Guest KraZ4spd Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 Are they worth the money? Would it be better to spend the money on control arms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 If your going to road/autocross race it and need the adjustment. I've heard of more than one person saying they increase the noise transmitted much more than the stock top shock cushions. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy 77zt Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 been there -done that.couldnt take the noise.i put the 240 z spring cushions back in with coil over spring seat resting on rubber.you have to remember that strut tower is directly behind your head.these parts are made for racing-i use car for race track/driver schools but also for a daily driver.i dont change set up when i get to the track-car is set up on alignment rack the day before.buy the control arms.i am taking out the urethene bushings-they are worn out faster than oem bushings and now i have toe change in rear getting on and off the gas.when you cut out strut tower for camber plates you get road noise from tires too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stony Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 In my opinion. unless your gonna be doing some serious road racing camber plates and control arms that eliminate the t/c bushing are not for daily driver use way to much noise. im currently converting my front suspension back to stock arms and urathan bushing. the camber plates are done and cant be reversed otherwise id change those back. for the rear... im a drag racer and haveing alot of adjustment on the back cant hurt. but still have to way the noise level. i used AZC camber plates and now the strut covers dont fit so that = more noise and mayber even fumes ;< i could have used the money on some other go fast stuff and just installed all urathan bushings in the suspension and been happy l8rz stony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 Here is the scoop from the "ZF Racing LLC" point of view... Camberplates are not in my opinion a street part. The aluminum adjustable bushings are a high replacement part and don't allow for true rear camber adjustment, but do give you toe adjustment, again being made of aluminum that wears rather quickly. Solid links, I have driven on them for over 10 years without any notice of harshness. What do I mean about Solid links? Heim joints. They work, they work, they work. Did I mention that they work? Now, my Rear arm design, copied directly from Simon, doesn't use them. The reason being that, as seen in the Arizona Zcar setup, adjustment isn't an easy process. When I polled people in the Zcar community, the chief seller for switching from factory parts was the guarantee that the parts would be fully adjustable while remaining on the car. Mine do that. In the rear, you can even use factory style poly bushings. This eliminates noise, harshness that some may feel, and doesn't mean you have to hack off the tops of your strut towers to install camber plates. Stony, I guarantee that you will be 100% happy with these units... Thats all I can say at this point, since they are still in pre-production phase. However, These parts are being built on a Known design. When I get a set complete, I'll post pics. Mike Kelly ZF RACING LLC [ July 25, 2001: Message edited by: Mikelly ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 Are C/C plates "worth it"? Depends on your goal. I do a fair number of track schools - that's why I bought the car - and C/C plates help with cornering (both by keeping the rubber flat on the road and by lowering the car) and tire wear. My C/C plates have paid for themselves in track tires that I didn't have to buy. Probably not a great idea for a street car. If you guys have any performance parts you want to get rid of, post me at: jdowning@ci.durham.nc.us I might be interested. BTW, Mike, do the HJ's hold up OK on the street? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted July 25, 2001 Share Posted July 25, 2001 I had them on all four corners, and as others have already said, they were too damned loud in the rear. I reverted back to the stock uppers, modified for the 2.5" id springs, and have been much happier. I do still have the plates on the front suspension though, and have no real complaints about that. Has anyone else noticed that you can't really increase the camber past the stock settings with these plates? The configuration of the mounting bolts prevents this. You can only decrease the camber from stock, unless you relocate the mounting bolt holes (guess what - you can do that without the plates ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 What's actually making the noise? Which surfaces impacting...or....I'd hope to install my fronts shortly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 I had a set of Aluminum Heim Joints that held up for 7 years and several airborne "Hops" over rises in road courses. No noise or harshness that I could tell. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 The noise problem stems more from the now complete lack of noise/vibration isolating materials in the spring perch assembly. Every noise that the suspension makes gets resonated into the ****pit, via the camber plates. The worst offenders in my case were squeaks from the suspension bushings and the shock absorbers, and chattering of the steel springs on the steel spring perches when I would hit medium to large bumps. I have been using the plates on the front for about 10 years, now, and have not seen a reliability problem at all with them, and this includes driving in Detroit for the last eight years. My problem was solely with the noise generated by the plates on the rear suspension. For me, it was just too annoying for a street driven car. For a dedicated race car, it would probably be just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy 77zt Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 most noises from camber plates on car come from play in part of plate that the monoball bearing sits in.i have ground control camber plates in front and left side has always been quite.right side has a little play vertically in sockit that bearing rides in and as time goes on its getting worse.i will probably pull it out for inspection soon.just got all of the noises and vibration out of rear suspension.i am trying to make the car ride like a new car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted July 26, 2001 Share Posted July 26, 2001 good to hear Randy, the monoball sperical bearing in my upper plates is very tight/pressed in and for backup/retained from underneath so should always be in compression. I'd have to have a lot of unloading to have my springs rattling I would think but we'll see. The set I have is for 280zx only and would be reasonable to duplicate (made by a local machinist). It has built in additional caster in the setup so only camber is adjustable by the plates. Ballpark pricing was $200US when I looked at it last. 5-10 buyers would be needed but I'm skeptical theirs enough 280zx hipo owners to make it fly. FWIW, another benefit is it allows one to use longer coilover springs...my setup has 7" springs at present to clear my 245's, once I install the plates I should be able to go to 8's and gain some travel...(I do bottom out up front rarely on a v. harsh city bump). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted July 27, 2001 Share Posted July 27, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Ross C: I'd have to have a lot of unloading to have my springs rattling I would think but we'll see. Keep telling yourself that... The rattling that I was referring was not occuring with an unloaded suspension. Rather, it would happen anytime that I hit a reasonably sharp compression bump. There is nothing there to damp any high frequency harmonics, so the spring would bounce on the perch. It did this noticeably every time I drove the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silicone boy Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 I have to agree with everyone else here regarding camber plates. I had a GTI that doubled as a street/autocross car. It was not the 450 front/500 rear spring stiffness that caused me to banish it from the street. I was driving it around just fine on some less than smooth streets (and scrambling my brain). It was the darn noise after I installed camber plates. Now it is strictly an autocross/track car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted August 30, 2001 Share Posted August 30, 2001 for my rear camber plates all i did is use the original nissan rubber donut that sits inside the 3 stud mount and let it sit on top of the flat coilover spring perch. this GREATLY reduced the suspension noise in the rear. up front i havent been bothered by the noise at all.. all i can say is its way easier to adj plates that a-arms- had both and its a personal preference thing. for consisitent track use the plates are the way to go IMO. MUCH faster adjustments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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