any suggestions on which camber plate should I use with my Kw V2 coilovers? Are there any difference between brands? TIA

 

I have the K-mac race plates with KW Competition 2 Ways. They actually lower the car a little, 7/16" I think. Most plates raise the car. I didn't notice any increased noise but others with non poly plates report increased noise. The K-mac's look cheap and I bent mine when I hit some very uneven railroad tracks very hard at about 50 but that didn't seem to affect them other than needing a new alignment. They are not indexed for easy camber adjustment but caster is also adjustable with them. If I was going to get another brand I'd go with the RDR's which are indexed and look indestructable but I think raise the car a little. I don't think you will be able to use the KW adj. **** with the RDR's either. I know when I had my KW V1's I didn't want anything that raised the car, as I could barely get it as low as I wanted unless I was willing to space the front wheels out another 5+ mm.

 

thanks for the info! Would there be a link to the RDR camber plates you mentioned above? TIA

 

Check the sponsor directory, Helix, Mini Madness (rebadged) and others sell them.

 

Just had the Helix camber plates installed. Those things are a piece of art.

 

how much did you pay? Any pix?

 

The Webbmotorsports.com camber plates are good. $559 a pair
http://webbmotorsports.com/suspension.php
http://detroittuned.com/products/ind...20050219180401



The helix13 RDR camber plates are also very good. About $499 on special
You can adjust front camber but not caster in these two products.
Built tough and durable.
http://helix13.com/html/products/pro...ew.php?p=1&h=m

 

$499. Pics forthcoming.

 

Had my RDRs installed last week, also at Helix. Feel better already, even without the alignment. Alignment coming tomorrow. Looking forward to my new set-up on the track!

 

If I get struts with adjustable damping at the top, can I still use any of these camber plates? It looks like the RDR and Webb ones cover the top.

Is the H-Sport one any good? It looks like the center cap is removable, allowing access to the top of the strut. How does the delrin bushing compare to the typical metal pillow ball joints?

 

Don't know about RDR, but the Webb plates would be fine with the adjusment on the top like the Konis have.

 

Just got through bending a 1/2" wrench to adjust camber on the Webb plates. Looks like it will work alright, but now I'm not sure if 1/2" is the right size as it seems a bit loose on the nut. Maybe it's metric... which would be nice. onasled?

 

Matt,
RDR will work w/ the koni's. RDR has a special wrench for the adj.
Emmanuel

 

It's 1/2" Tony, though you are right, it's a small 1/2". Not a 12mm (too small) or a 13mm (way too big). It will feel like it does not fit because it really doesn't get a good grip on the nuts because of where they are.
Give me a few minutes and I'll take a photo of what I did.

OK, as I think I described a while back, I cut out slots in the tower caps. I also had to grind away some of the cap towards the inside in order to get a socket on the strut nut. These WILL come loose at some point.

I did all of this because after two times of tightening tose nuts with that bent wrench, they came loose. Then my alignment guy did it and again they came loose. The open end wrench can only tighten these things so much before it makes contact with the caps and slips off.

I've tracked the car for around 9 days since this mod, 2 hours a day, on some of the roughest courses in the US and have not seen this mod weaken the towers at all.

NOTE: do this work when strut and plate are dropped.

 

At MMW 05 I had a chance to look at various camber plates up close. The RDR/Helix ones look very high quality, with thick beefy anodized aluminum plates. Mini-Madness also makes their own, and it looks exactly like the RDR/Helix ones.

The Webb ones look very high quality as well, but I do not like how the adjustment bolts are very difficult to get to unless you cut away some of your strut tower, as Onasled has done.

Surprisingly, the H-Sport ones feel very cheap. The plates are made of thin steel and the sliding mechanism feels flimsy. However, Mini-Madness scored #1 in the road coursse section of a recent Car & Driver 4-cylinder tuner shootout. Mini-Madness told me that they must use H-Sport because that is the only one that is compatible with Tein's EDFC. Also note that H-Sport required redrilling of the strut top holes.

RDR/Helix/Mini-Madness would be at the top of my list.

 

onasled, thank you. That is what I visualized alright. Yes, it's 1/2", but a sloppy one, and it's just not the angle either as the loose fit is the same for the mounting nuts as well (where angle of access is not an issue)...

matma92ser, those who I know that got Webb's plates did so for compliance reasons. Like Randy's, I believe only jlm's plates are the monoball type.

 

Are you referring to a metal spherical bearing vs. some kind of delrin or urethane bushing?

 

As Randy suggested, I found a spare half inch open end wrench. Heated it and bent it close to the head of it. Now I can get it in flush, all the way, and have no problem adjusting the plates.

My only issue is that the plates raise the car up quite a lot and I don't have lowering springs, so it bothers me. Car grips pretty well well though with its stock early 2003 springs and shocks. The camber plates have held up well, but mostly street use in SoCal, so not much abuse.

 

I torched an 1/2" wrench in a vice, and bent it for the same purpose. I however find that 1/2" is a tad bit big as it wiggles a little on the nuts, and it concerned me (possible stripping). So, I got a 7/16", did the same, and with the use of a Dremel, enlarged it a tad for a snug fit...