Suspension Brakes Most liked posts in thread: IE fixed camber plate bearing seals?

That's because there are no rights or lefts and the three mounting studs only allow the plate to be installed one way. Both of my plates moved the damper bearing towards the engine. Even reversing them did the same thing. Therefore on the R56 body they aren't handed....

 

Don't know yet... still working at my shop....
Here is the drivers side with the IE Camber Plate installed....
Clearly the bearing has moved towards the engine.


Here is the passenger side and the bearing has also moved towards the engine. Nice paint job eh, did both strut tower tops with a color matched rattle can. Matched the Dark Silver perfect.


I've painted both strut tops while I did the Swift springs and IE camber plates, so it's taken longer than normal. The MINI will stay in the shop over night. I'm pretty beat right now and I still need to add the Swift springs to both rears.
Then wrap it up with an alignment (toe plates I also built yesterday).

You can see I removed the entire plastic firewall cover, so all that needs to go back in.

 

Looks great! I'm going to be taking my IE plates off...I got them installed two years ago thinking I'd be autocrossing every weekend, but I'm too busy and have yet to go to one. Instead I'm burning through tires like crazy..handling improvement is great! But not sure I like wearing my front tires so much.

Richard

 

Hmmm... on my R53, the IE fixed plates actually helped prevent tire wear up front, but perhaps that's the way I drive!

 

+ 1 ^^^

Richard could you be running too much toe? That can eat tires.

 

Hmmmm...Does the toe change when you load a Clubman down with say 2000 pounds of Prima product?

 

hahaha

Probably so...I took it to an alignment shop shortly after the install and the numbers they got were what I would expect...course don't ask me what that was...at the time two years ago, it made sense...my neighbor a BMWCCA driving instructor warned me that I'll be eating up tires fast, lol. Oh well.

Hard to know how many miles I got since I last got new tires since it's not a daily driver for me anymore. But it sure doesn't feel like many, lol.

Richard

 

Maybe this should go in "What did you fit in your MINI Today".....
It's Spring and the weeds in the yard need attending to....
OR
I've installed new springs in my MINI and I'm setting up my "Normal Loaded Position" as defined by the Bentley Shop Manual for a suspension alignment.... Take your choice...

 

Man Chuck if you put all of that on your lawn there is a whole lot of mower seat time in your future. :eek6:

Let us know how the alignment goes. Does it feel more pointy???

 

Yeah, tell me about it.... I gotta figure out how I can reduce that part of my life and get more seat time in the MINI.....

 

Grodenglaive, good luck with your install of the IE fixed plates. Post up pics of your work and definitely get an alignment. Your toe setting will be way off.

 

I haven't seen that much 'fertilizer' in a seat since I went off-track, backwards, at around 85 MPH.

 

It might be more practical than some of the stuff that mini sells as bling!

Keep us Posted as to how the alignment changes the handling after the install of the IE plates.

 

Yep Chuck let us know how the MINI feels to you after the springs plates & alignment. Inquiring minds need to know. :wink:

 

My goals were to improve the stock street handling without making the commitment of switching to coilovers. I just wanted to bump the handling up a notch.

So far I'm very happy with the changes, it's an improvement over the stock OEM (non-Sport) spring setup. I haven't really tested them on any local "twisty" roads yet, but there is a noticeable less harshness to the ride. The first stage compression of the progressive springs do a nice job of providing a comfortable "firm" ride over a slightly "jarring" OEM ride. When I changed out the OEM springs with the Swift R-spec it was very difficult to compress the stock springs by hand but you could easily compress the first stage of the progressive Swift springs. This is the stage I'm feeling on city streets. And I'm liking the ride. There is no change in NVH with the IE fixed camber plates, which was big on my list of wants. The increased camber is noticeable with improved turn in. The MINI just seems to go where you point it...... just better now.

Still on the OEM "Sport" dampers..... When they need replacing, I'll most likely go KONI yellows. Can't wait for the Conti run-flats to need replacing....

I'm planning on having Chad at Detroit Tune go over my DIY alignment and double check my front end, and since I haven't had time to set the rear, he'll make the necessary adjustments there as well.

In summary.... The MINI just seems to stick better in the turns, the ride is better and the camber plates aren't any different than stock in the NVH department.... So I'm glad I switched to these parts...... Just what I wanted.....