You have to run the spacer with the IE unit for it to work...which in turn makes it fail..i say skip the unit all together and go with the Vorschlag units. a bit more but trouble free operation and much more heavy duty to take the awesome roads we all have..tracks days are smooth and easy, it's street driving a race car that tears things up. Vorshlag Camber Plates mini Cooper
Yes, the "spacer" is an issue unless you do it right. Note there are TWO spacers necessary, and I was only talking about the first one and forgot to mention the second one! 1. One within the bearing housing itself to make the bearing not click - this is minor and very thin, unnecessary in most installations and advised in others, due to manufacturing tolerances and variability in the IE product itself. This is internal to the IE spherical bearing housing. 2. One "spacer" (washer) below the camber plate to space the spring cap to the spherical bearing. On the OE strut bearing this is appx a 1.25" diameter Grade8 washer with a grease shield on top, to spread the load of the car over a larger area of the spring cap. the IE top-mount is only 1" diameter, resulting in high stress loads on the center of the spring cap. This is where some creativity is necessary when running the IE product. My solution is to use the IE pyramidal cone-shaped washer (the 1" dia one) AND a larger thick Grade8 heavy duty washer (the OE one) to spread the load further over the spring plate - to avoid (postpone?) the spring plate "cave-in" that Detroit Tuned mentions above. In this way I have identical stress distribution to stock (disregarding the ability of the rubber OE bearing housing to absorb some shock), but did add 1/8" to my ride height, which I've compensated for in other areas. The IE's definitely have their drawbacks in design, so I've had to engineer around them. - Anti-seize the hell out of the mounting bolts and check 'em every season, renewing the anti-seize where necessary. - Add a Grade8 load-distribution washer below the IE-supplied custom pyramid/cone washer, to distribute the shock load over more of the OE spring plate. Doing so mimics the OE load distribution and Must. Be. Done. - Lubricate the spherical bearing thoroughly, it is a Maintenance Item, every oil change. There is a zerk for this purpose. Again, for the cost (low cost, used) they work for me. I certainly recognize that, in my case, the couple degrees of negative camber came at the cost of a couple degrees of complexity in maintenance. And, using my belt-and-suspenders approach, I also have a set of OE strut bearings (and spring caps!) as a backup. the thrilling conclusion: - Given that IE plates are becoming rare, and expensive, go with the Vorschlags. I don't even know if the IE's are avilable "new", but if they are, for the minimal cost diff I'd go Vorschlag. - IF (and only if) you find that your side-to-side camber is Very Close on your specific car, then fixed camber plates *may* work well, but definitely check for any inherent camber changes necessary on your specific car before going "fixed". Also note that stock wide springs may contact the strut tower if you go too far. - If, like me, you're OK with the drawbacks, get a good price on IE's, and can work around the drawbacks, then go IE. Whichever way you go, do so with "eyes open" - and remember, you can only buy so much speed. the most cost-effective vehicle improvement lies in improving the interface between the seat and steering wheel.