A lot of people on here run fixed plates. Due to cost of adjustables, lack of camber and camber adjustment, and the effectiveness of them, they're quite popular. Maybe it was just a bad alignment or the machine was set up wrong. I honestly don't know. Try another shop and see what they say.

 

The last I heard was TSW was waiting on the spacers that go on top of the plates.

So
1. They are still waiting for the spacers
2. The spacers came in, but there was a quality issue with them
3. The spacers came in and are good, but they found a quality issue with some other part of the plate

 

2 questions:

1. I run Koni coil-overs. Can the shock adjustment **** still be used with these camber plates (is there enough access through the camber plate hole)?

2. I assume that your "More than an inch more strut travel than some of our competitors!" statement only applies to coil-overs that don't use the OEM style spring perches? Cause it looks like the OEM style spring perches take up that "extra travel".

thanks!

 

come and get them

 

I'm interested in this as well.....how much extra room for travel is there on these camber plates? Generally the increased travel means that your ride will be lowered about an inch if you don't adjust the coilover heights...is this true of these? How much of a drop will be had?

Also...any estimate on time for the r56/55 versions? Does it involve just a change of the plate shape or does it require a full re-design?

 

Good questions...

We installed a set on Saturday with Koni Yellows, and there's plenty of room to get the adjustment **** on... I would assume the same would be the case with the Koni coilovers.

As far as travel is concerned, yes - that statement applies for the coilover setup. The OEM-style spring perches and the difference in the lower rotating bearing inserts do change things up.

 

Finally, FINALLY these are in stock and shipping. We have OEM-Style sets and sets for our AST coilovers (or any coilover that uses a 60mm I.D. spring).

What was the delay? Well, our local machine-shop-of-choice ended up moving to a new location, which caused a huge backlog on laser cutting (which also affected our x-brace run). Second, the plater jacked up the first run of top plates and they had to be re-done. Sorry it took so long!

We'll be working on the caster version starting next weekend - it's going to ake a bit of doing, but we'll get there.

 

The answer for #1 is that it depends on your spring lengths and what spring/shock package you are running (OEM vs. coilover, what springs, etc.).

We'll be looking at figuring out the R56 plate setup next weekend... I would expect it'll be a couple of months before they are ready to go.

 

so what you're saying is that there won't be an increase in travel when using the OEM-style spring perches; that the travel is more or less unchanged, but certainly not reduced?

 

Still waiting...at this rate I may be buying your springs, camber/caster plates, and front under brace all at the same time! What kind of deal will that get me

 

That depends on your spring and strut choices (stroke varies on different struts, stem lengths are different, etc.)...

 

Koni coil-overs... using OEM spring purches

I'm basically trying to figure out the total "stack height" of your camber plate assembly using your OEM spring purches vs. the H-Sport or the Ireland engineering versions... I hear that H-Sport version 1 was higher than factory set-up (losing travel if you keep the same ride height), H-Sport version 2 fixed this. Ireland engineering has a really low (race) version but it is too harsh on the street...

so my question remains somewhat unanswered...

 

I think what cooldaddy is saying (along the same lines of what I was asking earlier) is this....

Let's assume you have a suspension installed.....you decide to buy the new TSW camber plates. The springs, the ride height settings, the strut all stay exactly the same....you just install the new TSW camber plates. Will the ride height be the same? Or will it be higher or lower?

As he mentioned...IE offers a race version which will lower the car 1 inch due to a smaller bearing and a lack of bushing. If you have coilovers with ride height adjustment that isn't independent of the spring perch (KW, H&R, Koni, etc)....you could raise the coilover one inch, thus gaining more travel but still being at the same ride height as you were prior to the camber plate install.

So...assuming nothing in the suspension changes (your OEM suspension or Coilvers stay exactly the same), does your camber plate lower or raise the ride height or does it stay the same?

 

^ from what they have told me over the phone, it stays the same. And to keep it the same Jeff either told me that they needed to use spacers or they made the plates thicker...one or the other but I forget which. So basically if they do this it WOULD have lowered the car, but they made it to where it stayed the same height.

 

I can certainly understand that it's desired for OEM type lowering springs, to prevent that the front suddenly sits much lower than the rear, but for adjustable coil-overs that use the OEM style perches it would have been nice to have a shorter "stack height" and gain some travel...

bummer... missed opportunity imho...

