RRE Camber and Caster Plates

[minneSNOWta]

Hey guys. I was talking to Robert at RRE yesterday about the camber plates they offer for DSM's. Their plates are the best out there IMO because the Torrington bearings they use separate the shock and spring loads away from the spherical bearing. The plates are designed to work with 2.5" springs and also utilize quality Aurora spherical bearings.


RRE Link

For those interested in gaining caster, they have plates for that too.

Here are pictures Robert sent to me showing how much strut tower cutting may be necessary for caster plates.





After talking with Robert, he says that one of the holes on each plate won't line up without drilling of the strut tower. I'm tired of hacking up my car, so Robert offered up the idea of drilling another hole out on the plates. This would involve machining costs($80) since he has to send them out.



Basically, if we get a few guys together, he will have them done for us. I know this will be a tall order, but are there at least 3 people who may be interested? Remember, these plates are built in the U.S. using quality materials and RRE will service them. They usually go for $290, but if we have 4 including myself, it would be ~$310. I would rather not drill into the chassis to keep a cleaner look, but if no one is interested, then I have no choice really.

Lead time is ~3 days from when we can get 4 payments together including myself. I am ready to pay whenever.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

So after these are are machined, will you still need to cut the body for the camber plate slot closest to the firewall to clear?

 

[minneSNOWta]

Only the caster plates require trimming of the chassis. The camber plates won't require any.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

What's the final caster adjustment with the caster plates installed?

 

[prove_it]

That looks like it could be up to a 2-3 degree gain in caster. That's awesome! Too bad I drilled for EVO plates I'd be all over this.

 

[89Patches]

What caster? Do this! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif


Bend your coilover!




Final product!





To bad it was negative caster /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif


On a serious note, back when I posted that Turbo LS Evo it had D2 camber/caster plates which IHMO is better than what was posted from RRE as the D2's aren't a fixed setting and can be changed for different tracks and conditions. Plus I don't think I would hack my strut tower like that without plating it or tying a cage into it (Just like the photo's posted by the OP)

Best pic I could find of such plates I speak of.

 

[CutlassJim]

I hope that's not really where that coilover person was going with bending the tabs like that considering that doesn't change your caster as the angle between the ball joint and upper mount is still the same.

 

[christo]

I have the RRE cmaber plates on my JICs, they are nice.

I opted not to get the caster/camber plates as I didn't feel like cutting the towers, I went with the Whiteline caster bushing instead.

 

[minneSNOWta]

Brett - Will need to talk to Robert about max caster.

D2 is meh. Even though that adjustment system is cool, you will still wear out your spherical bearings. I found a tidbit off of D2's website below. RRE plates do not have that problem.
Quote:
7. I sometimes hear a clunking sound coming from my coilovers. What is that?

Coilovers for cars with McPherson style suspension have metal pillowball bearing upper mounts. Due to the metal on metal contact within the bearing, there is sometimes an audible noise that can be heard. We recommend lubricating the pillowball mount with the included bearing grease or a non-corrosive penetrating lubricant when you first install the coilovers.




The only other high quality plates out there are made by Vorshlag. They use a nifty top hat that has an axial bearing integrated into it. The bearing is sealed and requires less service than Torrington bearings. Mucho deniro at $440 though. Not many have the cahones to fork up that kind of money. RRE plates seem like a bargain eh? The plates below are for Evo's, so those of you who swapped over might want them.

 

[89Patches]

Quoting CutlassJim:
I hope that's not really where that coilover person was going with bending the tabs like that considering that doesn't change your caster as the angle between the ball joint and upper mount is still the same.



Lol it wasn't intentional. Just a really bad day...


I do like the RRE setup, like that the caster plates uses nylon nuts instead of them damn little allen head bolts. I just couldn't cut my strut tower like that for a street car.

 

[minneSNOWta]

FWIW, Robert mentioned that the caster plates are mainly used by their customers who road race. If you plan on doing street and some track, I think the camber plates would be the way to go. I was planning on doing what christo mentioned and adding Whiteline caster bushings to gain a degree.

 

[pagosadsm]

I have Ground Control camber/caster plates. Ground control has adjustments on caster and camber.
Rick