Anyone using the new Ireland Street/Race camber plates? I want to get some plates for my S and the price and comfort sound great, I'm just not sure about the quality/durability.

 

Bump :smile:

 

I know these things are new on the market, but has anyone tried them yet?
I can't see how they'd be much different then any of the others out there, as far as design and quality. And @ $275, you can almost get 2 sets for the price of one of the RDR's or Webb.

I guess I really want to know is they could be any noiser than the other 2 brands?

Thanks

 

Very interesting ...........

 

More discussion here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=45257

 

I'll be installing the street/race adjustable plates from Ireland tomorrow... I'll post my experience after the install and again after our October 8th autocross.

I do know that they literally FLEW out the door after they introduced them. I got one of the first sets from their second manufacturing run. Heh!

Jeff told me the street/race version actually drops the ride height 1/8". Shrug. We'll see. I'm already riding on Bilstein SP's with H&R springs. I'll make a note to measure the gap between the shoulder of the tire and the fender lip before and after installation.

 

I have been running them for the last 2 months & they ROCK! Best Value for the $$. Buy them you will love them! Cheers, Bob

 

Here's a copy of my test results posted on Team Mighty Miniz site.



Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 12:18 am Post subject: Canyon Mini wrote:We just removed my Ireland prototype race camber plates yesterday, & installed the new setup pictured above. I will be reciving the car back from Steve today, for a serious shake down test. I will report back about performance & streetabilty in about a week. Stay tuned.

Well sorry it took so long to post my feedback on these new Ireland camber plates. So here goes, Everything that sucked about running the "race only" camber plates on the street has been FIXED! No more slamming, pounding, transmited into the cabin. Its amazing what a little urathane in the right places will do for you! The other real nice thing is that you can spin the top aluminum mount around 180 degrees, to get a great range of adjustment for any reasonable "street" camber setting. Then if your going to the track, you just undo the 4 little allen bolts at the top and spin it back 180 degrees & get a full range of "track" camber settings. In the "track" postion we could not achive less then -1.25 camber,so we just spun the top mounts around & got a perfect -.75 camber. -.75 is a perfect compromise for my style & tire wear on the street. Over all I would highly recomend these camber plates, Great quality & great value for the $$. Only problem is now the Wife wants to drive it all the time now.
She says she loves to drive it now that she doesnt have to wear a sports bra! Cheers , Bob

 

All parts installed... started at 1:30 PM yesterday afternoon and finished at 2:30 AM THIS MORNING.

Oh, the saga of the Ireland Engineering camber plates... It was painful. It involved some machine work for clearancing the nut and capture plate assembly (thanks Mr. Valant) that would allow the capture plate assembly to properly move on the spherical bearing... Some grinding of welds on the studs to flip the passenger side top plate (which was a freakin' driver's side one), welding the studs back in after swaging the metal (again, thanks Mr. Valant)... Fighting with the stupid driver's stide strut... and finally, -2.2 degrees! Toe seemed to take awhile to get dialed in - of course, that could have been because it was 2:00 AM!!! Hah!

Ireland is going to get a letter and pics - I don't know if other struts have the same clearance issues with the nuts or what, but they need to know about it with the Bilstein SP's.

Now that they are in, they ROCK!

The K-Mac rear camber bushings are pretty daggone trick, IMHO. Those went in relatively easy. You can dial in at least +/- 2.5 degrees using both the top and bottom eccentric bolts. Loosen the lock nut, adjust, tighten, wallah. The instructions SUCK, though. I think we were done in a couple hours.

Final settings:

-2.25 degrees up front
-1.2 degrees out back
0 toe in front

Car is freakin' sweet. Ride height didn't seem to change in the front b/c of the Ireland plates. The car seems WAY more planted in corners. In a straight line, the steering feels a bit heavier, but turn-in is very crisp and once you turn-in, the steering wheel is nice and light. Since my ES100's are the constant factor in the equation, and I have a left-turn coming to work that I take ***** out on the same exact line every morning, I noted that the computer didn't kick in like it normally does mid-corner - meaning there's gotta be more grip! Ride hasn't been compromised too much, but you can defintely tell the front feels more "solid" when you hit a sharp bump, meaning there's way less compliance with that spherical bearing and the urethane.

