Castor and Camber Adjust Plates

[Kelso Gringo]

Kelso, I didn't know why people used them either. What I can tell you is my kit only lowered me by 1 inch and I am out of alignment spec and cannot get a perfect adjust w/o these plates.
How do you know? I mean, would an alignment shop tell me or..?

I'm also under the impression that with stock plates, there is not adjustment available with camber!

In the end, if you lower a car, even an inch, you may need them to prevent uneven tire wear and it will ensure you can achieve a perfect wheel alignment.

I just got a 97 GT and the previous owner put lowering springs on the car. It sits low and bottoms out very easy. The springs are from Saleen but all they would tell me is that using them lowered my car approximately 1 inch. From this info it sounds like I should get some of these plates. I just paid $800 for a set of tires and I would hate to seem them wear unevenly and prematurely.

 

[mrvax]

When I had my kit + tires installed, I asked for an alignment When finished, the owner & I went over each measurement on the printout. He told me that I should get those plates so that he can install then and bring the car into spec. (The re-align will be a freebie if I get the kit within the next few weeks, which I just ordered.)

 

[Bugman.dave]

67Effie are you sure those camber/caster plates are installed properly? I could be wrong, but,.....

 

[COramprat]

FYI, you don't need caster/camber plates to adjust toe

Ah...good info. Thanks.

 

[mrvax]

67Effie are you sure those camber/caster plates are installed properly? I could be wrong, but,.....

I just took another look at that pic. Knowing nothing on the install, it appears to me that they are installed wrong!

If I didn't have the directions, I'd want that oval piece under the rusty screws to be ABOVE the large adjust plate, not below it. But what do I know?

Any mechanics here?

 

[Bugman.dave]

I think the base plate should be used to adjust caster not camber and from the photo I see there it looks like just the opposite is happening. It's possible the Steeda plates are different. I have the MM plates.

 

[mrvax]

Steeda's pic of the 94 & up do not look like the ones posted above. Check out the direction of the slots.

 

[mrvax]

Here's a better Steeda pic:

View attachment 340897

This one sort of shoots my theory out the window.

 

[Bugman.dave]

I did what I should have done in the first place before opening my mouth,... that is looked at the instruction sheet from steeda. The Steeda 4 bolt plates use the heavy base plate to adjust camber, not caster. My mistake.

 

[97speedster]

It's all good I do the same thing sometimes too. Open mouth insert foot.

 

[deftsound]

steer clear of CAM cc plates...i made that mistake they are junk

 

[SaleenGT2001]

DONT BUY STEEDA PLATES!!!!

they don't have much more camber adjustment than factory plates.

i love doing alignments on cars with MM plates and that is what i have on my car. i would not run or recomend anything else!!!!

 

[97speedster]

DONT BUY STEEDA PLATES!!!!

they don't have much more camber adjustment than factory plates.

I would beg to differ. You can just look at the 2 different pics of the plates installed here, Steeda and MM, and there is a serious amount of adjustment for both. Just look at this pic of a stock CC plate and say that now...........

 

[SaleenGT2001]

I would beg to differ. You can just look at the 2 different pics of the plates installed here, Steeda and MM, and there is a serious amount of adjustment for both. Just look at this pic of a stock CC plate and say that now...........

it looks like the top of the strut tower has been slotted to allow more travel. hell if i slotted the strut tower i can adjust anything with the stock plates.

i do this for a living and i have lined up more than 100 mustangs with steeda and MM plates. the steeda plates are a terrible design and the MM kicks ass! thats all there is to it.
i can usually get a .75* or so of adjustment with the steeda plates and the MM plates will get you around 1.25*

i did a cobra today with MM plates and i brought the camber from -1.7 on both sides to -.04 and still had room to go. you can NEVER do that with the steeda plates.

after you have actually done some alignments with both plates let me know what your choice would be.

 

[SaleenGT2001]

BTW what year mustang is that pic from??

it does not look like a 94-04. it looks more like a fox body.

i will say that the steeda 4 bolt plates are ok. the 3 bolt ones are JUNK!