I did not ask for a replacement or refund I take my cars to the track and failures are part of life

 

Have not seen those go too often, the Vorshlag plates have been good, so are the IE ones, Did you ever spill any fluid on those plates or the poly like coolant or any chemical by accident.

 

I wasn't questioning from a replacement/refund perspective, but from an engineering perspective. "Seeing these issues all the time" on a street car application from a major aftermarket suspension manufacturer would concern me. I'm new to Minis--this is my first experience with camber plates with poly in them, but that's not an acceptable failure in my book, particularly when they failed within a few months use. Had I known about this issue I wouldn't have installed the IE and gone straight to the Vorshlags.

 

WMW wrote -
I've been using them in my street cars for years and don't have any added vibrations or issues, and NEVER had a vorshlag fail.

See the underlined above. This is an incorrect comment. Yes, actually you do. You've just put it out of your mind from time behind the wheel with a solid part of a main suspension component.
Why do you think cars, trucks, buses, etc., NEED shocks..?! I just bet that of you fill your tires to about 45psi, and hit your local freeway...you'll need a mouth guard to keep your teeth from chipping..! Same thing, tires are a huge damper, just like the urethane is in the upper shock mounting plates.

So yes, the Vorshlag Plates(or other solid plate kits) WILL transfer additional vibration to the chassis OVER an Ireland Engineering or Eibach type design with a cushion between the bearing and the housing. Why do you think that they (OEM also...) are designed that way..! To keep folks happy about chassis vibration... Just like folks whining about too stiff a motor mount. Some don't feel it, some do...but...additional vibration IS there.
There are several ways of accurately measuring this fact. Just takes a few dollars..!

Mike

 

I picked up the plates from Ireland Engineering today.
They said they did a big change to the inside of where the urethane is. I didn't ask what. The guy I spoke with said that it was changed nine or ten years ago and haven't had a failure since.

He did say to keep an eye on the bearing itself. Some have needed changing at around 20,000 miles. I said, while I own the car, it'll probably never make it that far as I have both other cars, bikes to drive, and I'm old..!

Mike

 

I believe Ireland Engineering when they say that they haven't had a failure since the redesign, seems to me like they corrected whatever problem there may have been and have since been pretty bulletproof. I like the design particularly because the urethane does help reduce NVH, as well as being a good budget option. I don't plan on becoming a track rat anytime soon (mucho money for that hobby!) and for the foreseeable future I'm gonna keep the Vogtland springs the previous owner installed along with Bilstein B6's --- coilovers may happen at some point but it'd be down the road a few years at least.

I love the idea of adjustable camber up front but at this time I simply cannot justify the nearly $500 asking price for the Vorshlags w/ stock perch (my want/need list is too big at the moment LOL and average cost is $300-$500+ for the stuff I want so I'm trying to be smart and frugal about it all because it really adds up fast!)

So,
very soon I'll be getting some of the IE adjustables.

Quick question -
I have some Cravenspeed strut tower defenders that I'm waiting to install when I get my susp. sorted very soon, doing a lot all at one time kinda thing, but I've read that the IE fixed plates use longer than stock bolts and must be cut down if the defenders are to be installed --- is the same true with the adjustable ones?
Or are the bolts shorter than the fixed ones?

And,
further rambling:
I noticed that Hotchkis used to sell adj. camber plates with this urethane design, but they were discontinued around 2016 or so I think?
Anybody know why they quit making them?
Did they suffer too many failures?
Just curious.

These are the ones I'm on about:




BillsWebSpace has an excellent install article
about those Hotchkis plates,
here:
http://www.billswebspace.com/R53Camb...stallation.htm

:

They also had another design,
which may have been earlier?
Or,
was it just a different option?

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...lates-new.html

 

Oldboy -

One thing to note...if you install anyone's adjustable camber plates, you really don't need to spend money on the "strut tower defenders"..! Money out and additional weight for nothing..!

1. The "protection" NEEDS to come from where the problem...comes from, that is, underneath..! Proper engineering dictates that a well designed lower plates should provide 90 to 100% protection. Plates bolted on the "top" of the towers, at best, will provide about 20 to 30% protection.
Understand that a "well designed" plate does not mean a .062" thick aluminum plate..! They can be of aluminum or steel, but need sufficient strength to handle the pounding of the suspension.

2. Most (as far as I know) of the camber plates main plates are aluminum. But as noted above, they all are thick enough and "most likely" have plenty of strength (not too soft a material to not require the steel lower plates that are offered bu some of the outlets. Steel plates will be so much the better.
I bought a set of steel "protection" (lower) plates myself. This was previous to deciding to buy a pair of adjustable camber plates..! So now I have new plates that I won't be using...

Mike

 

Thanks.

I hadn't taken that into consideration --- how "good" plates will be thicker and more stout than the thin OE ones.

Another poor design choice and inferior part implementation by BMW in my book,
but at least we don't have it as bad as some Porsche GT4 drivers:


YOWZA!

 

WOW that is crazy !

 

SO IT HAPPENED To me. I should have listened.
So now what can fixed camber can i use for the h&r coilobers? Any recommendations?

 

Are those Eibach? solution: Vorshlag

 

For the street though? Little overkill and vibration.
Of that’s my only option with Coilovers?

and ordering the Vorshlag is a little confusing.
Perch size 2.5 60mm ?

How can i find out with my H&R? Need to order tis asap
need can’t be paying for rent a car for a week lol

 

Options:

1) If you have the top spring perch for the H&R springs, then you can go with the stock top mounts.
2) as above plus get the IE fixed camber plates that just apply a bit of offset.
3) Call the supplier of the camber plates you have and say "WTF." Order replacement parts.
4) Call Vorshlag.

 

Might do the fixed IE. The peach is on the bottom of my coilovers
people seem to swear by the Vorshlag. You have no issuses
with ride comfort ?

 

My car is set up pretty stiff, my wife hates it. But with the Ohlins set to about the midpoint of the adjustment range and the non-runflat tires, it works for me! I think it is better ride quality than it was stock.

My question about the top spring perch referred to #7 and 8 in this picture


(screen grab from realoem.com)

If you have that for your H&R springs then you just need the top mount #1 and the IE fixed camber plate just adds some offset.

 

Thank You i went ahead and ordered stage 2 IE adjustable ones. Hope this won’t happen again was tempted to get the race version for 10 bucks more but it’s going to be a rough ride for a daily