Camber Plate Solution/Alternative?

[Mvarney10]

I've had a problem over the last year or so with the spherical bearings in my camber plates not moving freely all the time, thus causing the whole strut to rotate while the shaft stays still. This causes a weird binding with the springs (often causing some memory steer issues), and is causing unnecessary wear on the strut seals. The camber plates are a mediocre chinese brand, front suspension is FK Konigsport coilovers with Koni Yellow inserts.

My dilemma here, is that the car has been modified with E46 control arms and E90 tie rods, for steering angle and clearance for drifting, which makes it seemingly impossible to use a quality camber plate such as Ground Control, as they allow for very minimal adjustment to add positive camber, which is what I need to help remedy the excessive camber caused by the E46 arms.

Do I try and press out the bearings from my chinese camber plates and search for a quality replacement bearing by size?
Do I buy something like the GC camber plates and mount them incorrectly to get the adjustment in the direction I need?
What is everyone else using for camber plates to reduce negative camber?

Thanks in advance!

[Eric93se]

I'm not able to help. But I was looking into the chineese coilovers with camber plates and wanted to see youtube opinions and I saw people showing the low quality top mounts failing on them. I decided not to go with coilovers and just replace all my struts/shocks and re-use my lowering springs.

[M3blitkrieg]

What about the lower strut end adapters they use for the oddball 95 m struts or whatever? Spacers I think they are? I think they make them for up to 2 degrees. Maybe you could use those and just get a quality camber plate?

[Bimmerick]

...What is everyone else using for camber plates to reduce negative camber?

Just curious, how much negative camber do you have? I suspect the average E36 owner has the opposite problem.

Although the below link has been affected by the PEV (PhotoBucket Extortion Virus), I have always considered it to be an awesome E36 alignment guide:

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...or-your-E36-M3

[bluptgm3]

You should be able to replace the spherical bearing with quality US/German/Japanese replacements, unless your geometry causes binding of the Shock Shaft on the outer bearing race.


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[Mvarney10]

Just curious, how much negative camber do you have? I suspect the average E36 owner has the opposite problem.

Although the below link has been affected by the PEV (PhotoBucket Extortion Virus), I have always considered it to be an awesome E36 alignment guide:

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...or-your-E36-M3

I currently have -4.6* in front, with the camber plates maxed out positive. The way it handles on the track (it is a 95% dedicated track car only) is perfect for what I'm doing with it. It's just I have limited selection of parts that can do the things I need them to, camber plates being one of those things.

You should be able to replace the spherical bearing with quality US/German/Japanese replacements, unless your geometry causes binding of the Shock Shaft on the outer bearing race.


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The more I think about it, the more sense this makes. I'll have to take some quick measurements to verify that it is a standard bearing size. The current geometry does not cause binding, thankfully.

Thanks for your input!

[Bimmerick]

I currently have -4.6* in front, with the camber plates maxed out positive. The way it handles on the track (it is a 95% dedicated track car only) is perfect for what I'm doing with it. It's just I have limited selection of parts that can do the things I need them to, camber plates being one of those things.

-4.6 degrees... Wow.

The more I think about it, the more sense this makes. I'll have to take some quick measurements to verify that it is a standard bearing size. The current geometry does not cause binding, thankfully.

FWIW, the camber plates on the cheap Chinese (Godspeed) coilovers I am about to install use a "Koyo Japan 6204z bearing". The manufacturer seems to be very proud of it...

[Mvarney10]

Just a quick updated.. I pulled apart the camber plate and measured the dimensions of the bearing. It is a 18mm (ID) x 33mm (OD) x 20mm (height) spherical bearing. The only places online I can find them are APEXi and Ohlins. $60/ea for APEXi and $75/ea from Ohlins. Considering these were cheap $120 eBay camber plates (installed by the PO on a set of $2,000 coilovers ), I'm leaning towards replacing them. Just can't find something that gives me the adjustability that these universal style ones do.

[bluptgm3]

Certainly you have a bearing house near you.
Perhaps Ground Control will fabricate what you need.

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