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There is confusion surrounding our two models of BMW E46 camber plates and hopefully this post can explain it.
HOW CAMBER PLATES WORK?
This image below is from a BMW E36 chassis, but it shares a lot with the E46 chassis. It has a front McPherson strut suspension and the strut towers are similar. To adjust camber the 3 strut mounting nuts are loosened and (with both front tires in the air) the top of the strut (or tire, which is easier to push on) is moved inboard for more negative camber, outboard for less. The "minimum" camber setting is with the strut dead center in the strut tower opening.
To change caster you drop the camber plate down and move the spherical bearing holder (the silver bits) forward or back in fixed holes to alter caster, but this is very rarely done. Luckily the spindles and control arms are similar enough on the E36 M3 and E36 "non-M" cars that we can use the same camber plate on both, and it even works on the E90/E82 chassis (with some small changes).
THE BMW E46 CHASSIS - TWO MAIN FLAVORS WITH KEY DIFFERENCES
When BMW introduced the E46 chassis to the USA in 1998 it had some significant updates from the E36, but mostly it was an evolution of the older design. The strut tower bolt circle and rotation was different enough to require a new camber plate, and in 2002 the company we bought (Motor-Force) introduced an E46 camber plate.
Now at the time in 2003 almost nobody was modifying a BMW M3, which came out in 2000 and was an almost $60K car (a lot of money back then), nearly double what the non-M cars cost. So most racers were modifying E46 325, 328 and 330 "non-M" BMWs. I raced this 2001 BMW 330 for many years (2009-2011) because the thought of owning the BMW M3 was just out of my price range.
I personally raced a BMW E46 330 (not an M car) from 2009-12 (above) and again from 2015-18 (below), and know them well. They are great chassis, have terrible engines, and need to be cut on to fit anything wider than a 255mm tire... but BMW made SO MANY of them that they are abundant and cheap.
The E46 BMW M3 (below) was made from 2000-05 with only 85K total production - fairly small numbers compared to the 4 million total E46 models built worldwide. The M3 was only made in a coupe and came with a much more powerful engine (333hp S54), wider fender flares, unique front spindles, and unique front lower control arms. These last two changes altered the suspension geometry considerably - enough that we eventually had to make a new E46 M3 camber plate!
Why was that? Well our existing "E46" plate (designed for the non-M E46, which came here 2 years earlier) was made for the suspension geometry of the non-M E46, and as such it had initial caster and camber settings that threw the E46 M3 into crazy alignments. With a street driven car, an E46 M3 with our "non-M E46" plate, lowered on coilovers, has a minimum camber setting close to -3 degrees and maxes out into the -5 deg range.
So in 2007 I drew up this new "M3" version (see above left) which has initial less caster and less initial negative camber - but the same 2.5 degrees of total camber "swing" from min to max camber. This made for a more reasonable street alignment (-1 deg min camber) and still great track alignment (-3.5 deg at max travel) on your typical lowered street car.
To make the new version - or to switch between then two - we have a unique aluminum main plate (the red bit) and a unique bolt ring (the gold bit), but the rest of the system is the same: spherical bearing holder, top ring, etc. If you are in that rare group of E46 M3 race car owners that bought the "E46 M3" plate and you NEED more travel, we know exactly what to send you.
CAN E46 M3 RACERS USE THE VORSHLAG "NON-M E46" CAMBER PLATE?
Yes, and we see racers do this all the time! In fact, when we sell an MCS kit to an E46 M3 racer we almost always include the Vorshlag non-M E46 plates.
When I was writing up this forum post (in an answer to an email which we get all the time) in early 2026, I went back and changed the wording on our two E46 camber plate entries to link to this and state that on a truly dedicated race car E46 chassis, where running under -3 deg of camber is never an option, this "non-M" plate is the better choice.
What we don't want is someone with an E46 M3 that truly has a dual purpose or street only use buy the non-M plate and find out when they get their first alignment that it was NOT the right choice for them. Then they are forced to run -3 degrees of camber (minimum!) on their daily, and they might get upset.
So if you have a question - call or email us to ask. We make both versions for good reasons, but the non-M plate is what all E46 race cars should use.
