Installing under side strut protection or camber adjusting kits..?
 

Just a heads up to anyone installing front camber adjusting kits or underside mushroom protection plates into the front of your car... This may apply to more than just the first series cars.

I installed a camber adjusting kit this weekend into my 05 JCW.
Something I noticed that isn't a good thing. While the main plate is large enough to add a lot of protection for mushrooming towers, it's also large enough that the corners of the plate touch the tower material before the rest of the plate does when you tighten the three nuts.

That is to say, the corners of the plate will dig into the tower metal when fully tightened. This MAY...eventually try to wear enough material away to tear the tower metal where the plates corners are.

Quick easy fix...grind or file about a 30° x .07" or .08" chamfer (or a large radius) into all of the corners (five places in most) of the plate to produce a "soft" edge.
I also added some epoxy paint where I ground the chamfers to slow any rust development.

I know some of you will say, "my cars had them for years with no problem." And that's just fine, good on you. That doesn't change the fact that, it's a problem...it's not a good thing. I realize that some plates also may be different sizes, and some may dig into the tower material more than others. The way I look at it, it's better to be safe and take care of the small details before they become large problems and come back and bite you....

Your car, your money, "just a heads up" to those that think the little details are worth doing to finish off your car better than the next guy.

Mike

What plates did you buy?

Mine fit with no clearancing needed.

Add me to the tower of people with under plates that fit without this problem. :wink:

MINI, pnw -

It's a small interference.
I'll bet you just missed it.
If you put "just" the upper plate in place into the shock tower, push up hard and wiggle it around without installing the nuts...you'll find scratches in the corners. Or I suppose you could actually install the nuts, snug them, then remove them, remove the plate, scratches will be in the corners..!
That's how I found the problem.

As I noted, "fitting" and being a correct fit, are two different things. Pull one of your plates off (not that difficult), I'll bet your see the problem..!
Just bolting everything in place...you won't see the problem, but I can just about guarantee it's there..!

Mike

Selecting the right plates under the towers is one part of the equation for me. The other part is selecting a strut tower brace that has very beefy plates on the top and M7 bar happens to have that important attribute in addition to being a stout bar.

I spend a lot of time peeking up Desire's miniskirt and I could see clearly her camber plates definitely have no such problem. When I first installed the camber plates that was the first thing I checked by test fitting one (without strut) against the empty strut tower. For me it was an obvious consideration in the purchase decision as well as a step in the installation check.

So which brand were they?

its a top secret. you we don't have the clearance to know. :lol:

As to mine, is free for anyone wants to know. Right in my thread.

Right? Damn, guess my regular secret clearance doesn't cut it...

My Vorschlag plates appear to have fit just fine, so my curiosity remains as to which brand was purchased and required additional fitment. It's not out of the question for this to happen, however, as I had to cut a few coils out of my H&R Street Performance springs in order for the rear to not sit up in nosebleed territory. It happens, even with reputable companies.