Ireland Engineering Toe and Chamber plates

[DustenT]

I just ordered the Ireland Engineering Toe plates and Camber plates. There are the ones that get welded on. I also ordered 20 studs to replace those stupid wheel BOLTs. I'll do a write up during the install for everyone.

[mohaughn]

Nice. I've thought about the wheel studs as well. It is getting to the point where my wheels seem to be off of the car atleast once a month.

Also interested in your long term thoughts on the weld in kit. I have found a few comments in forums where people have mentioned putting a small spot weld on the adjustment nut/bolt to keep the alignment perfectly set.

[316i compact]

I have a spare rear subframe, and i think i should do sth with it...

[pdxmotorhead]

Originally Posted by mohaughn

Nice. I've thought about the wheel studs as well. It is getting to the point where my wheels seem to be off of the car at least once a month.

Also interested in your long term thoughts on the weld in kit. I have found a few comments in forums where people have mentioned putting a small spot weld on the adjustment nut/bolt to keep the alignment perfectly set.

NO!

The point of camber plates is to add adjustability.
If your worried about it staying aligned its not going to be from the bolts slipping, its going to be from damage, IE curbs, chuckholes etc.
To insure you can tell if the alignment changes just put score marks on the plate where the movable part bolts on. Then if the lines go out of match its moved, and YOU can put it right by rematching the lines, of course this won't help if you hit something hard enough to tweek the chassis.

The weld in kits will often hurt the value, most folks in BMW's don't want to see anything non stock. Me? I'm a rebel, I'd put a lift kit and swampers on a Lambo if the mood took me.... And because it would tick everybody off. Don't want to discriminate!

I'm going to install several of these items just as soon as I upgrade my wife out of the TI to a 330.... Then the gloves come off and the mig comes out....

Dave

[pdxmotorhead]

Make that the gloves go on, I'll be welding after all.
Dave

[mohaughn]

I understand how the kit works... I've also talked to people that have experience with them and read a lot of comments about them and for me the benefits are not worth the extra maintenance and upkeep of having to always recheck the alignment as it will move on you.

I have read on bimmer forums that some people set the alignment and then "lock" the adjustment nut in place with a small tack so that they do not have to constantly watch the alignment and re-adjust. I think the kit is really cool the way it works, and I know that pro teams that used to race this kind of car used this exact setup, but they have the ability to constantly check and re-adjust.

I'm also really interested in Dusten's take on the kit as there is some basic information on bimmer forums that makes it sound like Ireland Engineering actually made some changes to the kit to help it keep it's setting much better. If Dusten gets his installed and doesn't have any major problems with the alignment shifting even after hard driving I would probably put this back on the list to get done at some point.

[pdxmotorhead]

Hmm. I wonder what the deal is? I work on several cars with them and I've never had the alignment move.... If all your interested in is a one time adjustment to account for lowering etc I guess it makes sense.

You can always just slot the adjustment holes get the alignment where you want it and tack hard washers at each hole. Then it doesn't show and you get the same adjustment The washers can always be ground off and moved later in the event of damage...

Good Luck
Dave

[mohaughn]

Cool. Good to hear a positive experience with these. How is it adjusting them? One particular install I was following in an m-coupe the owner said he had to take the exhaust off of the car to make adjustments to the driver side rear.

[DustenT]

The reason I didn't get the offset bushings to correct toe-in and camber is because I run R-Compound tire in autocross. I'm sure the load that those tires put on the rear end would cause the bushings to move way more than this setup. I'll likely tack a large washer in place to hold the adjustment (great idea Dave).

It'll be a while before I get around to installing, should be sometime this spring. I'll let everyone know. They'll be delivered on Monday, I'll post pics.

[marleymon]

fwiw- I'm still up in the air on the Kmacs...I've hit some pretty bumpy roads and I think mine spun outta spec. My car is handling way worse in snow than it did before. Something is not right again...I'll have to take it in soon. I may go this route (IE KITS) on my extra SF in the spring and try that too.

As far as the front SPC Kits....I'm chipping teeth....I might swap out the sports for HD's in the spring too...

[L84THSKY]

Your saying you have SPC front camber kit with Bilstein Sports, and it's too hard for you? I have that setup, and it feels fine. My car has not gone out of alignment either.

Originally Posted by marleymon

fwiw- I'm still up in the air on the Kmacs...I've hit some pretty bumpy roads and I think mine spun outta spec. My car is handling way worse in snow than it did before. Something is not right again...I'll have to take it in soon. I may go this route (IE KITS) on my extra SF in the spring and try that too.

As far as the front SPC Kits....I'm chipping teeth....I might swap out the sports for HD's in the spring too...

[DustenT]

Originally Posted by L84THSKY

Your saying you have SPC front camber kit with Bilstein Sports, and it's too hard for you? I have that setup, and it feels fine. My car has not gone out of alignment either.

For normal street driving I think the bushing setup is ok. I'm running R-compound tires that don't give when putshed hard, the suspension does. I collapsed my front sway bar mounts from riding on the bump stops in corners, I'm sure the back sees enough force to push a bushing around.

[DustenT]

What else should I replace when I drop the subframe? What bushings are people using?

The z3 guys seem to like the IE subframe bushings (the green ones):


What about the trailing arm bushings? Looks like IE sells these too:


Interesting links with pics for the IE Toe and Camber install and bushing install:
http://www.rfdm.com/Suspension/pics/...ber/index.html
http://www.rfdm.com/SubframeBushings/index.html

[mohaughn]

I got mine from IE. I have the red subframe bushings and the black trailing arm bushings. Not sure of the condition of your differential bushing, but you can get a powerflex racing bushing for that.

[DustenT]

Originally Posted by mohaughn

I got mine from IE. I have the red subframe bushings and the black trailing arm bushings. Not sure of the condition of your differential bushing, but you can get a powerflex racing bushing for that.

Are the bushings you got the race versions? Did you reinforce any areas of the rear? I need to start assuming that someday I'll have lots more power, should I be swapping in a M-coupe rear subframe now?