It's makin' some creaky noises while backing into and out of parking spots when the wheel is fully cranked one direction or another. I haven't bothered to check it out much, yet, to see if there's a clearance issue or anything (shouldn't be). My guess is that it's that spherical bearing complaining.

Let me just say that anyone that installs camber plates on a purely street-driven car is absolutely nuts. They transmit everything into the cabin. That being said, performance rocks in the corners.

 

Your going to quickly trash your front tires running that much -camber on the street. It will handle real nice until you waste the inside edge of your tires. Enjoy & start thinking about what tires to buy next. Cheers, Bob

 

If you've got stock springs in the front, with that much negative camber the LF spring will be binding against a stiffening channel in the shock tower. I doubt you will be able to see it easily, though. Been there, done that. It wore a groove in that channel. I backed off just a hair and now it doesn't catch in the groove any more so the noise is gone.

 

Scobib and others who've installed these,

Did anyone at Ireland give you any advise with regard to the install before hand? I get a little nervous when I read about the level of work involved - and it's not the work...it makes me wonder about the development and fit and finish that went into the components.

 

i installed the fixed plates. the biggest issue was i didnt ask them to tack weld the bolts to the plates. i will do that when i have to take them out at some point (new struts). it was quite a struggle to get the most innermost nuts on while holding onto the bolt too. i also had to flatten those channels in the wheel wells just a bit to get rid of some rubbing.

 

Actually, I know several people running -1.8 to -2.2 on the street and they've noticed no excessive tire wear with regular rotation at 3k miles...

 

Thanks, I'll have to check it out... I have H&R springs...

 

Jeff Ireland told me that they didn't have a chance to test the setup with the Bilstein SP's. With stock struts, Konis, or PSS9's, the install is very straightforward. My plight was caused by the plates not having enough clearance for my application.

BTW, the "instructions" that come with the plates are terrible. They mention that they capture plate/bearing fixture assembly can be rotated to differently affect caster and how much you can change camber - but they don't tell you which way does what. Also, the drawing doesn't look a whole lot like the actual product...

 

Thanks

 

scobib, I was getting worried about the install of the Ireland plates. I received a set of the about a week ago, read your post, and proceeded to dismantle my front end. Install went smooth, no problem, no rubbing, no cutting. I have alta springs and factory struts. Running-1.5. No problems.

I also installed 2 sets of Irelands Rear control arms. Perfect fit, awesome finish. Only took about an hour and a half, start to finish on the rear and about 2 hours for the front

 

Right - they tested the plates with all stock struts, Konis, and the PSS9's... I guess nobody had thought about the Bilstein SP's!

 

I'm about to install my IE race/street camber plates too. One thing discovered is that the round flange around the top of the towers needs to be trimmed towards the inside to make clearance for adjustments once the assembly is installed to the tower (something IE didn't mention).

Question for you guys:

1-What kind of camber/toe gauge tools did you guys use?
2-How did you adjust the toe? On the ground? If so, how did you guys get under the Mini to do that?

Thanks:smile:

 

I just recieved my plates the other day and no instructions at all. I'm a little confused about where the one thick washer goes and the other piece that looks like a starter motor bushing. I also thought that the brg plates could be rotated only to get different caster settings only. Am I mistaken. I really could use a little help from anyone who has installed these please if you could. What setting are most of you using for camber. Thanks for your help

Stock struts with h-sport springs.

 

Larry,
You don't ever write!
On the serious side buddy, give Chad Miller at Detroit Tuned a call.
(586) 484-1158

 

Bump:smile:

 

BUMP Hey come on guys...am I the only one who supplies the answers around here

 

Sid

You should really take it to a good frt end shop to get it aligned. Everyone I know has taken it to a shop. Give onasled a PM. He's taken his every time he's done plates or struts.