I'm sorry you guys, I feel stupid asking, but can you tell me what these are and what they do:

1) Control Arms
2) Camber Plates

I hear these terms thrown around alot and it's something you should consider when lowering, but have never understood their function. Can you please enlighten me?

 

Control arms are what actually support and guide the strut and spring assembly. Camber plates are used to change/adjust camber. Camber is the inward or outward lean of the top of the tires to the ground in degrees.

 

On a MINI, to adjust camber in the front, you put camber plates in. To get the desired range of motion in the rear, you can replace the bottom 2 or all 4 control arms.

mb

 

What would be the benefit of having aftermarket control arms? What exactly would they enhance?

I know what camber is, but also don't really understand the benefit. Seems like people change the camber when they want to lower their car with coilovers?? Is that mostly the case??

 

See prior post:

Next...

When you go into a turn, the weight of your car shifts left or right. If your wheels do not have at least some negative camber (i.e. not completely perpendicular to the ground), when going into a turn your wheels will not be completely flat on the ground across the tread width...the outsides will wear more than the insides. Adding some camber puts the tires/wheels in better contact with the ground (giving better cornering and/or traction), and evening out tread wear.

Most cars from the factory will run very little negative camber: for most individuals straight line driving, little negative camber results in fairly even tire wear and good fuel economy. On a car designed for a tight course and for handling, much more camber is run (usually more front camber than rear), for the advantages of better turn in/handling.

I had to find a diagram for this to make more sense - wheel/tire with negative camber:



Courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camber_angle

On a car that has been lowered, negative camber has/is been added in the process (the geometry of the suspension has been changed)...camber therefore usually has to be readjusted to meet the individual's demands.



Above picture grabbed from Team-Integra forums through a Google search: http://www.team-integra.net/sections...?ArticleID=943

As you can see, if the strut assembly (spring portion) is reduced to lower the car, all the components part of the top section of that equation are lowered as well, the result of which is the top of the wheel being pulled in (negative camber has been added).

On the above diagram, camber plates (for the front) would be plates added to the top of the strut assembly (spring/shock) to change the angle the assembly has with the ground, in turn affecting the angle the wheel has with the ground. Control arms (for the rear) move the bottom (or top) of the wheel in or out, adjusting camber that way.

- Matt

 

That diagram is actually attempting (and not doing the greatest job) to show how the old "double wishbone" Civic/Integra suspension worked.

"Double wishbone" or "short/long arm" suspensions can't actually use traditional camber plates. This kind of suspension is a classical "4 bar" linkage - body, lower arm, hub, upper arm. The camber angle is completely controlled by the geometry of the 4 bars. This suspension has the advantage of being able to GAIN negative camber on the outside wheel as the car leans in a corner.

The Mini uses a version of the MacPherson strut suspension. Camber plates bolt in between the body and the strut, allowing you to move the top of the strut in and out, changing the camber angle. You can, in principal, also change caster angle that way.