Camber plate????

Frederick

Frederick

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What are these? Were on top of struts inside engine bay, ie on paint side.
IMG_0420.JPG
 
those are plates BMW used on USA coupes to raise the bumper height. leave them off of your coupe. some people put them on top of the inner fender if their strut mounting bolts are too long.
 
Someone had already removed them from the top of the strut and put them on the top of the strut tower instead of just leaving them off and using shorter studs or cutting off the existing studs. They raised the bumper and the headlights to meet US DOT specs. Putting them back where you found them is perfectly acceptable.
 
I asked exactly the same question when I removed these from my car. US updated its DOT headlight height rules after our cars were designed, so BMW came up with a US only solution in the middle of the e9 produciton run. These spacers were fitted at the top of the front struts, and a US specific fatter rear spring perch was used in the back. This had the effect of raising the entire car off the suspension without altering the suspension geometry.

If you merely remove the front spacers, you will have more rake than a european car because of the rear spring perches. And when removing the front spacers, you can obtain shorter strut mounting bolts (european cars all had the shorter bolts). Both types of mounting bolts have a knurled end and are pressed into the strut assembly. Knock the old ones out with a hammer and press in the new ones if you want the shorter ones.
 
Thanks all. I had read about the plates to raise bumper height but could not fathom how these could do that where I found them. I think Dick's got it.
 
Ohmess said:
I asked exactly the same question when I removed these from my car. US updated its DOT headlight height rules after our cars were designed, so BMW came up with a US only solution in the middle of the e9 produciton run. These spacers were fitted at the top of the front struts, and a US specific fatter rear spring perch was used in the back. This had the effect of raising the entire car off the suspension without altering the suspension geometry.

If you merely remove the front spacers, you will have more rake than a european car because of the rear spring perches. And when removing the front spacers, you can obtain shorter strut mounting bolts (european cars all had the shorter bolts). Both types of mounting bolts have a knurled end and are pressed into the strut assembly. Knock the old ones out with a hammer and press in the new ones if you want the shorter ones.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not, these strut spacers were also fitted to UK spec E3s and E9s. I've never been able to find out why exactly. But I suspect that it was for similar reasons to US spec cars; IE headlight height rules.
 
Take the spacers off, cut the studs shorter and put cap nuts on them.
 
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