Thanks!
HOW CAMBER PLATES WORK?
This image below is from a BMW E36 chassis, but it shares a lot with the E46 chassis. It has a front McPherson strut suspension and the strut towers are similar. To adjust camber the 3 strut mounting nuts are loosened and (with both front tires in the air) the top of the strut (or tire, which is easier to push on) is moved inboard for more negative camber, outboard for less. The "minimum" camber setting is with the strut dead center in the strut tower opening.
To change caster you drop the camber plate down and move the spherical bearing holder (the silver bits) forward or back in fixed holes to alter caster, but this is very rarely done. Luckily the spindles and control arms are similar enough on the E36 M3 and E36 "non-M" cars that we can use the same camber plate on both, and it even works on the E90/E82 chassis (with some small changes).
THE BMW E46 CHASSIS - TWO MAIN FLAVORS WITH KEY DIFFERENCES
When BMW introduced the E46 chassis to the USA in 1998 it had some significant updates from the E36, but mostly it was an evolution of the older design. The strut tower bolt circle and rotation was different enough to require a new camber plate, and in 2002 the company we bought (Motor-Force) introduced an E46 camber plate.
Now at the time in 2003 almost nobody was modifying a BMW M3, which came out in 2000 and was an almost $60K car (a lot of money back then), nearly double what the non-M cars cost. So most racers were modifying E46 325, 328 and 330 "non-M" BMWs. I raced this 2001 BMW 330 for many years (2009-2011) because the thought of owning the BMW M3 was just out of my price range.
I personally raced a BMW E46 330 (not an M car) from 2009-12 (above) and again from 2015-18 (below), and know them well. They are great chassis, have terrible engines, and need to be cut on to fit anything wider than a 255mm tire... but BMW made SO MANY of them that they are abundant and cheap.
The E46 BMW M3 (below) was made from 2000-05 with only 85K total production - fairly small numbers compared to the 4 million total E46 models built worldwide. The M3 was only made in a coupe and came with a much more powerful engine (333hp S54), wider fender flares, unique front spindles, and unique front lower control arms. These last two changes altered the suspension geometry considerably - enough that we eventually had to make a new E46 M3 camber plate!
Why was that? Well our existing "E46" plate (designed for the non-M E46, which came here 2 years earlier) was made for the suspension geometry of the non-M E46, and as such it had initial caster and camber settings that threw the E46 M3 into crazy alignments. With a street driven car, an E46 M3 with our "non-M E46" plate, lowered on coilovers, has a minimum camber setting close to -3 degrees and maxes out into the -5 deg range.
So in 2007 I drew up this new "M3" version (see above left) which has initial less caster and less initial negative camber - but the same 2.5 degrees of total camber "swing" from min to max camber. This made for a more reasonable street alignment (-1 deg min camber) and still great track alignment (-3.5 deg at max travel) on your typical lowered street car.
To make the new version - or to switch between then two - we have a unique aluminum main plate (the red bit) and a unique bolt ring (the gold bit), but the rest of the system is the same: spherical bearing holder, top ring, etc. If you are in that rare group of E46 M3 race car owners that bought the "E46 M3" plate and you NEED more travel, we know exactly what to send you.
CAN E46 M3 RACERS USE THE VORSHLAG "NON-M E46" CAMBER PLATE?
Yes, and we see racers do this all the time! In fact, when we sell an MCS kit to an E46 M3 racer we almost always include the Vorshlag non-M E46 plates.
When I was writing up this forum post (in an answer to an email which we get all the time) in early 2026, I went back and changed the wording on our two E46 camber plate entries to link to this and state that on a truly dedicated race car E46 chassis, where running under -3 deg of camber is never an option, this "non-M" plate is the better choice.
What we don't want is someone with an E46 M3 that truly has a dual purpose or street only use buy the non-M plate and find out when they get their first alignment that it was NOT the right choice for them. Then they are forced to run -3 degrees of camber (minimum!) on their daily, and they might get upset.
So if you have a question - call or email us to ask. We make both versions for good reasons, but the non-M plate is what all E46 race cars should use.
Thanks!