Looking for any information on front adjustable cambers. My subject is a 2006 S JCW GP. Popular brands seem to be K-MAC, Hotchkiss and Dinan. Anyone have any pros/cons on these?

 

Check out Helix who is a vendor here on NAM. They have a very nice set that they have sold for years.

 

I wouldn't want anybody to think that I'm biased, here, but I think our camber plates are still the industry standard. Years of track and street abuse have proven thier durability. They are also the best protection against mushrooming available.

 

Thanks Newbs and Helix...do you know what +/- adjustment they provide?

 

I'm sure Eric will chime in on adj.
Who's GP did you buy?

 

The adjustment limiting factor is the car, not the camber plates: your strut assemblies hit the frame rail well before you run out of adjustment from the camber plates. The Helix plates do not have provisions for caster, or positive camber adjustment: when they are adjusted to full positive, you are at factory camber setting. We did this so you could do adjustments on the fly, and go back to stock geometry without an alignment each time. You probably wouldn't want positive camber unless you are going to run a Nascar roundy-round event, or have smashed your car so badly that it's not square anymore. If that's the case, you probably should spend your money elsewhere than camber plates.

 

Previous owner was a gentleman named David. I bought it in May 2009 when I traded in my 2004 S. I have now been a proud Mini owner for almost 6 years!

 

I believe the car is still square, but I will double check, thanks. Not for Nascar either, but it is way out of alignment. I just want to get it back to par. Thanks.

 

If that's the car from Kentucky, it was a very clean, untouched car. Did you have an accident or hit a pothole?

 

It was purchased originally from Nashville, TN. It is very clean, and untouched. No accident...pothole is a possibility but all four wheels were out of alignment. Not really sure why, though. I was told a lot of the JCW sit so low they tend to get alignment issues. They were able to align the rear, but the front needs cambers.

 

What are the specs of the alignment? Negative camber is usually a good thing, but you want it even. The caster should not be indentical on each side. You will also gain some negative camber from strut towers that are mushrooming.

Nothing against what helix offers, but the vorshlag plate is a VERY nice peice as well. Also TSW is right around the corner from releasing a front plate that allows adjustment of both camber and caster.

 

Hey you got David's car, I've known him for years. And I know when he put it for sale I wished I had the cash cause it was a deal.

As for Camber plates check out the Hsport and the Vorshlag, we've used them both and they are great.

 

I know a lot of people who liked the Vorshlag for BMW's, so that sounds like a good option. My front two are leaning like this: \.\ To get it back in proper alignment I have to get plates for more adjustment. Thanks for the help...we'll see how it goes.

 

I would get that car in to a body shop to find out why before trying to put a bandaid fix on it.

There is something else going on there if the car is that out of alignment.

 

The Hotchkis (H-Sport) camber plates are great. They work well and do not raise the height of the front end. I believe the Helix plates raise the car about 1/4"-3/8".