Well we got about 8 months out of new OEM mounts on new Bilstein's. Both sides are torn. Mushrooming isnt too bad, just a little. I dont want to keep doing this nonsense. Looking at Camber plates as a more durable alternative. I dont really want to tear up tires with a bunch of camber, just want to not have to keep replacing strut mounts. OEM mounts are like 200 bones and the Ireland are around 275 I think. Thoughts and experience?

 

I tore up tires more with the stock setup than with my camber plates. I have no experience with fixed plates - only SPC and Vorshlag.

 

Hey, thanks. I'm looking at the Irelands on WMW that are adjustable. Gonna be spending a ton there in the coming months.

 

Ah, okay. I guess I sort of figured on the fixed plates because that's what everyone seems to ask about for some reason. My humble opinion is that the car doesn't have enough camber from the factory. I used to always wear the outsides of the front tires.

 

Oh, and the IE plates should definitely help protect against mushrooming. Plus, even if you set it to stock specs, you still have the ability to adjust out any cross-camber that the car may have acquired over the years.

 

Vorshlag. +1..Quality stuff!

 

Yep, I put a set of Ireland plates on my 05, JCW.

After a few trips up and down the local mountain road, I settled on -1.5° camber in the front and -.7° in the rear. I also have Ireland bars in the back. I've only had the Ireland parts on a few thousand miles, but so far, I have no complaints.

You don't need...to put -3° of camber at either end of the car, you can adjust them to 0° if you like, to, as you say, not tear up the tires. But also, the camber plates are MUCH better at keeping the strut towers from mushrooming than ANY plate, mounted to the "top" of the tower. It's plain ol 8th grade physics.

Mike

 

Agreed on strength of adjustable plates, however the suggested popular IE fixed plates seem a reasonable compromise. Question for DFTR though, is who will do the alignment and is that an independent shop willing and capable of dealing with adjustable plates? As outlined in my thread topic, I'm resorting to DIY method using budget-oriented tools since I live 200 miles roundtrip from any such independent shops, which seem disinterested (even if not unable) to commit to the extra time and effort required to dial-in to my preferred specs. Something else to consider...

 

I have the ireland engineering fixed camber plates. they're very durable and beefier than OEM so I can definitely see how they protect from mushrooming. I just replaced my street tires and the wear wasn't terrible, but noticeably more on the inside of the tires than the outside. so if you do a decent amount of highway driving, I'd probably try and stay near stock camber settings.

 

Thread update.
Way pinged me the other day to inform me that the IE stuff is backordered indefinitely. Humph.
He suggested the German plates referenced a few times in this thread. Twice the price but only choice I suppose. Does anyone have a source for the bitchen looking JCW strut braces? May as well do it all.

 

There are other plates out there, like SPC. Way told me that he'd had issues with the urethane detaching from the bearings with those though. There were some other nice looking plates on the market years ago (the Hotchkiss ones come to mind) that have been discontinued, unfortunately. Every now and then some pop up for sale.

If the German plates you're referring to are the Vorshlags, they're based in Texas.

Oh, and the Vorshlags don't have the isolation that the SPC (and I think the IE?) plates do, so if you're really sensitive to NVH, keep that in mind.

 

I had the same issue, ordered these from orrange and so far like em

Need to get used to driving with these for sure


I had the same problem, ordered these and so far like them, silver project plates

 

what's your long term review of the silver project plates?

 

I Have Vorschlags on GP#0092 and Have no NVH. They are outstanding and very high quality.