dizzyj

I brought my car to THE guy to get an alignment done. He had 4 pca club racing cars he is prepping for the next race. Right off the bat said that I need front camber plates. I'm using koni yellow adjustable coilovers.

any idea what would work for that? would these?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRONT-CAMBER...9d5744&vxp=mtr

333pg333

Hell they're so cheap may as well try 'em...but my guess is that the top plate will pull downwards and deform. Maybe not to a point where they're unusable so for the money it's hard not to consider them. The best are the Racers Edge IMHO but they're considerably more costly.

Lemming

Do a search, there was a thread discussing those exact camber plates a few months ago. I can't remember what the users who have bought them thought about their quality.

Oddjob

Year of car? Offset/spindle/hub/strut configuration? How much neg camber are you trying to run? Type/brand of tire?

Late offset cars should not need camber plates to get enough neg for even hoosiers. But, not a bad upgrade for a dedicated track car.

ausgeflippt951

I dunno...I'm not sure I'd trust 'em. If the plate is aluminum (hard to tell from the photo), then I can almost guarantee they will deform (4-5mm?). Perhaps not fracture, but as soon as they deform they'll effectively be unusable.

dizzyj

I should add, I've actually used these plates before. we have them on our chump car and they have held up great. I guess what Im asking is if they would fit koni yellows or not. I dont know how those differ from a factory shocks.

Its an 88 turbos. probably want to run -2.5 on hoosiers

User 52121

I got -2.5 out of my stock top plates in my '86. If that's all you're trying to get, and if what Oddjob says is correct (he's one of the experts around here, so he most likely is), then it doesn't seem to me like you need camber plates.

dizzyj

hmm..interesting. I really dont know what amount of camber I need, but I guess ill wait for him to get it on his machine and see. He had 3 PCA club race cars he was working on, so I definitely trust him.

even with that, if I DID need plates, is there any spindle difference between factory/m030 or koni yellows?

Oddjob

No, the rods are all the same.

ausgeflippt951

Ooh how interesting -- that changes things. How universal is the install -- i.e., if they DO break and I need to replace them with better units, I don't want to be screwed on the installation.

Also, I should imagine Koni Yellows will be fine -- if memory serves, the top of the strut (the adjustable bit) is actually narrower than stock. As for any height issues, that I'm not sure about. Was planning on comparing pictures but would also love to know if they fit (I also have Koni Yellows).

User 52121

My guess is that your technician wants you to run more than -2.5. I think most 944 race cars run at least -3.0.

I was having issues with understeer in long sweeping turns, and talking to the guy who did my alignment (Rick Fischer, PCA club racer and owns a Porsche specialist shop) told me I need more camber. I *was* only running -1.8 so he max'd me out at -2.5, and told me I'll most likely want/need more camber yet.

Bri Bro

1+

Hoosier tires like camber, you can take then to -3 without issues. I have mine set a -2.5 so I can run rains or Hoosiers.

I purchased a set to look at an may install them on the DD. The one thing I don't like about that camber plate is how close the adjustment slide is to the edge of the mounting plate and the mounting plate is aluminum. The inner section plate is as thick as the mounting plate and most of the other camber plates have a very thick inner section made from Aluminum. These look like the inner section is made from steel so the strength should be fine. I would at least use a bolt and washer rather then the Allen head adjustment bolts included with the kit and might even put a rectangle plate between the bolts and the outer plate to increase the surface area that the bolt pushed on. Wouldn't be hard to make, just a cut a piece on metal a little longer then the two mounting holes and drill the two holes into the plate.

disasterman

Buy a decent set of camber plates from a know entity like Racers Edge or Ground Control. An initial setting of 3.0 is a good place to start, then you need to monitor and record temperature across your tires (along with the wear pattern) to confirm or modify that setting.

TonyG

Camber plates will also allow you to get a wider front wheel on the car by dialing out negative camber at the bottom of the strut, while dialing back in camber via the camber plate up top. This trick will get you more clearance between rim/tire and the strut.

I use this trick to get a 315 tire on an 11" rim on the front of my car with just a 1" wider fender.

And while you may not go to this extreme... it will allow you to get more rubber under the front of the car.

As far as camber plate strength goes.... I've never known any body to have a problem with the Racer's Edge or Ground Control (I run the ground control) plates.

Another point to make with the Ground Control is that you can move the top of the strut back allowing for more caster gain.

And yeah... -3 degrees is a good place to start.

TonyG

ausgeflippt951

It's also worth noting that the camber plates will also help extend the scrub radius on '86 cars. Won't be to the extent it was moved for the '87+ cars, but it will help things.