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I like that you don’t have to remove the whole coilover assembly to adjust camber and I wanted to know if anybody has them installed and can talk about their experience - thanks!
Elephant Racing camber plates come standard on Ohlins R&T. They borrow some of the OEM top hat pieces which help to keep them quiet. Tons of camber adjustability in the design. So far so good on my Ohlins R&T
get vorshalg. i have no idea why they are no popular with P-cars, but they are popular with bmws. they are one of the best designed camber plates.
I took a look at them and they seem to be really well designed, and they have the same kind of adjustability from the trunk without having to remove the coilover. I am mounting a set of Cargraphic's airlift kit along with my Bilstein B16's so I was worried about these not being compatible with it. I saw that some companies reuse the top strut bearing while others send the camber plates along with a spring perch. I sent them an email asking about my specific use case and they answered asking for some measurements of the air cups so they can build spring perches tailored for my setup. So far so good!
I'll let you know how this ends, but thanks a lot!
Elephant makes good stuff, for sure, so this comment is purely tangential, but may be useful if OP is weighing pros/cons of different approaches to getting negative camber up front:
The other way to get more negative camber is with shimmed LCAs (GT3 or equivalent). The advantage of this approach (vs. adjustable top plates) is that increasing lower control arm length simultaneously increases front track width. A wider front track reduces lateral load transfer and body roll, allowing the front tires to generate more total cornering force, more in-corner braking force and share more of the car's total cornering load (leaving more traction available across the rear axle as well, improving grip available for acceleration as well). In summary, greater front track reduces the car's bias toward understeer and improves load-sharing between all four tires which raises total available cornering grip (all else being equal).
The factory increased front track when they designed subsequent generations of the car (991 & 992). These benefits will reinforce the gains you're getting from increasing negative front camber. It's true that the top plates look easier to adjust (vs. getting under the car to add/remove shims), but honestly I don't know how often you'll need/want to tweak camber if you simply set it to two degrees negative upon initial setup and leave it (since that's a pretty aggressive but still very street-able number), and you can fine-tune even more easily with swaybars and tire pressure instead (neither of which necessitate a realignment after making changes).
Last edited by quickxotica; 04-22-2024 at 06:29 PM.
Elephant makes good stuff, for sure, so this comment is purely tangential, but may be useful if OP is weighing pros/cons of different approaches to getting negative camber up front:
The other way to get more negative camber is with shimmed LCAs (GT3 or equivalent). The advantage of this approach (vs. adjustable top plates) is that increasing lower control arm length simultaneously increases front track width. A wider front track reduces lateral load transfer and body roll, allowing the front tires to generate more total cornering force, more in-corner braking force and share more of the car's total cornering load (leaving more traction available across the rear axle as well, improving grip available for acceleration as well). In summary, greater front track reduces the car's bias toward understeer and improves load-sharing between all four tires which raises total available cornering grip (all else being equal).
The factory increased front track when they designed subsequent generations of the car (991 & 992). These benefits will reinforce the gains you're getting from increasing negative front camber. It's true that the top plates look easier to adjust (vs. getting under the car to add/remove shims), but honestly I don't know how often you'll need/want to tweak camber if you simply set it to two degrees negative upon initial setup and leave it (since that's a pretty aggressive but still very street-able number), and you can fine-tune even more easily with swaybars and tire pressure instead (neither of which necessitate a realignment after making changes).
^This.
Use the Eibach/SPC adjustable front coffin arms, you get to retain the stock top mount, which whilst it won’t provide such accurate location as a top mount fitted with a spherical bearing, it will ensure factory NVH levels are retained.
An added bonus is that they’re easily and quickly adjusted. Unlike the factory GT3 split arms that require shims to adjust their length.
I seem to recall the Elephant top mounts were specified as a “fix” by Ohlins USA to address some fitment issues, but these days they’re definitely not supplied as standard in any 996/997 R&T kits here in the UK (or indeed anywhere else in the ROW, other than the US)
Elephant makes good stuff, for sure, so this comment is purely tangential, but may be useful if OP is weighing pros/cons of different approaches to getting negative camber up front:
The other way to get more negative camber is with shimmed LCAs (GT3 or equivalent). The advantage of this approach (vs. adjustable top plates) is that increasing lower control arm length simultaneously increases front track width. A wider front track reduces lateral load transfer and body roll, allowing the front tires to generate more total cornering force, more in-corner braking force and share more of the car's total cornering load (leaving more traction available across the rear axle as well, improving grip available for acceleration as well). In summary, greater front track reduces the car's bias toward understeer and improves load-sharing between all four tires which raises total available cornering grip (all else being equal).
The factory increased front track when they designed subsequent generations of the car (991 & 992). These benefits will reinforce the gains you're getting from increasing negative front camber. It's true that the top plates look easier to adjust (vs. getting under the car to add/remove shims), but honestly I don't know how often you'll need/want to tweak camber if you simply set it to two degrees negative upon initial setup and leave it (since that's a pretty aggressive but still very street-able number), and you can fine-tune even more easily with swaybars and tire pressure instead (neither of which necessitate a realignment after making changes).
Originally Posted by Atgani
^This.
Use the Eibach/SPC adjustable front coffin arms, you get to retain the stock top mount, which whilst it won’t provide such accurate location as a top mount fitted with a spherical bearing, it will ensure factory NVH levels are retained.
An added bonus is that they’re easily and quickly adjusted. Unlike the factory GT3 split arms that require shims to adjust their length.
I seem to recall the Elephant top mounts were specified as a “fix” by Ohlins USA to address some fitment issues, but these days they’re definitely not supplied as standard in any 996/997 R&T kits here in the UK (or indeed anywhere else in the ROW, other than the US)
Thanks a lot for your answers! Do any of you know if I can get -3 deg camber with just adjustable LCAs? Asking because I want to fit a 19x10 inch wheel and to get the offset I want I really need that camber. If I can get away with only LCAs and no top mounts, much better!
Thanks a lot for your answers! Do any of you know if I can get -3 deg camber with just adjustable LCAs? Asking because I want to fit a 19x10 inch wheel and to get the offset I want I really need that camber. If I can get away with only LCAs and no top mounts, much better!
If you adjust the existing OE top mounts inboard as far they'll go, and then use the Eibach arms, I'd guess you'd get somewhere between 2.5 and 3.0 degrees of -ve camber. I'd speak to SPC for accurate confirmation of the amount though.
Ok I'll need to give this a second thought because the Eibach control arms are like 1k euro and looks like they even need extra parts to be fitted vs the ~600 for the camber plates.
- Elephant Racing states that their camber plates can be used with the OEM top strut bearing if using OEM shocks and/or lowering springs, or a spring perch if you're using coilovers:
I've checked the coilovers they mention (the only ones they sell on their site) and they do have a spring perch:
That is not the case with the B16, which are more OEM-like (screencaps from FCP euro video):
My question is: what is the use for a spring perch? Why are the OEM rubber bushings replaced by those? What do I need to use in my application?