After my last track session last month, I guess I was finally cornering hard enough to rip chunks of rubber off my right front tire. I figured I need camber plates so I can put a good amount of negative camber up front for better grip and hopefully more even treadwear.

This is on section of my tire. There is a section worse than this.


I only put these tires on in February. They now have about 5000 miles on them and 2 trackdays. They are Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 and I am very happy with them, so I was disappointed to see what my fun day at the track did to them.

As I had been wanting camber plates since my suspension refresh 2 years ago, I was waffling between saving money with KMAC camber plates or just spending the money for Vorshlag. I've never heard anything bad about Vorshlag products so I decided to go for it. While I was shopping WMW's website, I noticed a set of roll center adjusters to correct my suspension geometry from being lowered on coilovers, so I decided to try those out too.

When the package arrived and I looked at the camber plates, I knew I made the right decision. This are VERY nice and feel very well built.



I didn't stop to take a picture of it mounted on the coilover before I hung it in the car. Right away, it is clear to see "some modifications will be necessary".



And set for maximum negative camber:


So I decided to just cut away the space I needed in the strut mount for me to be able to make adjustments without having to remove the coilover from the car. I started by marking the metal I need to remove and got out my die grinder with a ferrous metal cutting burr.


Now I have clearance to reach all the bolts without disassembling anything.


That's a 1/4" hex bit socket you will need for these camber plates. I don't have many standard size tools but I'm glad I have this set of hex sockets. A 6mm hex is too small and would likely damage the bolt.

Then I did the other side. I didn't need to trim as much over here.


I was wondering if I would have enough clearance with these springs to max out the negative adjustment. I took this picture from below but I can't remember what the setting was on top. Oops, sorry.


Now it's time for the roll center adjuster kit. It's basically a spacer kit that goes between what BMW/Mini call the "swivel bearing" (or more commonly known as the wheel knuckle) and the lower ball joint. If your car is low enough, the angle of the lower control arm will go up from the subframe to the wheel knuckle when it should be flat. That upward angle is not good for suspension geometry and roll center adjusters are the correction. This kit is by PowerFlex and includes an additional spacer if your car is low enough to need it.


The kit comes with longer bolts to account for the spacer. The additional spacer I mentioned is the black piece above the purple main spacer. The black spacer is about 5mm thick. I have at least 1/2" clearance from the ball joint to the wheel so it is plenty.

Now to the alignment rack. I intended to play with my suspension a little to see how much adjustment I had but with having to modify my strut towers, I was already in the shop longer than I wanted to be, so I just wanted to put a street alignment on my car and leave. There is a special tool for adjusting rear toe that I bought to make that toe adjustment back there a little easier and more precise. I forgot that I had installed R56 trailing arms 2 years ago and cannot remember if I installed it complete or did I use the R53 mount to the body. This is pertinent because when I went to make my LR toe adjustment, I was not able to get it where I wanted it to be. I put as much adjustment as I could and left it for me to deal with later. I think I may have to remove the trailing arm mount and lengthen the slot in it to give me more adjustment. I did not see if the RR had the same issue to determine if both sides have an issue or just the driver side. At least I know how I'll deal with it when I'm ready. It shouldn't be too bad. Just another job with my die grinder and burr.

I had set the front camber plates all the way out (or as positive as they will go) before I went on the alignment rack. I figured I would be closer to a street camber setting like that. I'm glad I did that. I had read somewhere about being about to make camber adjustments with the car on the ground. I tried that on the alignment rack and it didn't seem like I could slide it. If I needed to make a camber adjustment, I would have jacked the front end up and then loosen the bolts to slide the plate. I know for sure that is and easy way to do it and every alignment rack I've used has a jack on it for that reason.

So this is the how my car is aligned right now. It's the bottom part of the picture where everything is green except the LR toe.


I forgot to mention with the camber plates, there is that unpainted steel plate with holes for the strut mount bolts to pass through. That raised the front of my car about almost 1/2". Although I don't like how that looks, I am glad for it because these coilovers were nearly adjusted as high as I could get them and they were on the low end of what I like for tire/fender clearance so now I know I can go to about stock ride height if I wanted to. I'm going to drive it like this for a few days or so and then I'll adjust the height to a level I prefer.

