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E8x Camber plate project

76K views 325 replies 74 participants last post by  THETYRANT 
#1 ·
Update: Camber Plate development for the E8x & E9X models is now complete as following thread, but for those wanting to know the outcome without reading it all then below is camber details of various options, if you want a set get in touch.

Stage1 plates on their own give -0.7 to-1deg, or coupled with M3 LCA this goes to -1.5 to -1.9deg.

Stage2 plates on their own give -1.5 to -1.8deg, or coupled with M3 LCA this goes to -2.5 to -3deg.

Above numbers are based on stock or near to stock ride heights and 18" wheels/tyre size , lots of things can alter the actual camber with ride height & wheel & tyre size being most influential.

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Ok to follow on from my Ohlins thread I thought I would start a new one about my camber plate project and here it is :)

So today Ive been busy with some machining on the laser cut plates I had done for my camber plate project, for those not in the know these fit on top of front suspension top mounts to shift them across and give more negative camber, these are just my prototype ones and I think ive been a bit conservative with the offset compared to others ive seen but still im hoping they should give approx -1.5degrees along with M3 LCA I have, plan is to get -2degrees but will need a revision to plate I think, but will see once I get them fitted.

Quick pic below of progress so far, just need a couple more of the capitive bolts out of my topmounts as only had 4 in my spares and they can go on, also ignore the nasty paint job as I just gave them a dusting to prevent rusting and have been handling them before paint was dry!...will test fit as they are and see what camber they give and go from there, might start making them to sell but we will see.



Cheers
Ian
 
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#5 ·
marco_polo said:
Nice work.

Presumably these will raise the nose by 6mm, or whatever, for those without coilies?
Yes these ones are 5mm thick so will lift the nose a tadge, prob about same as the drop from fitting m3 lca's.
 
#9 ·
Yeah I'm interested too! :eek:
 
#10 ·
jonwilli said:
How much do you reckon you'll have to charge if you start making them to sell? Think with the exchange rate as it is the Dinan ones with postage, import etc would be close to £170 or more! That's a fair bit for some plate steel and bolts!
Im not sure yet as need to look at the costs etc once I finalise the design, sure it will be a lot cheaper than getting Dinan ones over from states :)

Never got chance to test fit this weekend due to family stuff but will get them repainted today and test fit tonight :)

Ian
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
Sonic1506 said:
Why did you make them, when they can be bought off the shelf? I'm curious. [link removed by admin due to widespread reports of fraud], as one example. Vorshlag also makes a set.
Why not ? those in your link are not the same thing they are fully adjustable solid mounted complete top mount replacements and not best quality from what i can see, pretty colours though :D, Dinan plates are probably nearest to what ive done and the cost for me to make these is minimal while fitting in around other jobs, also if it works out it could be a product i might be able to sell through work to help others out with a cost effective solution for those wanting a set amount of camber and not fully adjustable, which isnt really needed for many.

I wouldnt want to run solid mounts on a road car again either, im getting old and like things quiet and smooth which the OEM rubber mounted version is always going to best for :D

Ian
 
#13 ·
THETYRANT said:
Why not ? those in your link are not the same thing they are fully adjustable solid mounted complete top mount replacements and not best quality from what i can see, pretty colours though :D, Dinan plates are probably nearest to what ive done and the cost for me to make these is minimal while fitting in around other jobs, also if it works out it could be a product i might be able to sell through work to help others out with a cost effective solution for those wanting a set amount of camber and not fully adjustable, which isnt really needed for many.

I wouldnt want to run solid mounts on a road car again either, im getting old and like things quiet and smooth which the OEM rubber mounted version is always going to best for :D

Ian
I was curious as to why you made it when something can be had off the shelf, that's all, rather than an attack on you.



 
#14 ·
I know what is available ive looked at all options out there over the years :), also have you seen the prices! ? :eek2:

Nearest thing ive seen on the shelf to do what i require (as below) are the Dinan plates, but i felt price was out of proportion for what you get although i think i know why due the hardware involved as ive not yet been able to find an off the shelf supplier for the splined/captive studs that fix them to car, ive used my own which you need to remove from stock mounts anyhow to fit this type of plate so no big issue, but the Dinan plates come with them ready fitted which is neat touch but i suspect jacks up price, or at least maybe did at start as im sure i read they were buying stock mounts to get the studs when they first started making their plates.

Using my contacts and machines at work i felt i could make my own easily enough and for very little outlay if i fitted it around other jobs, its a nice project and i can make them exactly how i want them and engineer them to do exactly what i want as well, my requirements are to obtain from -1.5 to -2 degress of negative camber (a i feel that is more than enough for road car) but also i wanted OEM quality NVH and durabilty so by using the OEM top mounts/bearings i know reliability and refinement will be as good as you can get :)

Ian
 
#16 ·
OK had a busy day today, cleaned up the plates and gave them a couple of coats of satin black to look more stealthy :)



Tonight got them fitted which was easy enough and no nasty suprises, just undo 3 nuts on topmounts so on last few threads, jack up car and take wheel off then disconnect arb drop link to allow wheel and damper to drop down, jacked up the suspension into normal position so I could tap out the studs then its just a case of lowering strut down enough to get camber plates in and tightened up before reassembly.

Quick pic looking up in arch, I used long stainless bolts as may yet add another plate to use as spacer to tweak ride heights.



Dropped it al back down and did a camber check as below, for reference im running a front ride height of ~340mm from wheel centre to arch and have M3 LCA's as well as camber pin already removed.

Before camber plates with top mount full pushed in I had...
NSF @ -1.2degree
OSF @ -0.9degree

After Camber plates again with topmounts pushed right in I had...
NSF @ -1.9degree
OSF @ -1.5degree

When for a quick drive to make sure all was settled and checked again but was same, so I jacked car back up and adjusted the NSF top mount to approx centre position in stock turret slots, this has given me -1.5 on both sides which will do for now :)

I need to tweak the tracking as extra camber as expected has given me a touch of toe out and I like to run zero so will sort that in next day or so then get out for some testing, although wont be until I get on track next month before I can see how the tyre shoulders wear :)

All in all happy with results and after a quick measure up I can see where I can gain more camber with few tweaks to my design, so next time im ordering some laser cutting will do a revised plate for more track focused setting of -2 maybe upto -2.5degree or above!

Cheers
Ian
 
#20 ·
HammyUK said:
Plans on these for the F20/21?
Ive not had a close look at the F series topmounts in person, but looking at realoem and what other aftermarket adjustable camber plates are like on those cars it doesnt look like it would be as simple to to do something like this for them.

Ian
 
#21 ·
#25 ·
Tweaked front tracking alignment last night and below are my current geo settings, after fitting the camber plates it pushed my front toe from zero I had set previous to slight toe out (10mins) tweaked track rods a couple of flats each side and ended up slight toe in (5mins) so left it at that and car feels much nicer, I haven't touched the rear alignment as yet but happy enough with settings and car is a joy to drive now :D

Front Toe @ 5mins Toe in
Front camber @ -1.5deg L/H & R/H

Rear Toe @ 5mins toe in
Rear camber @ -1.8deg L/H & R/H

Will be getting some more aggressive camber plates done for front when I get chance just as an experiment really to see how much this sort of plate can give, but happy enough for now and look forward to trying it on track as is at Croft in a few weeks.

Ian
 
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