IE Camber Plates - One more time

#8

Patton wrote:

I assembled mine as above and thought all okay. However, the spring perch still hits the underside of the camber plate. This is because the spherical bearing allows the plate to pivot over enough that no number of the washers seem to rectify it. To my mind, there should be another big washer at the top that would lock the perch vertically when the final nut is installed. The supplied washer only covers the sperical bearing, allowing the whole deal to pivot randomly.
Am I missing something? I had a quickie install of the assembled strut in the car and trying to turn the strut (as if turning the steering wheel) the plate and top strut perch were making contact. That can’t be right.

#9

Hello Folks

I disassembled my IE plate on the drivers side, as on the passenger side, the supplied washers had deformed, disentergrated, disappeared…

The sign is a "clunk" in the front end. The washers supplied are not up to the task, which is isolating the upper strut mount from the top spring hat so it can pivot, turn etc. Also on the drivers side the top ledge of the strut insert piston had started beating thru the upper spring hat, as it had on the pass side. You must use one of the stock washers as Robert mentioned between the upper spring hat and the top strut mount. I am getting some washers cut from a stock spacer that will be twice as thich as the supplied washers, hopefully that will solve my problem.

Al
Fiat Abarth Driver

#10

Al,
you say you are having washers made from the stock spacer - is there a reason why you don’t make one spacer that is the required height?
thanks,
bruce

#11

Is it just me or does it seem like there are WAY too many issues installing the IE adjustable camber plates? When I installed mine back in February I had the same troubles that many orher guys are still having. I have installed several other vendors camber plates on other cars and never experienced the problems that myself and others are having with the IE plates. Seems that even when you call the company they aren’t much help either. I called and talked to some very laid back guy (forget his name) that was pretty much useless to me. He faxed a diagram for assembly (since nothing came with my kit) and it was for an E28 installation with different parts. I called back and he tells me just to follow the diagram and use the parts that came with my kit in the same order as the e28 diagram.

Even when people think they have installed the plates correctly they later find out that they are wrong or they have worn out parts. Does anyone at IE follow this board or maybe listen to feedback from customers about their insufficient installation instructions and poor customer support? Perhaps they need to redesign the adj. plates so that you can get max camber while using all four hex bolts and provide clear assembly instructions for E30 appications. Anyone else feel slighted by IE?

#12

I’d have been happy with just a simple diagram that showed the sequence of parts. If it weren’t for this board, I’d still by trying to figure it all out. While I understand that ‘performance’ parts such as this ASSume a certain amount of automitive intelligence, it still is not exactly a no-brainer to install these. They are not inexpensive parts, either.
I wondered about the spacer washers myself. They looked a bit feeble. It’s together now, but I’ll have to check them after some use.

#13

Wow, mine didn’t come with spacer washers. My assembly consists of the following, from top down:

  • Top part of camber plate (part with the 3 studs that go through the tower)
  • bottom part of camber plate (part with the spherical bearing)
  • steel spacer sleeve (not washer) that gets sandwiched between the spherical bearing and the stock spring perch plate
  • spring perch plate
  • spring

I’d better take mine apart and inspect the perch plate. I had a hunch when installing it that the design was a bit shady.

#14

Thank all of you for the info. I felt I owed something back to [spece30] society, so here’s my contribution. Feel free to comment if desired:

http://brandnewengine.com/bmw/ie_camber_plates/

Over and out.

Craig G.

#15

This should be stickied as it will be helpful to a lot of people. Thanks

#16

that is really helpful - thanks Craig
bruce

#17

So has the above solution proven to work? Any more trouble?

I have some IE adjustable plates on order and i’m trying to make sure i’m getting what I need. The GCs look nice and offer castor adjustment (is there actually any room to increase castor in the strut tower hole?) but there another $100…

#18

Dan - IMHO the GC setup is cleaner and you can actually get 2 bolts on each side of the center bearing. The bearing also has and upper and lower billet spacer that fits into the spherical bearing so no other spacers/washers are needed. Well worth the extra bucks - my 2C worth. There is a some room for castor adj, but not much. The camber is limited with all plates by the shock tower housing and the top spring plate.
Ed

#19

Dan - IMHO the GC setup is cleaner and you can actually get 2 bolts on each side of the center bearing. The bearing also has and upper and lower billet spacer that fits into the spherical bearing so no other spacers/washers are needed. Well worth the extra bucks - my 2C worth. There is a some room for castor adj, but not much. The camber is limited with all plates by the shock tower housing and the top spring plate.
Ed

#20

hrmm kind of what i was afraid to hear… :slight_smile:

Bimmerworld does show the GC plates as back ordered… anyone know if they did decide to actually make them? i found an old post saying that they might not due to limited demand… I’ll call em tomorrow to clarify.

#21

I just got mine yesterday. Call them, they have them in stock.

JP

#22

I ordered mine direct from Ground Control and got them about five days after placing the order. They went in with no muss or fuss.

I got mine at the end of November. According to a note in the package an upgraded bracket was to be available in Dec that would be free to those who bought the original design. I tried once to get it via the web site, but their ordering system wouldn’d take a zero cost order. I guess I need to call them.

#23

Ok, i just cancelled the IE order since I’ve had trouble w/ their cust service in the past and well, it doesnt take much. I spoke w/ James and he said theyre out of stock, but expect more real soon. I placed the order.

#24

Maybe it’s just beginner’s luck but I ordered a set of IE plates and had zero problems installing them. I am able to use all 4 bolts and am sitting at -2.7* with room to spare (I still drive it to the track). I did buy these around August 2006 IIRC, and could be that the design has been changed.

#25

Looking at the pics provided in this thread I am not clear on something…On stock setup there is a washer that goes between strut bearing and (final) 19 mm nut that goes on the top of shock rod. So once the camber plate is in place did most of the people just not use the washer before putting 19 mm nut on?

Igor

#26

Resurrecting this thread as I’m trying to assemble my IE plates…

Here is what it looks like with the large BMW washer and the IE supplied washers on the shock shaft

They supply a sleeve that appears to fit inside the spherical bearing, but it only fits overtop of the threaded area and doesn’t go any lower. The bearing is a sloppy fit on the shaft if I don’t use the sleeve. There will only be a few threads for the top nut if I use the sleeve. Is the sleeve supposed to go down further on the non-threaded portion of the shaft?

thanks,
bruce

#27

I’d love to work on this with you guys, however, I am still waiting for my camber plates/sways from IE. Its been 3 weeks!!! GRRRRR