Camber Plate Installation (Vorshlag)

[Davisca455]

I had brand new PS4s put on prior to my first ever track day in the spring of 2019.
At the end of the day, the outer tread block on the front tires was noticeably worn, and at the time I was pretty dang proud of myself for giving those tires so much grief (moron).
Went to the track again the following month and then a third time a couple of months after that.
After that third track day the outer tread block was really torched, and I believed that it was unlikely the front tires would survive a fourth track event.

I decided I didn't want to have a conversation with Suzanne about needing new tires, knowing her response would be along the lines of "Wait, didn't you just get new tires a few months ago?", so I decided I wouldn't schedule another track day for a while. Then Covid hit and I just took 2020 off.

Got another set of tires in January of 2021, scheduled a track day a couple of weeks later.
Again, the outer tread block was ground down, but this time it made me feel awful.
I scheduled another track day the following May, and went straight to the garage to remove the alignment pins.
That took the front camber from -0.9* to -1.6*.
I did 2 more track days with the alignment pins removed, and the 3 track day tire wear in 2021 was NOTICEABLY improved from the 3 track days in 2019.

Meanwhile, I had been saving my pennies for a set of adjustable camber plates and did the install a few weeks ago.
It wasn't a difficult DIY and didn't take long, the instructions were straightforward.

The alignment was what I was really focused on.
I wanted to be able to adjust camber between a Street setting and a Track setting, without having to monkey with the Toe settings.
I reached out to SYT_Shadow and he forwarded me his settings.
He wrote them out "Work Instruction" style, so it was super easy to get the alignment tech aimed in the right direction.

The tech at the local Goodyear let me help, so I was able mark my camber plates at the -3.0* position and the -2.0* position.
My total Toe changed 0.67* for every 1.0* of camber, which matched closely to what SYT_Shadow had experienced, so that helped the confidence.
So, at -3.0* camber, we set the total Toe to 0.4* OUT.
Then I adjusted the camber to -2.0*, and the total Toe moved itself to 0.27*, IN.

Scheduled a track day with slcook54 on 9/3.
Drove the 175 miles to Laguna Seca at the -2.0* setting with no issues.
Arrived at the track, jacked up a front wheel, unplugged the EDC, adjusted the camber plate to the -3.0* position, removed the EDC boot and replaced with a homemade wire harness strain relief bracket, plugged in the EDC and repeated for the other side.
Took less than 20 minutes.

On track, the 0.4* total Toe OUT worked just fine, no twitching or darting.
The front tire wear was not noticeable after the 4 sessions.
After my last session, I moved the camber back to the -2.0* setting for the drive home.
Total win win.

[Redd]

Nice! How are the Vorshlags on the street? Any additional NVH?

[Davisca455]

Originally Posted by Redd

Nice! How are the Vorshlags on the street? Any additional NVH?

They are completely invisible.
I absolutely had my NVH radar set to maximum for the first drive…nothing detected.
My car is 99% highway and street miles, so I'm sensitive to making changes that can become annoying on a 10 hour drive to mom's place.

The only thing I don't like about the Vorshlags is that the indicator tab and the marks are sort of tucked under the strut tower sheet metal, making it a little difficult for these old eyes to see without a flashlight.

[Redd]

Originally Posted by Davisca455

They are completely invisible.
I absolutely had my NVH radar set to maximum for the first drive…nothing detected.
My car is 99% highway and street miles, so I'm sensitive to making changes that can become annoying on a 10 hour drive to mom's place.

OK I'm sold!

[Scrippy]

Couldn't you scoot the flexi boot down the wire and still use the caps? This way regardless of camber settings the wire is protected and has length inside the caps.

[Davisca455]

Originally Posted by Scrippy

Couldn't you scoot the flexi boot down the wire and still use the caps? This way regardless of camber settings the wire is protected and has length inside the caps.

Sadly no.
The problem is that the boot won't clip back into the bore in the strut tower when the camber is set to -3.0* because the nut on the damper shaft is nearly against the strut tower bore, leaving zero room for the boot to snap in.

I can only manage -2.7* and still be able to get the boot to snap into its home.

So the boot is in place, until I get to the track.
I pop the boot off of the harness, set the camber to -3.0* and then install my homemade harness bracket (made from titanium welding rod).
Finish my last session, set the camber back to -2.0* then reinstall the boot and head home.

[Scrippy]

Originally Posted by Davisca455

Sadly no.
The problem is that the boot won't clip back into the bore in the strut tower when the camber is set to -3.0* because the nut on the damper shaft is nearly against the strut tower bore, leaving zero room for the boot to snap in.

I can only manage -2.7* and still be able to get the boot to snap into its home.

So the boot is in place, until I get to the track.
I pop the boot off of the harness, set the camber to -3.0* and then install my homemade harness bracket (made from titanium welding rod).
Finish my last session, set the camber back to -2.0* then reinstall the boot and head home.

I gotcha, that's sux. I totally get that you'd be in that area trying different setups during a track day but I'd really like to protect that connection. Too bad nobody makes some sort of similar protection setup. Could you Dremel out some area on the cap to allow for it to snap in with the remaining < >300 degrees of contact area.

[SAMM3Y]

Nice write up Chris and quality work as always!! I'm currently impatiently waiting for my plates…

[Davisca455]

Originally Posted by Scrippy

I gotcha, that's sux. I totally get that you'd be in that area trying different setups during a track day but I'd really like to protect that connection. Too bad nobody makes some sort of similar protection setup. Could you Dremel out some area on the cap to allow for it to snap in with the remaining < >300 degrees of contact area.

I had the same idea about removing the material from the cap only in the area of interference.
What stopped me was the worry that the cap might just collapse when snapping it into the strut tower bore, or that there would be a hole for dirt to get into.
So I thought I'd come up with at least the strain relief while I give it some more thought.

But at least the cap is still intact and in place at all times, except when I'm actually on the track.

[Scrippy]

Originally Posted by Davisca455

I had the same idea about removing the material from the cap only in the area of interference.
What stopped me was the worry that the cap might just collapse when snapping it into the strut tower bore, or that there would be a hole for dirt to get into.
So I thought I'd come up with at least the strain relief while I give it some more thought.

But at least the cap is still intact and in place at all times, except when I'm actually on the track.

Right on! The setup looks great and I hope you enjoy it. Thanx for sharing the info with us all. I was looking to install some camber plates too and that's why I'm asking all these questions.