cause no MINI has the same camber side to side some times it can be a full deg off!...and i have done a lot of alignments. You want to have the same amount of camber on both sides for many different reasons. if you're really ready to autocross, send the money and by the quality parts. Chad Detroit Tuned
+1 to what Chad said... I inherited and currently run a set of IE adjustables, modified them to make 'em work & last. - The bearing tends to need a spacer so it doesn't rattle (tiny, tiny spacer washer... and a &^%$ circlip...) - Spherical bearings need lube. Often. Mine has a zerk, but this requires dropping the shock top (which I now do during oil changes, seems about the right interval). - Alignment: Hmmm, my "patience, level garage floor, carpenter's level, a T-square, and two parallel strings" method actually works well here. Indeed the one shock top had to be 1/8" further from the center of the shock hole than the other to get the camber correct, supporting what Chad said on Minis not necessarily being perfectly aligned from the factory - Springs: Stock springs are wide, too wide for any more than about 2 degrees negative camber without contacting the inner shock tower (R53, even with the "stress rib relief" mod). You'll need something narrower, preferably coilovers, but may then have to contend with "spring bind" on full compression. Net net, I love the IE's I have, got 'em inexpensively and I know the drawbacks and can live with them. If I had it to do again with unlimited funds, Vorschlags and coilovers. With limited funds... well, that's where I am now!
Great post DixonL2, thanks for all the insight. I'm leaning towards Vorschlags at the moment, but we'll see.
yeah the tiny spacer as he puts it also caves the top of the spring plate till the camber plate is sitting on to of it..now you need new spring plates ..I've seen the rubber come off from the body, the bolts for the top plate lock them self in place then you have to drill them out and replace...and if you you use heat..the rubber burns and again you need parts..so many draws with extra parts...
Detroit Tuned...are you saying that it's a bad idea to run that spacer? Or IE camber plates in general?
I would say skip the IE Adj's and just go with the Vorschlags since you see many people having issues with them. In this case like other's cost ='s quality and reliability. A better question would be is anyone having issues with the Vorschlags? If you are going to spend the money wouldn't you want to spend it once and be done with it?