Questions on installing Ohlins R&T + Vorshlag camber plates

[JustAWhisper]

I picked up a set of Ohlins R&T on Black Friday and recently picked up a set of Vorshlag camber plates and some repair shop RSM's + reinforcements to go with them. Makes installing everything nice as I don't have to disassemble the stock strut and shock stacks.

With a nice long weekend at home I went ahead and got started, but I've run into several questions and naturally all of the vendors are closed for the holiday.


1st issue. I neglected buying a set of front strut reinforcement plates because my understanding going in was those were for non-M's without the strut tower bar. Plus, Vorshlag's have a nice metal plate on top anyways. However, when I looked at the actual plates the top plate is both pretty thin and doesn't cover as many area as I expected (much less than stock hats). I started wondering if getting the front plates was a good idea after all. However, after googling, I saw some recommendations to go ahead and install the reinforcements, but I'm even more conflicted because I saw some mentions of issues getting max adjustment range with the camber plate. After test fitting the camber plate, I can see that when set for what I think is max negative camber, the edge of the plate is pretty close to the curved boundary of the strut tower top, so depending on how thick the reinforcement plates are, I could see an issue there. It would be really frustrating to not get much more than 3 degrees of negative camber, as I specifically chose Vorshlag over GC streets because of their limited adjustment (Vorshlag and GC street are the only two high quality camber plates I could find that fit the OEM-style Ohlins springs).

2nd issue. Ohlin's recommended ride height settings seem kinda pointless because they don't accurately reflect the actual stack height. The Vorshlag camber plates are the exact same height as the OEM top hats (which is pretty impressive), and at max ride height the strut stack was 519 mm, but Ohlins recommended strut stack height was 531mm. I was able to squeeze the strut stack together without a spring compressor, so there is already a little pre-load at max ride height once the camber plate is on with the top nut screwed in. Any guesses on how high I should move the lower spring seat? It would be nice to get a nice drop on the ride height, but I'm primarily looking for handling as I take this car to the track sometimes.

3rd issue, but this is super minor and probably doesn't matter. Ohlins provided a big washer to separate their dust boot from the top hat. Is that still supposed to be there when a camber plate is installed?


Any thoughts are appreciated. It would nice to make some progress this weekend, but if I need to wait for strut tower reinforcement plates I can do so.

[Obioban]

Vorshlag plates are some of the worst for strut tower damage-- use the plates.

The TMS plates can work with a stock style spring and do no require the reenforcement plates, if you need the full range of motion.

The Ohlins are so stupidly low on front travel that I wouldn't set ride height by anything other than bump/droop travel. IIRC they have 92mm total front travel. Target ~60% bump travel, 40% droop travel up front. Stagger the rear so wheel to fender is ~1/2 less than up front, and then set the rear bump/droop ratio using the adjustable shock length collar-- rear shocks have 143mm of travel.

Setting ride height in any other way with the Ohlins just makes them no work very well. The have very little travel, compared to any other setup I've seen, so everything must be focused around making the most of it. Hopefully you got the 3DM front strut spacers, so that doesn't force you into the territory of compromised geometry...

[JustAWhisper]

Do you know if anyone has had trouble getting the full range of motion on Vorshlag plates with the reinforcements installed? If so, what was required to make them work?

TMS has a months long backorder on all of their camber plates.

And help me make sure I'm understanding this bump/droop terminology right. 60% bump travel means that ride height is roughly 60% down from fully compressed, right? Do I just move the lower spring perch up 40% from the bottom, or is it more complicated than that?

Didn't know about the front strut spacers. I'll look into that.

[repoman89]

+1 on the Turner plates, I'm using the street version with my r&t setup (with reinforcement plates as well, just because). I'm running -3.0 degrees with plenty more adjustment available. 3DM spacers are indeed a necessity or you'll be way too low.

To set bump/droop travel, measure fender to wheel center distance with the car jacked up. For me it was 15", so the travel is 11" fully compressed to 15" fully extended. To hit the often quoted 60% bump travel target, the ride height should be just under 13.5" with the car on the ground preloading the spring. Easiest way to get there is trial and error but you can also do some rough math to figure out how many turns to turn the perch after the first time you put the car down. (hint: use the thread pitch, rough corner weights of 850ish pounds, 400lb/in spring rate, and 0.95 motion ratio ... if that sounds impossible just guess and repeat)

[Fresh1179]

I have the reinforcement plates and run the Vorshlag camber plates. I have no issues with the full range of adjustability. I actually recommend the Vorshlag plates as someone who has run the TMS plates as well. Obioban is correct that you need to run the reinforcement plates. I would argue that this applies to all coil over setups and is a mandatory addition when switching to coil-overs to mitigate the known risk of shock tower mushrooming. That being said, TMS and GC make quality camber/caster plates as well, so I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the above choices. Full disclaimer, I changed my mind about my shock setup about 4 times after I had purchased the camber plates, and Vorshlag customer service was cool with getting me the right spring perches, and shock diameter of the plates changed back and forth while I changed my mind back and forth on my coil-over setup. My opinion may be colored by some pretty solid customer service.

Edit: I am able to dial the camber up to -4.0. I run -3.0 for the track.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cobra]

+1 on the Turner plates, I'm using the street version with my r&t setup (with reinforcement plates as well, just because). I'm running -3.0 degrees with plenty more adjustment available. 3DM spacers are indeed a necessity or you'll be way too low.

To set bump/droop travel, measure fender to wheel center distance with the car jacked up. For me it was 15", so the travel is 11" fully compressed to 15" fully extended. To hit the often quoted 60% bump travel target, the ride height should be just under 13.5" with the car on the ground preloading the spring. Easiest way to get there is trial and error but you can also do some rough math to figure out how many turns to turn the perch after the first time you put the car down. (hint: use the thread pitch, rough corner weights of 850ish pounds, 400lb/in spring rate, and 0.95 motion ratio ... if that sounds impossible just guess and repeat)

I have to wonder how important the bump/droop ratio really is.

On my Koni shocks they droop to 19" with the front end off the ground, and full bottom-out metal-to-metal is 12"... Thats almost all droop. Bump is entirely limited by wheel not hitting the inner fender?

[Obioban]

I have to wonder how important the bump/droop ratio really is.

On my Koni shocks they droop to 19" with the front end off the ground, and full bottom-out metal-to-metal is 12"... Thats almost all droop. Bump is entirely limited by wheel not hitting the inner fender?

The koni’s have ton of travel, so it matters WAY less. The Ohlin’s barely have any travel, so you pretty much have to design everything around bump/droop to make them properly.

[JustAWhisper]

I appreciate everyone's responses. I think there are plenty of fans of all 3 camber plates, but Vorshlag was the one available on the timeline I originally wanted with the adjustability I was looking for. I'll definitely keep an eye on GC and TMS plates for future projects or if I run into problems with the Vorshlag. But I'm glad to hear that at least one person has them and has not had adjustment issues with reinforcements and don't plan to switch for now.

I went ahead and ordered the reinforcements since I couldn't find any available locally.

I also ordered the sleeves because I test fit the full strut stack and immediately saw the hub mounting point was way too high, so I appreciate that tip as well. I carefully put the stock suspension back together in hopes of mostly preserving my alignment while I wait for parts. Hopefully it isn't too far off.

Thanks everyone.