Does anyone have input on the set that Promini sells?



see pic and link


http://www.promini.com/product-exec/...arch_model/153

There for an r57

 

Hmmm. Half the price as everyone else. Wonder why?
Look carefully at the bearing and compare it to other plates. It does not say it is a full ball and thrust bearing setup. It does not look like it either.

You don't always get what you pay for, but you almost never get it if you don't.

 

tvrgeek , thanks for your reply but can you explain "full ball and thrust bearing setup" and maybe add a pic of another camber plate as an example

thanks
hogrules

 

My best recommendation is to drop by a respected tuning shop and look at them. Not being coy here, but if you are not familiar with different bearing designs and their attributes, nothing I can say will make sense to you.

 

BTW,
Parts clearly labeled "for off road use" or "race only" means the manufacturer has not certified the parts as meeting DOT standards ( emissions or safety) and they assume ZERO responsibility if the parts fail and kill you. Racing is dangerous.

Frequently, when something looks too good to be true, it is. Not always, sometimes the only competition is grossly overcharging. Your responsibility to research. There are 5 or 6 various plates out ther. All sell mail-order for about twice that the one you show. There is a reason. Figure it out. Made in China? I would not touch it for a paperweight.

 

Promini is part of BMPdesign. There have been designing and selling BMW race stuff for longer than I can remember (at least since 1980s).

This is the same basic design as some of the three other adjustable plates out there, namely IE, KMAC and Voshlag.

Voshlag is the most heavily built and most expensive ($430). Then comes KMAC and IE ($275) which is about the same price as the Promini.

I think none of them are DOT approved either. In fact, almost all the Mini third party stuff is not DOT approved either. For racing only, many times means that it does not have the rubber (or otherwise) dampening so it is noisy and harsh. But this is product dependent. Most vendors do not want to assume any responsibility for any of the stuff you put on your car.

 

That's good to hear. From the picture, it looks like a simple spherical joint and not ball bearing. Pictures can be misleading. Vendors providing additional text for specifics is really a help. That may not matter on a race car where things are inspected and lubed every week, but street use the bearing design and quality in the strut matters a lot to the feel. My experience, others milage may vary.

Anyone make adjustable plates with some hard rubber or something more suitable for street but allowing a degree and a half or so adjustment?

 

Voshlag, KMAC and IE.

 

Quick survey. Of course, the same products show up with various names on them at various prices.
Vorshag, AST, H-Sport ( R53) , SPC, MiniMania, Ireland, Helix (R53), ProMini, KMAC, and the Dinan simple offset plate for R53 seem to be the list. If I have missed some, please pipe up.
It looks like most of them have a ball thrust bearing below a spherical bearing. Some are OEM, some for 60mm, some offer both. Of course, some struts come with them.

 

I read some where that Eibach was backing up SPC and selling them with their stamp. Eibach being a company that provides many products that are street legal or DOT approved. Do you think the plates are any better or more street-able than most?

I also read that the bearing has more poly/urethane around it. And the bearing is very similar to the oem. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I was just wondering. Any thoughts?

http://www.spcalignment.com/PROD_DIR...md2=67630&cmd3=

http://www.jscspeed.com/catalog/BMW_..._Cooper_S.html

 

Just make sure the kit is for the R56. The ones for the R53 will not fit.

I have the IE kit which I consider low end. My friend has the Voshlag which is probably the highest end. Both work in a similar fashion without any issues. The Voshlag is much beefier and seems to be made better.

I have no direct experience with the SPC or Eibach kits so I cannot comment about them.

 

Just installed Vorshlag.

Great quality. Makes a big difference at the track. Harsher ride though. As slinger688 indicated, no rubber.

 

Ok after some more research - and some phone calls , I found out that the plates are made by Ruff / Technik. There's more info as to what type of bearing.

Here's a link for ruff and a link for a review from a bmw forum (see post 14)

http://www.ruff.tw/Mini/SM.html

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=139424

 

No noise and vibration according to the manufacturers, interesting.

 

mlg2a,

those plates make a big difference on the track. How was Calabogie?

 

Thanks for the link. Better picture. I did not know Ruff did Mini's.

 

Update on camber plate research.

I spoke two BMP and Vorshlag. Both said they could not guarantee the plates would have the ability to adjust from atop on the R57. They have received some reports with issues on some 08+ R56/R55. I could cut the area (see pic) like some others have but I'd rather not. I'm still researching on other manufacturer's.

 

slinger688,

Calabogie was great ! Quite cold though as it was at freezing point in the morning and solid wind from NW blowing all day. Good for the turbo though
Camber plates make HUGE difference. Car doesn't push anymore, just wants to turn. Have to re-learn track again... RE11 performed well, very happy with them but they wear alot quicker than BFG. With Tremblant coming up next month, 3 days at Calabogie and 2 at WGI, not sure if I'll have enough rubber for the summer...

 

All I have read on these forums, I wonder if a touch of die-grinder work is the best street camber plate. Gad, that's how I did it in 79 on my Scriacco. We used to tack weld washers in place once we got it aligned.

Any tips on distance per degree? How much can we get just by pulling the plug?

 

This was posted before. I think you can get 1 to 1.5 degrees with plug out.

 

Great. That might be just enough. At least within grinder range.

I was just measuring around. Odd, my car ( 10K miles) is 1/4 inch higher on the passenger side than drivers empty.

 

The Vorshlag plates come with six bolt positions and if you use the four outside positions you can adjust fully without any cutting using a ball head hex wrench.

They come shipped from Vorshlag using the inside four positions, and most do not realize that all they need to do is move the inside bolts to the outside position to get the access you need to adjust without cutting.

 

I guess thats another reason why they cost so much. Someone in their customer service gave me bad info or was just a little lazy to find the info I was looking for. Those plates are probably the best out there but they do give a harsher ride - as stated above.

I really didn't want to spend that much on plates. For the cost of plates and lowering springs one could buy coil-overs. Well almost - with a few bucks more for sure. Anyway has anyone used K-MAC's on a 07+ cooper ? What are they like? How do they ride?

And does anyone know if TSW made a set for the R56? I know there was some talk of it on another post but there website doesn't show any plates of there own.

 

The same for the IE adjustable plate that I have, 6 positions, choose 4.

 

Yeah I thought of buying them but after reading what happend to onasled , I'm not sure. see post # 13

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...uspension.html