I'd appreciate some advice for this car:

2004 JCW (everything JCW except the carbon fiber crap)
stock 17" wheels with Yokohama S-Drives
other things not relevant to suspension discussion

I am definitely getting camber plates, if for no other reason than to halt the incipient mushrooming. I want adjustable plates with a poly bushing, not solid bearings.

The car is used as a daily driver but in a death-wish kind of way. To sum up my driving style, consider that no one ever wants to ride with me. I do not autocross or track the car, mostly due to lack of free time. Nevertheless, lectures about NVH are not needed here.

What say you folks about pairing camber plates with the JCW suspension?

 

I used Helix camber plates in my MCS. no problem issue and good price.

 

I think adding negative camber to the front is a great suspension modification (better than adding a larger rear sway bar). I have adjustable camber plates with the JCW suspension and love the improvement. I later added a 19mm rear sway bar for even more improvement.

All of the adjustable camber plates that I can think of, that are currently available, use a spherical bearing at the top. I do not recall seeing any available with a poly bushing but maybe someone knows of a vendor.

I use the Hotchkis adjustable camber plates and I do not feel any real noticable NVH difference over stock. The Hotchkis plates do not increase the ride height (beware because some plate do increase the ride height). TSW also has Vorshlag plates available.

If you want a rubber bushing, maybe the fixed camber plates would be a good option. The thicker top plate is suppose to help reduce mushrooming compared to the stock top plate.

 

MiniMania sells one with a urethane bushing:
http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/NMS5211/InvDetail.cfm

I already said: no fixed plates, no rubber. The only thing I want on my car to be rubber is the tires.

 

Vorshlag camber plates will be replacing my H-Sports sometime in the next year. I've only heard great things about them.

 

sBox: why don't you just come and get my RDR/Helix camber plates? They are bullet proof. Got the cage in yet?

 

Bean: You hadn't offered them to me yet?

 

Vorshlag plates will lower the front by about 1/2" when used with regular type springs (i.e. not coilovers). Some pics comparing here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2600558...7622489239385/

Nice plates but it would probably leave the front too low and not have enough suspension travel. Go with the H Sport camber plates if using regular type springs or the I.E. (Ireland Engineering).

 

We regularly use and recommend either the Hsport or the Vorshlag camber plates. I don't use the IE ones, had them come apart a couple times.

 

The stack height of the camber plates has nothing to do with suspension travel. I would highly recommend vorshlag plates.

 

The Vorshlag plates look very nice but the adjustment bolts are difficult to reach. I have seen posts stating that people have had to cut the top of the strut tower to provide clearance to get a wrench on the allen head adjustment bolts. The Hotchkis (H-Sport) are easy to adjust.

 

If they Vorshlag adjustment bolts are hard to reach they have not been installed properly. The Vorshlag plates are made with six bolt holes, when installing the four that are accessible should be utilized.

I have had good service from my Vorshlag plates

 

Some good suggestions, but all the good plates are steel monoball and the OP is looking for Poly. I am not up on all the latest but I think that the only polys are IE, which it seems is what Mini Mania is selling. I think the Helix might have some poly in theirs?
Stay away from IE poly as they do in fact fall apart as seen it pic below. The Vorshlag are my favorites I think. The set I installed in someone's car indeed needed trimming of the strut tower, which is no biggy. See below.

 

Be careful about trimming the strut tower if you ever plan on autocrossing. There is no allowance in the rules for trimming it at all. It will automatically put you in a Prepared class.

 

Use of a ball hex key pretty much eliminates the need for trimming. Pretty amazing tool.

 

ron-s mini:

Would you mind posting some pix of your camber plates installed..possibly with the adjustment tool in position? I have the same plates but didn't change/adjust the camber adjustment bolts from how they came shipped...and I cannot reach them with a ball end hex wrench.

 

On a MINI where negative camber is desired you will want to use the 4 holes located to the outside of the car - leaving the 2 holes towards the engine empty.

If they have been installed otherwise you will need to: mark the current position -- lift the tire off the ground - loosen the spring perch bolts so the assembly hangs down -- remove the two adjustment hex bolts closest to the engine and place them in the holes to the outside. Now reverse the process and position the camber plate in the position you marked at the beginning. Now all hex bolts will be accessible with the ball hex key for future adjustments.

 

Actually, it kinda does. It lowers the position of the bump stops by 1-2" which has the effect of decreasing available shock travel before hitting the bump stops. See this pic:

 

[quote=PenelopeG3;3032362]Vorshlag plates will lower the front by about 1/2" when used with regular type springs (i.e. not coilovers).

I have Vorshlag plates for my R52 on an otherwise stock suspension (...for now ) and did not appreciate any change in ride height.

ron-s mini: thanks! looks like I have some adjusting to do!

 

...knowing nothing about auto-x, ...soyou can add camber plates and stay in class but if you trim for access to them they bump you up? Bummer.

 

Have you seen the KMAC/BavAuto and SPC/Eibach camber plates?

 

Just put a pulley on your MINI and compete in SM. It's just for fun anyways. Then you can trim all you want.

 

I think i understand what you are trying to say now, but i disagree with you.

"Stack Height", as i have come to know it, deals with how much of the threaded portion of the sturt is taken up with camber plate. Or in the case of the vorshalg, from the bottom of the very bottom bearing, to the top of the very top bearing.

The reason the spring perch pushed that bump stop down was b/c you are using a stock-cut bump stop, which looks to be a the same size or bigger then the recess in the vorshlag plates for the bump stop to travel in to. That would explain why it was pushed down in assembly. If you are to get a smaller bumpstop (in diameter) i dont think that the bumpstop would be pushed down at all.

There is simply nothing related to "stack height" that goes down past the shoulder of the strut.


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Back to the OP, i think the SPC plates have a poly bushing in them, and i dont recall ever seeing those plates come apart.

 

Yep. That is a good description of the issue and one of the issues I had with those plates. They should either redesign their stock style upper spring perches so that the stock bump stop fits or provide a replacement bump stop that works.

The other was that the use of the camber plates did indeed reduce overall length of the strut and spring assembly by 1/2" which would translate to a 1/2" reduction in ride height. I didn't want to further increase rake on the car.

 

Yep, you will have about 1/2" lower front end with the Vorshlags, and thats b/c of the design of the plates. The strut-plate is physically lower via deisgn.

As far as the bump stop, i would suspect the bumpstop would compress in on itself would pressed into the recess inside the top-plate.

Redesigning the top-plate would be insanely non-cost efficient for such a small issue. Buying a set of other "aftermarket" bumpstops would be another issue, but to save the most amount of momey (even though you just spent $450 on plates); trim the stock ones even more. The part that bulges out doesnt help in softening the blow once you trim it like it has been, so just trim it into a cone shape. Thats all an aftermarket piece would be....