Caster Camber Plates

[BTM]

Has anyone been able to get -3.5* ? With which plates?

 

[Vorshlag-Fair]

Has anyone been able to get -3.5* ? With which plates?

With our camber plates we've been able to get as much as -4° camber, but we run between to -3.2 to -3.8° on our TT3 Mustang (with 315mm Hoosier A6s), and as you can see when fully loaded in a corner (above pic) it still shows a tick negative. That usually indicates that we've got it nearly perfect (tire wear and temps prove that).

You also have to remember that the S197, like all McPherson strut suspension cars, has a correlation between ride height and camber. We don't run our car super low, but when you lower the any McStrut car aggressively it will get more static negative camber at all camber plate settings. So your ride height with our plats might max out at -3°, or -3.5°, or whatever.

The strut tower opening is usually the limiting factor for ultimate camber on many cars, and the S197 hole is very small. We have found some tricks to get as much camber travel as possible without grinding this opening larger, though. If your class allows this mod, you can usually find more camber travel in most plates to get even more.



Figuring out what static camber setting works best for your car depends on several factors: tire compound, tire width, amount of bodyroll, etc. Once those are set we look at tire temps and tread wear through the life of a front tire to determine what works best for each car. At our last race at NOLA, Ryan would check tire temps across the tread (inner/middle/outer) after an aggressive lap and quick pit in, and we tweaked tire pressure and camber to get the numbers very similar (within 5 degrees is great, we had all 3 readings on the fronts tires reading almost exactly the same). And we wore a set of A6s down to the base rubber at this event, (see above right) and it was just starting to show nylon cords on the outer edge on 3 of the 4 tires. Again, there was almost zero tread left everywhere on the front tires, so that was a good wear pattern.

Cheers,

 

[BTM]

Thank you as always Terry. I ran your plates on my BSP Z4M and plan on getting them again for my S197. That car seemed happiest at -3.5 and given this car weighs a few hundred pounds more I figured that would be something to shoot for. Obviously the rest of the considerations you mention are all valid - tire temps & wear will be the key factor. I've got my pyrometer handy

 

[barbaro]

This thing?

I've been tempted to give one to my brother who's a welder/fabricator and seeing if he can make me something out of metal that sucks a lot less.

You are so correct. Mine is about to fail and I have not even used it that much. One of my shocks is a little tougher to adjust than the other one and it is stressing the crap out of the plastic. It will break. It is just a question of when and how much I am gonna swear when it happens.

 

[tehdixie]

You are so correct. Mine is about to fail and I have not even used it that much. One of my shocks is a little tougher to adjust than the other one and it is stressing the crap out of the plastic. It will break. It is just a question of when and how much I am gonna swear when it happens.

$10


http://www.genuinesaab.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=828

 

[Justin_H]

If you order those, be aware that not all Koni adjusters are the same size. I've got at least 3 different sized adjusters in my toolbox.

 

[Norm Peterson]

If you order those, be aware that not all Koni adjusters are the same size.

This ↑↑↑ .

There are two different size slots in my DIY Koni adjusting tool.

Norm

 

[frank s]

I got one single all-alone plastic knob with two front and two rear Konis. Front and rear adjusters are different sizes: front takes a larger hole in the tool. Knob that fits rears will not work on the fronts. A knob that fits the fronts will work on the rears, but who knows for how long before the hole gets warped enough to render it useless, because:

The plastic material is soft enough and apparently malleable enough to deform when used on front shocks, which get very hot.

The knob I got was for the rears. Imagine my surprise when I tried it on the fronts and it had too small a hole to engage the twist-able mechanism. Easy enough to overcome in the front, with the adjusters right there where they can be pinched with a tiny wrench or a pair of pliers. Would be a nightmare trying to make a quick change in the rear.

Other than that, a nice adjustment system...

 

[Norm Peterson]

Imagine my surprise when I tried it on the fronts and it had too small a hole to engage the twist-able mechanism.

Bet that has surprised more folks than just you and me.

FWIW, the front adjusting tool that came with my struts is a little taller than the one for the rear shocks, and doesn't really leave enough hand clearance to the sheetmetal flange above it when you try to use it on the shocks.


Norm

 

[speedfreak1000]

Check this out:


(click for link)

Koni sells these flat steel plates that are notched for the damper. It should be super easy to weld a t-handle on top of this!

i ordered one of these weeks ago then got a message saying they are on back order and it would be 6 to 8 weeks. im still waiting.