OK my $.02

I run Helix adj plates up front, H-sport control arms rear, Alta 22MM RASB (on softest setting) M7 FSTB, Pilo Racing RSTB and H-sport lowering springs with stock cartriges. My settings are as follows.

Front -2 deg camber, 1/16" toe out
Rear -1.5 deg camber ,1/16" toe in

Turn in is great, very slight cupping at the end of the tire life. Brake force is reduced by a slight ammount (less than 10% I'd say) no noticable loss in acceleration (this is probably because it's Justa Cooper)

FWIW I had some slight mushrooming before I installed the M7 FSTB and fixed it before the install. From what I mesured on the plates I have around 1" of billet aluminum (1/2" above and 1/2" below) around the surface where the strut tower mounts to the car at the top, and there has been no problem since. So if you can keep the MM reinforcement plates on, they will only help and will do no harm.

BTW as my Mini is set up, it is neutral and I can induce over/understeer with tire pressure at a moments notice. TP I use is 41psi front 38psi rear (this is completely neutral) and kinda weird in a sweeper.

 

1st thing wonderful pictures illustrating the difference between the IE plate & the stock plate.

My IE fixed plates give me 1.8 & 1.9. My MINI is on stock springs. I'm happy with how close those numbers are. I've had the IE plates on for 12,000 miles now & my tire wear looks great.

As far as reducing understeer they do, but our cars will still understeer, just a higher limit. The IE fixed plates seem perfect for the street & occasional track use. When you put the plates on you will end up with a lot of toe-in, an alignment is a must.

 

more ie vs oem pix

and a tango uniform view:


the oem plate ain't thick at all. the flange hides that.

no rubbing at about -1.8 on both sides with stock springs.

 

So how much do the IE Fixed plates add to ride height? It looks like about 1/2" from the pictures.

 

Didn't seem like that much for me.... maybe 1/4"

 

Be that as it may, my mini had gone over a road feature that allowed the bearing to rip through the stock rubber bushing, though the wheel and tire were fine. the oem strut mount pictured was the second one installed. I'll take the slight height increase with the increased negative camber that comes with the larger strut mount. it's just too bad BMW squashed Rover's proposal for unequal length and non parallel links for the suspension.

+1. looks to be about that when said and done. the increased wheel gap is not noticeable when storming the tight sweeper.

and back on topic and joining the chorus, the increased negative camber improves turn in. one must be smooth with steering input. I do notice better grip though the turn which reduces the initial feeling of understeer.

 

[quote=heyduard;2511469] it's just too bad BMW squashed Rover's proposal for unequal length and non parallel links for the suspension.

Greg, Onasled, and I discussed the possibility of incorporating a modified upper link from my old 99 Si. We never went much beyond conversation, but if I had the time and money, this would be a worth while experiment. The two cars have basically the same weight and weight distribution. The arrangement of the LCA is close...but mm matter here. Space within the strut tower and its strength need to be evaluated in sinc with a final arrangment that actually improves the mini's handling.

There are areas where the Si is so much better than the mini in terms of pure handling potential, but the car has other weaknesses that cannot be overcome - huge steering gear - 19:1 - and lifeless steering feel. The relatively weak body structure can be fixed.

 

too bad honda decided to go macpherson strut. But I did see something for 'stangs: agent 47 has a complete swap. upper and lower links!

 

I put the IE fixed plates on. A Very Nice upgrade!

They do add about 1/4" to ride height, and are a LOT sturdier than the stock bushings and carrier plate. No problem with these causing mushrooming.

The ride and sound of road-noise is affected slightly - as if the bearing was embedded in thicker rubber - yep - it is. The net is slightly less road noise, but it feels as if the struts were being better damped under stress (again - more rubber).

The handling is affected a lot - I'm glad I took advice here and loosened the 22mm rear sway bar to its softest setting. Turn-in isn't affected much, unless you accelerate while turning - like entering the road from a driveway - more traction there.

It is affected most when you are turning hard and the outside wheel is loaded. I noticed that when accelerating out of a corner, instead of holding the wheel steady and straightening out with the throttle using stock camber, the car now wants to turn into the corner - you have to relax the line a little earlier when you start to add gas, as the car does not have as much tendency to understeer.

It also adds gobs more traction when cornering - I'd guess at least 5mph faster through the twisties.

Bottom line - excellent! I got 1.8 degrees neg. camber and within a couple of hundredths from side to side. It doesn't seem to have any downside for the street, and certainly improves handling on twisty roads. It should cut my outside-edge tire wear considerably, so maybe even makes financial sense...
6^)

 

Told ya' you'd like them.

 

I'm glad you like them. And yes, the main advantage is when the outside tire is loaded, beacause in that condition, instead of having only part of the tire width in contact with the road pavement, you'll now have all of it, if you're cornering fast enough to load the outside wheel enough, and that will allow for more traction and less understeer.

Of course, if you have too much negative camber, you risk to obtain the opposite effect because you'd need to corner so fast to load the outside wheel enough that you won't be able to do it, especially on public roads, so you won't have the whole tire width in contact with the road pavement

 

very nice! and welcome to the fixed plate club (is that like the blue plate special?). going on 10k miles on new rubber, the plates have made the outside-edge wear even with the rest. huzzah!

 

do all camber plates raise ride height?

 

^ Thanks for asking that question. I'm considering camber plates myself and would prefer not raising ride height.

 

I hear some actually have the same or slightly lower ride height as OEM... it all depends on how the parts stack up...

 

My Bad, Here are the details from IE

"The fixed plate raise the car 3/16" (.188"). The adjustable street/track plates may raise the car 1/8" (.125") Neither of these are significant in my opinion."

 

Seems all the people above think differently???

I always heard till now that they don't, BUT
Another friend just installed them this week and claimed about 1/8'' raise. Not sure if they may settle any or not?? Any truth to that??

I had planned to go this route also, but with my cabrio already alittle higher in front then I'd like, I hate to add even alittle to it..

 

I don't know if Dustin is talking about the fixed or adjustable plates - probably the adjustables. From the photos showing differences in stack height, it's pretty clear that the fixed plates DO raise it a LITTLE. But it's really no big deal. And the change in handling and the other benefits of the Ireland fixed plates (beefy rubber mounts and mushroom protection) I think outweigh a 1/8-1/4" height increase... that's mouse nuts, IMHO....

But if it's that important to you than you bottom out your car on my drives, then keep it dragging the ground.

 

The stack height of new IE Fixed plates is about 1/4" taller than my used OEM bushings.

How much they settle or compress, I don't know. It doesn't really matter to me, as the benefits of more camber far outweigh a slight ride height increase, IMHO...

 

form over function, function over form, some want both.

 

Well, I've got IE adjustables and I don't think they raise the height, if so it's really barely noticeable. Hope this can be useful.

 

Easy Paul, my car is not that low!!
but as you see everyone is getting different results it looks like??
Results as in ride height. Everyone seems to really like the handling results though. Which is the most important..Mini Macky was probably thinking the same as I was on it since he asked the question

 

OK, I was wrong and have edited the other post, the IE's will JACK UP a MINI Big Time,

No Really here's the numbers from IE "The fixed plate raise the car 3/16" (.188"). The adjustable street/track plates may raise the car 1/8" (.125") Neither of these are significant in my opinion."

 

Aside from price, what's the difference between the IE camber plates and the Helix?

 

Some do, yes...