Vorshlag Blog

Just wanted to update the Vorshlag blog to link to this forum post, which we have posted on a few forums today.

This new post talks about the technology within the Vorshlag camber plate + spring perch design, then deals with specific questions we see a lot regarding the S197 (2005-14) and S550 (2015-up) Mustang chassis versions.

Questions like modular design between our plates and perches – so we can custom build each set to perfectly mate to the strut and spring dimensions for a given customer. It is all explained in this post, starting here.

If we make a camber plate for your car model, and you ever want to autocross or run your car on a road course circuit, we can build the best option for you. Thanks for reading!

The BMW F20/21/22 has been on our “need to make a camber plate” list for a few years. In early 2016 we pulled apart an F22, made a lot of measurements, designed then CNC machined a prototype camber plate, and tested it on a local tester’s M235i. This setup uses the OEM struts and springs, with no change in ride height or ride quality.

The trick was making the “stack-up height” of our Vorshlag camber plate + radial bearing equipped upper perch the same as the OEM bits (see above), which we were able to accomplish, but not without using 100% new designs for every single part of the top mount assembly. After 5+ months of testing we were ready to make a production version of this design, which has been anticipated by many F22 drivers for years.

The wait is finally over – as we write this, the production F22 parts are machined and being plated now. We will be shipping these in less than a week, so the product entry for the Vorshlag F22 Camber plates for OEM springs is live now. The calls and orders have been coming in so strong that we have already begun machining a second production run for this model.

In case someone wants to use their F22 Bilstein coilover (PSS, PSS10 and Clubsport) or convert an Ohlins R&T to coilover use (call us), we also made a coilover version for the F22. This design uses a fewer pieces than the OEM version, so the cost is a bit lower. This one is ready to ship so the F22 Camber plate for coilover use online entry is also live.

The M versions of this new 1/2/3/4 series chassis (M2, M3, and M4) have a completely different and more elaborate series of engine bay braces, which in an unprecedented move by BMW, tie into the factory top mount. To work around that we are already working on a version of this Vorshlag camber plate design for the M cars. As always, please feel free to call Vorshlag if you have any questions, or if you would like to order by phone instead of using our website. Thanks!

We are striving to make more and better installation instructions and in the past week we have devoted many hours to making several new photo and video galleries – with descriptive captions – for a number of products we make and sell. Here are five Vorshlag instructions galleries added or heavily updated in July 2016:

First up is the camber plate installation gallery for the newly released Vorshlag camber-caster plate for the S550 Mustang with OEM style front springs. Over 50 pictures showing every step of the way. We showed these steps when installing our production parts in our shop on a 2016 Shelby GT350 last week, starting here.

Next up is a gallery showing how to remove and install rear springs on a S550 Mustang. The front spring removal is covered in the S550 camber plate guide. We swapped out the stock springs on the Shelby GT350 above for GT350R springs, which we of course rated on our digital spring rater, along with the GT350 springs as well. The charted data for both sets in in the gallery here.

The third set of new instructions covers the Vorshlag camber plate install on a 5th Gen Camaro, with both OEM or coilover springs. This is yet another new production part we have released in the last 15 days so the installation gallery as needed. We have pictures from the install of plates on two different 1LE Camaros, both done in our shop recently, starting here. There is even a new video showing some steps within this gallery.

The forth instruction set is actually a heavily revised gallery showing the installation of coilovers onto an S197 Mustang. We have pictures from AST coilover installs on two different Mustangs, but the same steps apply to the MCS and Bilstein TrackPro coilover setups for this same chassis, which we currently sell. This gallery starts here and also has newly added video instructions within. We will add more pictures from another S197 coilover install the next time we have one in the shop.

The fifth and final new gallery is another heavily updated and newly captioned instruction set for putting Vorshlag camber-caster plates into a BMW 1M or E92 M3 with the OEM style springs. This has pictures from our very first 1M camber plate install on our tester’s car back in 2012, but new pictures have been added and all of the images now have helpful tips in the captions.

We’re still a long way off from having perfect instructions for every part we make, but we’re trying to do better. As always, if you are stuck installing our parts, please feel free to email us at sales@vorshlag.com or call us during business hours at the phone number on our website. All of our sales staff are gearheads who know how to turn wrenches, and everyone answering the phones here knows our parts better than anyone in the world – because we are the ones designing, machining, and/or assembling parts these for customer and dealer orders. Thanks!

Two new production camber plate designs released in two days! As we have said before, 2016 was our year of releasing a “new part every week”.

This new 5th gen Camaro spherical camber plate design has been in development for some time and we’ve finally produced both the OEM and coilover spring perch options. We tested both production versions on the 2013 1LE below and they worked great.

This Camaro camber plate uses twice as many main camber plate parts as our other designs (see above – 4 pieces machined for one set), since the 5th Gen Camaro “Zeta” chassis strut tower has no mounting holes for the factory top mount. Our solution was to have a form fitting lower plate, that fits underneath the strut tower, with a second plate on top, that bolts to the lower plate from above the tower. The bearing holder slides relative to the two to adjust camber.

While this was complicated to design and machine, installation is actually pretty easy. So is camber adjustment, which can be done track side in less than a minute per side – just raise a front corner (tire off the ground), loosen the 4 Allen head bolts, and slide the wheel inboard or outboard to change camber. Tighten, lower, and hit the road. The face of the top plate has alignment reference marks to make it easy to see the difference between your “Street” and “Race” alignments, too.

This design has been tested rigorously on both a competition road race car (LG Motorsports Camaro) and a street/autox/track car (Scottish Joe’s 1LE), both shown below. That means the design can handle the rigors of competition road racing as well as the brutal day-to-day grind of street driving. The Vorshlag 5th gen Camaro camber plate design uses our massive spherical bearing in the camber plate and our exclusive sealed double row radial bearing in both our OEM style and all three coilover style (2.25″, 60mm, or 2.5″ ID springs) upper spring perches. These camber plates use NONE of the factory parts from the OEM top mount or spring perch – just set them aside for if/when you ever take the car back to stock. And if you ever switch from an OEM style spring/strut to coilovers, the camber plate assembly can be easily converted with just a spring perch change.

Our 5th gen Camaro camber plates are in stock and ready to ship. This design can add an additional 2.5° of negative camber over stock, with coilover equipped cars getting a tick more adjustment due to their smaller diameter springs. The lower you run ride height also adds more negative camber at all top plate settings. Got more questions? Call Vorshlag – we’re glad to help!

If you are thinking of switching to better dampers and springs, doing so at the same time as you change the top mounts is a great time. We can provide Bilstein PSS10 coilovers and even convert the front springs to a true 60mm ID spring, with higher rates than Bilstein provides in their base kit. We have street, autocross and road course testing with some firmer rates – that still ride great on the street. This is the beauty of inverted monotube adjustable dampers – they can control more spring rate without killing the ride quality.