E34 Camber Plates

[Aaron Bakos]

( 95' 525i 5spd...109k)

Need to find out who makes a decent Camber Plate for the E34. I looked at Turner, but wasn't impressed by what I saw. Dinan shows some in their suspension packages, but I don't know anything about them. Ground Control...?? and TC Kline doesn't list any specific E34 applications.

I don't know. If anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it. Have to get this figured out before summer tires go on!

If you want to know more about why I need them, read on :)
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Went to see Brett at KMS yesterday (www.koalamotorsport.com), checked over my suspension and made some observations. The reason I went to visit him was because my alignment is goofy and I wanted to make sure there wasn't a worn component I couldn't find. Also, the back end feels squirrely at times, so I wanted to look that over with him.

The back end may be best explained by the worn snow tires that are on there now. The dogbones seem to be in good shape, as do the TAB's.

In the front I have a slight positive camber situation going on with driver's side. No evidence of a broken/bent component. With the exception of the thrust arm/bushing, everything is stock up there.

Near as we can figure, the last owner might have bounced it off a curb or something and tweaked the shock. Solution- Replace front shocks and get camber plates at the same time. This way if it's not the shock, I can compensate with the plate. Simple enough.

The car has Bilstein HD in the back, and I'd like to make the front match. I'm still not sure if I'll just put more HD's up front, or do Koni all around. I'd like the Koni's, but I'd need springs too and it'd wind up being a good chunk more $$$ than just another pair of shocks.

This pretty much leaves me in the decision-making stage. I'm in the middle of relocating to a new area and starting a new job, so this isn't going to get done next week.

Tired of typing for now...let me know what you think!

[Martin in Bellevue]

https://secure9.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=ireland&BusType=BtoC&Count1=348232448&Count2=265372872

There are adjustable plates available for $150. The fixed plates are $110.

https://secure9.nexternal.com/ireland/images/e30streetcamber1.JPG

[Scott H]

Ireland Engineering will have them fixed or adjustable. www.bmw2002.com

KMACs might be your most comprehensive choice to adjust for Camber and Caster.......

[Patrick]

camber kit that also replaces the front strut bearings. I have this setup and it seems to be pretty responsive and solid. I bought mine from Ireland Engineering but they are available from Bavarian Autosport and BMP as well.
The cost (about $270) was similar to buying camber plates and new bearings so I figured wth.
Patrick

[bfd]

( 95' 525i 5spd...109k)

Need to find out who makes a decent Camber Plate for the E34. I looked at Turner, but wasn't impressed by what I saw. Dinan shows some in their suspension packages, but I don't know anything about them. Ground Control...?? and TC Kline doesn't list any specific E34 applications.

I don't know. If anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it. Have to get this figured out before summer tires go on!

If you want to know more about why I need them, read on :)
----------

Went to see Brett at KMS yesterday (www.koalamotorsport.com), checked over my suspension and made some observations. The reason I went to visit him was because my alignment is goofy and I wanted to make sure there wasn't a worn component I couldn't find. Also, the back end feels squirrely at times, so I wanted to look that over with him.

The back end may be best explained by the worn snow tires that are on there now. The dogbones seem to be in good shape, as do the TAB's.

In the front I have a slight positive camber situation going on with driver's side. No evidence of a broken/bent component. With the exception of the thrust arm/bushing, everything is stock up there.

Near as we can figure, the last owner might have bounced it off a curb or something and tweaked the shock. Solution- Replace front shocks and get camber plates at the same time. This way if it's not the shock, I can compensate with the plate. Simple enough.

The car has Bilstein HD in the back, and I'd like to make the front match. I'm still not sure if I'll just put more HD's up front, or do Koni all around. I'd like the Koni's, but I'd need springs too and it'd wind up being a good chunk more $$$ than just another pair of shocks.

This pretty much leaves me in the decision-making stage. I'm in the middle of relocating to a new area and starting a new job, so this isn't going to get done next week.

Tired of typing for now...let me know what you think!

Sounds like your car is in pretty good shape. With regard to Dinan suspension products, he makes good stuff. If you wanted a complete *system* for the street, e.g., one that's comfortable, Dinan would be a good choice.

The major complaint about Dinan is he's expensive. My local auto part store gives me 20-25% off Dinan stuff, but he still pricier tham most. For example, his camber plates are somewhere between $225-250. As others have stated, KMC and Ireland have similar plates for what $110-150 or so. Since you have access to Brett Anderson, I would work with him....

[mholbrook]

Put the Koni adjustables in the front. I had Koni's in front and Bilstein Sports in rear on my 530 and no problem. The Koni's are only adjustable on the back at install so I guess it is a pain to change the adjustment.

We should start a poll on the number of people with short springs and 'thumping' Bilstien Sports. Probably all of them. Koni's are great but a little pricy. Plus, you get that great adjustability.

Mike Holbrook

[Aaron Bakos]

Sounds like your car is in pretty good shape. With regard to Dinan suspension products, he makes good stuff. If you wanted a complete *system* for the street, e.g., one that's comfortable, Dinan would be a good choice.

The major complaint about Dinan is he's expensive. My local auto part store gives me 20-25% off Dinan stuff, but he still pricier tham most. For example, his camber plates are somewhere between $225-250. As others have stated, KMC and Ireland have similar plates for what $110-150 or so. Since you have access to Brett Anderson, I would work with him....


My access to Brett is about to come to an unfortunate end...I'll be moving to Knoxville, TN, and I don't know how often I'll drive the 500 miles to see him :)

My biggest worries with Camber Plates is how easy they are to adjust, and how sturdy they are over time. I punish my suspension, and I don't want components that will need replacing anytime soon.

