I just ordered these, but thought I might like read about some experiences...

I was going to order K-mac, but a real pain to adjust...too bad, a couple more degrees caster would have been nice. What's a mother to do?

 

They're very good for the price Meb...I had them until the Megan displaced them...but you'll need to do some tower lip trimming to get full adjustment...Chad at DT can help you out with the details...

 

Thank you for an ultra quick response sid!!!

I planned ahead and ordered two extra bearings for these...since I seem to go thru parts faster than most

The Megan plates and pillow ball have held up incredibly well thru and entire summer of commuting and track work and a brutal winter. I removed them a couple of weeks ago for inspection and they still move with same resistance as new...and they don't rust!

 

I thought you had issues with the Megans Michael?

I love my Megans...absolutely better ride than any other setup I've had and no bottoming out...yet...

 

They changed the design and you should not have to mess with the tower like on early design.

 

newbs49,

Thanks! do you have these?


Sid,

Yes, getting rid of them, but the plates, which appear an many other designs, have taken a beating and are still in great shape. I would use these, but they make take some work to adapt to stock style springs. I only added my experience to raise your comfort level.

 

Hi Larry...you have PM

 

I've pounded on an initial set of IE street/race plates for quite awhile now (almost 2 years) with nary a whimper out of them... Daily driving (20K+ miles) 1.5 autocross seasons and countless track days. I haven't had any issues.

Due to the manufacturing process, sometimes the bearing doesn't get set in the urethane as they intended it to be - and some have had issues.

Bang-for-the-buck, though, they're still tops on my list (until we finish development of ours, that is! ).

 

I would have called you, but yours are not done yet

Thanks for the input!

 

Don had to do a little modification to the lip of the strut tower in order to get the desired amount of -camber in the front, but it's minimal and the end product is well worth it. These plates give a hollow clunk over certain bumps, and I've heard they rust.

mb

 

meb

I've had the fixed and the adj on my 03 and had no problems. I know the early design adj had an issue with cutting the strut tower to get full adj. The newer design adj worked fine on my 03. Contact Chad at Detroit Tuned. He had an issue with the first run of these but I believe the new ones fully address the problems, well on my 03 they did. I just put the fixed plates on the GP for now until I really decide where I'm going with my suspension.
Hope that helps.

 

Yes, all the info helps. Thank you very much!!!

mbcoops - do you like your IE plates?

Now, gotta put some feelers out there about rod ends in rear control arm and daily use...not that it matters much since they're already installed

 

well, anyone running helix or alta has rod ends, and i dont know from experience, but ive never heard any problems with them, wear or otherwise. I have a frend the run them for a while and then had them removed (not sure why) and just put them back on, so it musnt of been a ride thing (although his car is kind of set up for autocross, street be buggard, so i dont know. It is however his daily driver, and driven in the salty canadian winters. The had quite a few miles on them with i was takingm measurements on them, and they were really tight still, i will get exact milage from him next time i see him, buti know he just took it to texas (about 2400 miles) and had no complaints about them making noise.

Beecher

 

 

They've only been on for a few weeks. The bolts are starting to look rusty. I love what the plates were able to do to the handling via the alignment, but I won't know if I'm satisfied with the product until it does or doesn't disappoint me in some way. If it all rusts and is impossible to remove when I want to, then I'll not be a big fan. But right now, I'm used to the added noise over bumps, and I'm in love with the increased -camber in the front. It was a nice savings of $, too. So all in all, right now, I like them. This is my first camber plate purchase ever, so I'm still learning.

mb

 

mine too. I'd like to know the specs on the bolts so I can order some stainless one from McMaster. Anybody happen to know?

 

oooooooo if you get this information and make the order, please let me know!

mb

 

sent Jeff Ireland an email. We'll see. I'd suggest some antiseize on the bolts in the meantime. Black oxide coating = wholly inappropriate for something that will see weather.

 

As an aside, you can spray this stuff with a little deisel fuel. The fuel evaporates ( yes, into our already laiden atmosphere) and a layer of parafin remain. An old farmer's trick; farm equipment left in the field for winter were sprayed with diesel.

Of course, I would prefer to avoid this like the plague!

 

Heard back from Jeff at IE - 8mm x1.25. Look to me to be 3/4" long. I'll look through the McMaster catalog and order some up as a test....let me know who's in for some....usually need to order a bunch at a time anyways.

 

in if it works

 

actually, have some experience with stuff like this, this might cost a bit more, but using helicoils would probably be a great trick. From what i understand, the main issue is that the body is alloy, and the bolts are steel right? If that is the case, its not the bolts fault, per say, its the alloy, disimiallr metals create Electrolysis (i think thats what its called, im a bit rusty myself, haha) and the two mettals actually weld them selves together. Try getting allumium heads of a motor that had 24 studs per head, and have been on 60 years or so. Doesnt usually work, because the studs are now apart of the alluminum. Stainless actually makes matters worse when used with aluminum. What yous should really do is buy or borrow a helicoil tap (even if it SAE, just rememer they are no longer metric, assuming they are now anyway), and pop helicoils in, and i would probably locktite them in. Them smear antiseaze all over the bolts, and thread them in. This way, the electrolysis will occure between the heli and the alloy body (minized by the loctite anyway), leaving the bolt in a steel on steel atmoshpere. This is actually stronger than a bolt in alloy as well. If you really want to go overboard, you can still use stainless, but its not the best solution. IMHO. Hope this all makes sense to you

Beecher

 

no, the rust is surface on teh bolts themselves, not in the threads. black oxide is not an appropriate treatment for outdoor use (seems IE cheaped out on the hardware here). There's a reason the steel plates themselves are cad-plated....because that is appropriate.

bi-metallic corrosion (aka galvanic corrosion) is the process by which two metals create issues.

one other issue - at least on my set - the threads for the bolts that connect the upper and lower blocks were not fully tapped. This caused issues when removed the allen bolts to remove some spacers yesterday. We actually stripped one out trying to remove it (loctite + improper machining = disaster). Luckily, I had a spare metric bolt from something else on the car that was the same length and pitch. I was able to file down the flange to fit the recess and also took an air sand to it to get the stack height shorter to fit the spot. (Kind of stinks when the car is apart and you can't reassemble it to head to the store for new hardware.)

 

THANKS FOR DIGGIN THAT UP!!! The AutoZone near me carry a huge assortment of graded alloy hex bolts and nuts. I was kind of surprised.

 

two choices....18-8 or 316 stainless. 18-8 seems stronger and wears better, while 316 is more impervious to corrosion. 316 is 2.5 times more expensive. 18-8 is perhaps the better candidate (given the somewhat sheltered location).