I thought I'd share my experience with the GC Street Camber plates since I've read plenty of inconsistent posts about them.
I purchased a pair from Bimmerworld and they sent me the wrong spring hats. I called Ground Control and they promptly sent me the correct hats for free, I put the incorrect ones in the box and sent them back to Ground Control. Their service was excellent, and I was surprised they helped me out considering I didn't purchase the plates direct from them.
I just parked my car for the winter after putting 9k miles on the plates this summer, and they seem to be performing quite well. NVH is unchanged from fresh OEM strut mounts and the camber adjustment range was plenty for my needs. I only drive my car on the street so a quiet camber plate was a requirement.
The only gripe I had with them initially was their compatibility with OEM strut reinforcement plates. I cut off part of the inner lip of the reinforcement because they seemed to restrict a small range of adjustment. However, this proved to be unnecessary as my alignment specs didn't require the full range of adjustment.
I hope this helps anyone considering these plates. They're well made and perform as advertised. I'll be sure to update as I continue to put miles on them.
Thanks for the review, just picked these up used and GC was willing to sell me the parts the seller forgot to give me. By compatibility with oem plates and the range of adjustment, i'm guessing at max -1.5 degrees it wouldn't work with oem plates?
Yeah compatibility with reinforcement plates is a common issue with many camber plates. They aren't really designed with them in mind, and honestly the steel in the camber plates serves much of the same function. Some amount of tweaking is usually needed for fitment with any camber plate.
I own the GC hybrid street/track plates and am also quite happy with them. NVH is fine for a street car. They can groan a bit when the bearings get gunked up, but I clean and grease them a couple times a year to prevent this and it seems to work well. As far as adjustment goes, I'm able to get to -3.5 degrees on both sides which is pretty close to maxed out on the plates. Max is probably around -3.75 in my case, before the adjustments hit the edge of the shock tower opening.
1999 M3/2/5 - Titanium Silver - Track/Weekend Toy
@Ribosome I can't speak exactly for the adjustment range. I used a single washer between my strut bolts to get a little camber before I got the plates. Also, my car had an unusual variance in its alignment between sides and I have yet to figure out the source. So I retained the camber washers and I was able to get my desired -1.8 degrees per side and I'm sure I could get significantly more if I wanted. Your results will likely be quite different.
Summer Daily -- '99 E36 M3 'vert 5MT
Current Project -- '97 E36 328is Coupe 5MT
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