 

Yah.....a nice street camber plate with a shortened stack height would have been awesome...especially since the MINI suffers from such travel issues when you go lower. It'd be a great way of allow you to have a nice lowered ride without limiting your travel.

 

But, if you are using stiffer springs and dampers, the rate at which the suspension reaches full compression is probably - should be - greater than stock.

The problem with a few aftermarket adustable coilovers lay with the bumpstops in my opinion. Design the bumpstops to work with the dampers and short travel - bumpstop active - and the loss of travel isn't so bad. This also makes most setups a wee bit progressive, however - even if using a linear rate spring.


Keeping the camber plate design simple and strong is a better approach for long term durability...and who knows what kinds of complications might arise when design goal attemtps to remedy travel and camber adjustability; we may not have seen these plates for another 6 months.

 

I'll post some detailed photos with some numbers on how these "stack up" (hah!) compared to the original bushings and how they affect stroke and overall length.

It's tough to get two massive bearings used in the limited stack height you have to work with on the MINI with the OEM spring setup - and, the stem length on the struts is also a problem. I think we balanced all of that well. In essence, our plates are about 1/4" taller than the OEM bushing - BUT, the top of the strut is recessed about 3/4" in the lower rotating bearing. So, net drop would theoretically be right around 1/2" - but as I said, this highly depends on what you had before and what you're installing at the same time!

We do NOT recommend that these be used with OEM struts and OEM springs or non-OEM struts and OEM springs - OEM struts and non-OEM springs are fine, non-OEM struts (e.g. Koni Yellows) and non-OEM springs are fine.

For instance, if you run OEM struts with TSW springs - our springs are 7/8" - 1" shorter than OEM springs in static length, depending on which OEM springs you had and how long they have been on the car. The difference in static length (and slightly more) will be eaten up with our OEM top perch design - the net result is roughly the same travel before coil bind versus the OEM strut and spring setup, since the OEM spring is compressed more given the distance between the upper and lower perch. The top perch design we used will reduce the total stroke by ~1/2", but our testing has shown that it will not create any ill effects with a stiffer (read as non-OEM) spring. In theory, you would end up with 1/2" more drop because of the change in position of the shoulder on the strut (recessed into the rotating bearing, minus the 1/4" additional stack height), but this depends on the static length of the spring and the rate, too.

To date, we have seen no net change in ride height on two cars where we swapped OEM struts/TSW springs/TSW plates versus OEM struts/TSW springs/IE street/race plates (which do drop the car about 1/8"). We did see a significant change on a car that went from completely OEM (struts, springs, bearings) to Koni Yellows, TSW springs, and our camber plates - about a 1.3" drop in front from the shorter system, including the Koni Yellows whose bodies are significantly shorter than OEM (two finger gap between the R90's and fender flare) and 1" drop in the rear.

For coilovers, the setup is a lot easier and we crafted a simple retainer for the rotating bearing that replaces the top perch that comes with the coilovers. I ended up raising the lower perches on my AST's around 7/8" on both sides when swapping from IE street/race plates to our coilover plates to maintain the same ride height that I had before. Of course, I had to re-cornerweight the car, too. All in all, I gained about 1" of stroke with the new setup (hence the claim about additional travel). Had I left the lower perches where they were, the car would have been on the ground (which is NOT good for handling as our test results have conclusively proven).

So, the answer is still that it depends on where you're starting and where you're going...

 

That answers my question.....thank you very much Looking forward to the r56/55 plates

 

It stayed the same on a car that already had the IE street/race plates...

 

txwerks,

Re your post #69 above...will these work with JCW springs? These are about 1/2" shorter than stock. I just installed the JCW kit.

 

thanks! this is what I was looking for... I'll be placing an order shortly

 

I've been running on their prototype adjustable plates for a couple of months now - 1 DE and several autocrosses. I feel these are far superior to the H-Sport adjustables I had before. They are SOLID and the dual bearing stack I'd swear helps the front suspension stay flatter in the hard corners. I'm still running on stock shocks and the TSW springs and really like the combination. The way these plates are engineered, the spacer comes out for stock or similar shocks but can be added in if/when you decide to upgrade to coilovers. Maintenance on these plates should be easier than most (bearing replacements) as well.

We're lucky to have TSW local to us and to be involved in 'testing' their new products on the track. I'm eagarly waiting for their forthcoming brake kit alternative to the BDM which should fit even more wheels!

 

Should be fine, meb!

 

Are these no longer for sale?

I checked the TSW site but couldn't find them...