Whenever I do decide to play with the adjustments on the alignment rack, I'll report back here on my findings. My next track day is the weekend after Thanksgiving, so I need to get that sorted before then. I want to put -3.0 degrees camber on the front for that session. I hope I have spring clearance for that.

looking good. be interesting to see how it works out at the track

I hate to give you the bad news, but you could have just moved the screws over and not needed to cut anything. That is what we do as the plates have multiple threaded holes to be able to move the screws around depending on how much camber the car has and the hole opening. Then we just use a ball allen wrench to tighten and adjust.

Awesome write-up and great feedback.
Although I don't track - Having a lowered ride with the same Bilstein 14 coilovers as yours; I'm learning quite a bit each time I read posts/thread like this.

Highly recommend -2.0 to -2.2 at all four corners.

Eddie07s what are you running?

Here's my alignment - perfect tirewear and good braking & acceleration, but the turn in is insane!


sharlie


Cheer

I've been putting this off for a while now. How's the the ride with the new camber plates so far? Any added harshness or noise?

It would have been helpful to have information with these plates for suggestions like this and torque specifications. In the end, I prefer what did rather than messing with ball allen wrenches in tight spaces.

Good to know! I initially was going to use JCW specifications but I didn't want that much camber for the streets since I take it pretty easy in daily driving. I'll put in some good camber later this month when I hit the track again.

I only drove it 3 days this week since wife wanted me to check something on her car. I do not notice any added harshness or noise at all. Since my front end is about 3/8" higher or so (a guess, I didn't measure), I want to say the ride is more compliant, but I can't be certain. Wife drove it today to see if she noticed a change in the ride. She said it felt the same as before to her, so I don't know what I think I am feeling.

What I noticed for sure is the lack of vibration on acceleration due to steep CV axle angle when my car was lower. With my car higher, the axles are more level. I'm not sure if the roll center adjusters have anything to do with it but I want to adjust the coilovers down again and see if the vibration comes back. If so, I then want to raise it little by little so see at what height the vibration goes away again.

At this point I am very happy with them, and I haven't even got to use them yet for the purpose for which I bought them. It will be interesting to see how the handling changes with a more aggressive alignment.

Yes - Please report back after re-adjusting/lowering your ride height with regards to vibration. I also experience a little vibration when accelerating. Not too bad but my Mini is currently slammed just mm above the top of the tires. This is due more to the B14 springs beginning to collapse due to traveling cross country with so much weight. I've since been fanatic if not concerned with respect to the angle of the axles (being parallel ) as well.
Thanks again for the informative write-up!

Excellent write up, thanks!

did i miss where you said you had no change in NVH from the vorshlag mounts? what kind of mounts did you have before?

I had stock style mounts on. Those made the usual creaking noise when turning the steering wheel, especially in the cooler mornings that we've been having since summer finally ended. I am happy to report these Vorshlag camber plates have completely eliminated that annoying and embarrassing creaking. These have been a fantastic improvement in NVH from the stock style mounts.

I can't wait to put a more aggressive alignment on my car for trackday in 3 weeks. I will report back afterward how my car responds with more negative camber all around. I will be at the same track, going the same direction as the day I chewed up my RF tire in September. Of course, it will be cooler but otherwise, it should be as fair a before/after comparison as I can get.

I had PM you with a few questions since we basically have similar suspension setups. I re-read your post and pretty much answers all my questions. Very informative and greatly appreciated!
The one thing I can confirm regarding vibration; Yes - the angle of the drive axles being pitched drastically upward will cause vibration. Mine occurs between 2,5k-3k rpms between shifts and then it smooths out.
Having the Vibratechnics mount amplifies the vibration. But due to having the Vibratechnics; the car takes off so instantly with absolutely no lag, the vibration is short lived.
I have since dialed/raised up my front B14s, 3/4" or so higher and have noticed the difference. I can imagine with the addition of roll centers; I anticipate less or eliminate vibration.
Thanks again.