Camber plates? Make sure you really need them first.

[adawil2002]

i guess I'm at a loss.

I thought the whole point of these camber plates is to give you POSITIVE camber to compensate for lowered front suspension.

Why would you have both lowered front suspension AND camber plates that gives you even MORE negative camber?

Our cars with stock suspensions tend to have zero to slightly positive camber & tend to understeer. Think of the factory films of our coupes at speed & being driven with brio & how awkward they look with the high nose & very noticeable tire deflection.

As I understand it, negative camber at the front, with lower suspension, A) corrects steering geometry to be more neutral. B) combined with fender rolling, allows full suspension travel. C) provide better grip through curves even with stock wheels & tires.

 

[E3-3.0Si]

I wouldn't be able to drive on my -40mm H&R springs without the plates, since the 16" wheel/tire would certainly grab/hit the fender at some point.
So in my case, replacing two tires / 5000km is cheaper than fixing damaged fenders.

Are they E12 H&R springs, or from another car?

 

[Gransin]

Are they E12 H&R springs, or from another car?

Exactly, the front springs I use are E12 H&R, the rear springs I use are some random lowering springs I found at a friends shop, since the rear E12 springs won't fit the E9.
But IIRC the E12 rear springs should fit the E3.

As to the other part I wrote in my old post, I've driven several thousands of kilometres with my camber plates now, and no strange tire wear to report, the front tires are evenly worn.

 

[E3-3.0Si]

Exactly, the front springs I use are E12 H&R, the rear springs I use are some random lowering springs I found at a friends shop, since the rear E12 springs won't fit the E9.
But IIRC the E12 rear springs should fit the E3.

As to the other part I wrote in my old post, I've driven several thousands of kilometres with my camber plates now, and no strange tire wear to report, the front tires are evenly worn.

Excellent, thank you. And yes so far as I know, the E12 rear springs fit an E3 no problem as the design is identical.

 

[JFENG]

Adding a couple more cents to the conversation.

Negative camber can sometimes wear the tires faster on the inside, if the vast majority of driving is done in a straight lines. My DD BMW alignment I had a little negative camber both front and rear, and despite rotating (FR), the insides wear out faster than the outsides. When the insides are at the wear-bars, the outsides have about 2/32’s more tread.

My old Alfa has a LOT more negative camber, but wears the outside tire edge vastly faster than the insides. Unlike my DD the Alfa miles are dominated by time at high lateral G’s. It’s so bad that I flip the tires after about 10 hours of driving and the tires are shot after 18 hours.

So, your driving style and your driving conditions will have a big influence on whether negative camber wears our your tires unevenly or not, and whether it’s the inside or outside tread that wears our first. If you are a cruiser, go for stock alignment specs. If you drive more of the twisted with brio then the LJ camber plates might work well for you.