Thanks for the help guys, I'll read up on Ireland Engineering and KMAC.

[Aaron Bakos]

Put the Koni adjustables in the front. I had Koni's in front and Bilstein Sports in rear on my 530 and no problem. The Koni's are only adjustable on the back at install so I guess it is a pain to change the adjustment.

We should start a poll on the number of people with short springs and 'thumping' Bilstien Sports. Probably all of them. Koni's are great but a little pricy. Plus, you get that great adjustability.

Mike Holbrook

The adjustability is what has me interested...the wife doesn't like a kidney-kicker type setup around town :)

Do they make Koni's for a stock ride height?

[Cacatfish]

Ireland plates stack on top of your stock strut bearin and so add an additional 1/4 to 1/2 in. and make te front end a little tall. If it werent for tjis issue I would ave cjosen Ireland because I really like tje people tjat work tjere and tjey are really responsive. I went witj Kmacs from BMP because tjey replace tje strut bearin instead. Kmacs are known to be more prone to quality control issues, owever (no problem witj mine).

As far as te struts, I just put Konis on front and still ave Billie sports on rear. I tjink te valvin is similar enouj to not cause issues.

For anyone interested, my keyboard is malfunctionin, ence tje stranje spelllin.
:)

[Jason]

I was looking into the Ireland ones for the spring and was originally going to go with the fixed ones but i saw that the adjustables weren't that much more. whats your take?

[Stacy (Sydney)]

I have k/mac camber plates ( for about 1.5 years ) , no complaints. I get -2 degrees camber out of both sides, you need a wheel alighnment when re-setting them, which a tyre shop can do for you when you get a wheel alignmnent.
Tyre wear ? - set at -2 degrees, even wear on the front with yokohama a539's ( do not like these tyres) , over 20000k's.
Camber kit value: I got mine for track use, I find them just as valuable as my springs upgrade.
Downside: Increased weight of steering around town.

[Martin in Bellevue]

all the way over. I was also looking for the added height to complement the bavauto springs. I think it sits & rides much better with the plates. These springs would have otherwise been replaced by now. With the camber plates & the 235-45-17's, the ride isn't totally driven by the Bilstein sports. There is a sensation of overdamped control with this combination. The RD sway bars also lend this impression.


I was looking into the Ireland ones for the spring and was originally going to go with the fixed ones but i saw that the adjustables weren't that much more. whats your take?

[Scott E]

Are they on the front or rear. I need rear ones

[Jeff N.]

Also, if you're concerned about added 3/8 of an inch with the IE camber plates, you can mitigate that via swapping out the stock spring pads (9mm) for the 3mm spring pads from an E34 equipped with the EDC suspension (540 sport, etc.) About $10 each or something like that.

This is what I did in my car....

[Martin in Bellevue]

There aren't camber plates for the rear as the setup doesn't allow for anything like that. There are some lower offset bushings around, that look awfully thin on the inner side. I guess the trailing arms & some other stuff could be modified.

I'll just rotate often & enjoy.


Are they on the front or rear. I need rear ones

[Jason]

im running H&Rs, how is tire wear?

[Martin in Bellevue]

im running H&Rs, how is tire wear?

They seemed to go first on the insides. I loved killing them on a couple nearby freeway exists. They also got pretty loud, despite being designed to be quiet.

The es100's don't seemed to have any wear after only a few months. I've heard they can go pretty quickly. I honestly don't drive them with mileage in mind. I do avoid abusive starts & generally let the clutch out completely before using the throttle. I shudder in disbelief when people talk about "powershifting".

[Jason]

I am the same way, I don't like to do burnouts but I like to attack the turns. I was looking into the plates to help further reduce understeer. I just wanted to make sure the wear wasnt as drastic as some make it out to be.



They seemed to go first on the insides. I loved killing them on a couple nearby freeway exists. They also got pretty loud, despite being designed to be quiet.

The es100's don't seemed to have any wear after only a few months. I've heard they can go pretty quickly. I honestly don't drive them with mileage in mind. I do avoid abusive starts & generally let the clutch out completely before using the throttle. I shudder in disbelief when people talk about "powershifting".

[JustinM]

Any kit for the rear ????????

[Jeff N.]

I have yet to "adjust mine". As Martinator mentioned, I just pushed the struts full over and have yet to change that setting. :)

[bissellh]

My mechanic installed KMAC camber/caster kits in the front and rear on my 1992 BMW 525i E34 M50 about two years ago. Since then, my car has memory steering. After a U turn to the left my car pulls to the left and after a U turn to the right my car pulls to the right. It seems that something is binding causing friction in my front struts. Has anyone experienced this with the KMAC camber/caster kit? Perhaps, my mechanic put the parts back together in the wrong order or left out some parts. Any ideas? :(

P.S. This is my first time in the forum. I am ot sure if I was supposed to start a new thread or if it is appropriate to ask my question in reply to this thread since my question is related. Please advise. :(

[l8apex]

To the extent that the upper, inner part of each spring is binding on the wheel well. If you look at the strut assembly, you'll note that the front spring is offset outward on the shock tube so that the spring gets closer to the wheel well as the strut rotates during turning. It probably won't require much adjustment. Have a reliable alignment shop set it.

Dave B.

[bissellh]

The memory steering problem happens all the time no matter how sharp of a turn I make. For example, after I make a left turn at a stop ligt or stop sign, which is not as sharp of a left U turn, the car pulls slightly to the left, but just not as much as it does after a U turn. The opposite is true for right turns and right U turns. I don't think the alignment is out because my tires are wearing very evenly. Also, I have Bilstein sport shocks, Eibach lowering springs, upgraded performance sway bars and urethane throughout. Do you still think that this could be caused by the strut rubbing against the wheel well?