Suspension Brakes 1st Gen Most liked posts in thread: Camber and Caster plates?

Ah, the K-MAC. I had a pair for years. They were cheap, they were ugly, and they worked. Mine had the urethane insert, which seemed to work just fine with no cracking. After four years of abuse they finally started to warp to the point that I was not comfortable leaving them on the car. They never did fail, though, and they stayed where they were set.

 

I've had 2 customers that had them and they failed. Not worth the hassle.

 

Maybe I didn't beat on mine hard enough.

 

looks like a better product than the Ireland Engineering design

 

Gonna slap a set with the red urethane that I had laying around on my car. Hope they hold up as well as DrMikes did. Plan to keep them on for 18 months

 

Whatever version one uses...

if you drive your car hard, increasing the front camber will increase tire life (for me it about doubled). I'm not sure that anyone but a pure track junky benefits from the caster adjustments though.

I've had the RDR (now Helix) and the Hotchkis. Both are very, very durable. The RDRs raised the car a bit more, and both needed some machining to clear the longer threaded strut shaft on my Leda coil overs. FWIW, many of the aftermarket struts have longer shafts, and the camber plate design may have binding issues. check for interference when you do an install.

The K-MAC won't have the issue because of it's design.

What failed in them? Both the RDR and the Hotchkis seem close to indistructable. Don't know about the rest.

Matt

 

I read on one of these forum that the caster that works best, is pretty much the stock caster - made even on both sides.

 

At least for me, this has been the case. I had additional caster on my car for a while, and the only difference I could detect was increased steering effort. The car has been stable at high speeds with stock caster. Having more caster might have given me a bit of caster-induced negative camber gain for large steering angles at the autocross, but honestly I didn't notice the benefit if it existed.

 

Just remember, alignment is a like a suit...

what fits one well may not fit someone else real well. All these things go into the blender of driving style and the like and get put on puree!

Seems to me, that with more front camber, the stock set up isn't that bad. I've gone to zero toe as well. Bit twitchy going straight, but once again, this is all subjective to what one wants.

Matt

 

Now I love the little bit of additional caster my PSRS's have given me. The additional effort is welcome as I felt the stock feel was a bit twitchy.

I run with about 2° neg camber up front and my tires are showing very even wear.

I too would like to hear what failed on the other camber plates. I have had the IE adjustable ones for over three years with no issues.

 

so what's the verdict? best camber plates out there? i'm thinking about getting a pair myself but i cant decide on which to get, they all see to do the same thing. i just dont wanna hear clanking and knocking noise during my daily driving.

as far as im concerned, there are the IE fixed, IE adjustable, helix, webb, and those k-mac ones which i just learned about.

any differences between performance and stiffness amongst these?
im looking for -1.5 front

 

I understand that Texas Speedworks will have there "Camber / Castor" plates ready for sale in the very near future.

Perhaps drmike@txwerks can preview them for us?

 

doesnt txwerks have theyre special tsw oem mounts? i couldnt find those on the site. in the tsw kw coilover descriptions they mentioned it and i wanna know more about these

 

Another one for the mix.. Vorshlag adjustable camber plates.
Vorshlag MINI Cooper Camber Plates

 

For some reason, we have had a really, really tough time getting our machine shop vendors to get back to us with quotes, starting last Fall (I'm trying really hard to be nice about it here). Usually, this means that they are filling up with high-profit, large quantity jobs. That's great for them, and great for the economy, but bad for us.

As of now, we are working the issue but we don't have the camber plates ready to go. I don't want to reveal the plates too early in case the design changes before we go into production.

 

Some things to think about...

it's true... all the camber/caster plates do the same thing, pretty much. That's why they're all called camber/caster plates! (sorry, couldn't resist).

Some things to ask yourself as you shop:

• Do you need adjustable caster?
• Are you going to switch spring diamters?
• Will your car be lowered?

If you don't need adjustable caster, then there are more options out there.

Some come with spring perches. Most that do offer two or three types: for stock springs, for 2.5" diameter springs, and maybe for 2.25" diameter springs. While changing them is no big deal, if you do swap springs, you may be looking at a bit more cost.

If you're going to lower your car, especially with the stock struts, then you have to pay attention to the design of the plate: specifically, does it eat any suspension travel? With lowered cars on the stock struts, every mm matters!

The last thing is how sensitive are you to NVH? If you're very sensitive, then things like the IE fixed are nice becuase they use a tougher BMW rubber support. The RDR/Helix uses a delrin bearing mount, and the Hotchkis have a solid spherical bushing. To tell the truth though, the Hotchkis that I have aren't as noisy as I'd thought they'd be.

Overall, if you're not a dedicated track rat, I think whatever you can fined used is probably the best option out there! They can be had for a lot less than retail if you look in forum marketplaces.

I honestly don't think there really is a "best" plate out there, because there are many different types of needs. For street drivers, I think the IE fixed is a pretty good option.

Matt

 

I've got the IE fixed and want to replace them because of the uneven camber side to side. Also they raised the car a bit on the stock struts and I'd like to drop that too. Know the Vorschlag's are great but would like to keep a bit of cushion. Which of the other ones might I consider?

 

what about on coilovers? im running on v-maxx coils and i believe that some camber plates fit only certain suspensions. which plates would run best with the v-maxx's?

i was thinking about the IE fixed too, but i think i'd like to run 0 camber in the front and change them whenever i feel. i like the idea of adjustability.

 

I'll take your IE fixed plates if you plan to sell them. Let me know.

It's possible for coilovers to use different thread pitches for the top nut, although i don't know how rare this is in the Mini worl specifically. Proably not that common. The other thing to check is what spring perch they work with as someone else mentioned. Best to check with your coilover manufacturer or vendor. A good reason to get your coilovers from a place that knows what they're doing (like the vendors on here).

Also, you really shouldn't run 0 camber....you'll have terrible handling and increased tire wear. You do need some negative camber.

- Andrew

 

This is true to a point....BUT there are certain things that you can't overlook. The quality of the spherical bearing is hugely important. Big beefy pillowballs will last longer, be quieter, and maybe even be a little smoother. Thicker plates won't warp or bend, but they do raise the car more, so there's a trade-off there.

I come from the Subaru world and there are a LOT of mass produced plates with thin, weak plates that warp a bit too quickly and crappy pillowballs that develop play in the bearing and wear out way too fast and make noise. We made our own and we used the biggest bearing we could find at the time and they last much longer and perform better in the real world. It increased the cost, but ours are also handbuilt in the USA, so that had more to do with it.

The Vorshlag plates do have some good features that I like for Subarus...low stack height and integerated spring perch for more bump travel, second bearing to prevent the main spring from binding, big beefy bearing. They're sort of expensive but damn good in my own experience on Subarus and EVOs. Our main competitors actually, but we've worked with them too.

I do really like the idea of the IE Fixed plates for most people who aren't really tracking the car, and even those who track casually.

- Andrew