Camber Plates Buyer's Guide
What are Camber Plates?

Camber plates are basically adapters for your vehicle's struts. They replace the stock strut top mounts that connect the strut to the chassis. But unlike stock strut top mounts, which are fixed, and can not be adjusted in any way, camber plates allow a wide range of adjustment of your camber settings.

How do Camber Plates work?

Most stock vehicle suspension systems do allow a certain degree of camber adjustment. However, the amount of adjustment is usually very limited, and to know how much you have changed the camber using a stock system you need complex and expensive wheel alignment equipment. On top of this access to stock camber adjustment hardware is always on the underside of the vehicle and a vehicle must be jacked up or on a lift, if you wish to access the stock camber adjustment hardware. This is why changing the stock camber settings is not just limited, but it also means you have to visit a wheel alignment shop every time you make a change. This is both time consuming and very expensive if you need to make more than one change.

Camber plates greatly simplify and speed up the camber adjustment process. They replace your stock strut top mounts. They maintain the connection between strut and chassis just like your stock top mounts, but they offer a much wider range of camber adjustment by allowing the strut to move within a much greater range. But camber plates don't just increase the range of camber, they also make the process much much easier. They move the camber adjustment hardware from the underside to the top of your strut towers. This means you can adjust the camber very quickly with the vehicle on the ground. This means that you can adjust camber at the track to suit different types of tracks, driving styles, or changing road conditions.

Negative vs. Positive camber

Changing camber using your camber plates allows you to run more negative camber than stock. Negative camber is good for cornering performance because it improves cornering grip. Negative camber helps your vehicle achieve the ideal tire contact patch during cornering. Since the tire now leans more towards the inside of the vehicle, the outside wheel in the corner will gradually edge back towards zero camber. This means that your tire will sit mostly flat and flush against the road surface as you speed through the corner, giving you maximum grip your tire size can achieve. However, too much camber can result in negative performance and reduced contact patch. In general, most performance suspension setups benefit from anywhere between -1 and -2.5 camber. Anything beyond this is usually done for cosmetic purposes of vehicle “stance” and does not positively impact cornering performance.

Positive camber is rarely seen on cars nowadays and was more common on older vehicles that needed to run positive camber to compensate for suspension shortcomings or to lighten up the steering wheel, which made low-speed manoeuvers in cars without power steering easier.

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How to choose the right camber plates for your car?

Choosing the right camber plates for your car depends on several factors. The first is the application of your vehicle and the type of racing you intend to do. Stock vehicles that are driven in normal day-to-day conditions and are not used for racing usually don't benefit significantly from camber plates. One the other hand vehicles used for track days, circuit racing, drifting and other types of amateur or professional racing can greatly benefit from camber plates because they allow a vehicle to a) make the most out of its suspension setup and b) to have much greater suspension setting versatility.

The latter is especially important because it goes hand in hand with various suspension mods and changing power levels, allowing the suspension to better adapt to an ever-evolving build. When choosing camber plates you have to make sure that they offer the desired range of adjustment for your vehicle that will suit your application. Drifting usually requires a larger range of adjustments compared to circuit racing or autocross for example. You also want to pay attention to the materials and hardware used on the camber plates. High-quality aluminum alloys are a great choice because they are strong, lightweight, and won't fall prey to rust. You also want high quality and high strength bolting hardware that ensures your camber plates retain their settings in all conditions. Another important factor to consider is rubber vs pillow-ball camber plates. Rubber has the advantage of offering noticeably higher comfort so it's more suitable for street applications. On the other hand, rubber does deflect and change shape under load which is why pillow balls, although less comfortable, will be a superior choice for track-oriented applications.

MaXpeedingRods Camber plates features
  • All MaXpeedingRods camber plates are high precisions CNC cut from high-grade aluminum alloys that offer high strength, low weight and are rust-free
  • MaXpeedingRods camber plates are equipped with high-strength, high-quality hardware that is zinc-plated to prevent rusting.
  • All our camber plates feature high-precision CNC cut or laser etched high-visibility markings to ensure you can always accurately set your camber to the desired levels
  • Available with rubber or pillowball mounts, MaXpeedingRods camber plates are a great choice for a wide variety of different applications. Our pillow-ball or spherical bushing top mounts are teflon coated to ensure longevity, minimize friction and radial forces exerted on your suspension, which ensures ultimate performance.
  • The MaXpeedingRods website offers a hassle-free shopping experience and lets you easily choose and compare camber plates for a wide range of popular vehicle platforms.
How to install camber plates?

Installing camber plates is a rather simple process and it's quick once you remove the struts from your vehicle:

  • Jack or lift the vehicle from the ground.
  • Loosen any components that keep the strut connected to the car and the rest of your suspension. These often include but are not limited to: wheel hubs, control arms, sway bar links, radius rods, etc.
  • Once the strut is free from all suspension components you can finish the removal by unbolting the top mount nuts and removing the strut from the car.
  • With the strut out of the car, you will need spring compressors to compress the spring and remove the spring load from the top mount.
  • With the spring compressed loosed the bolt in the center of the top mount which holds the mount connected to the shock absorber. Do not loosen this mount with an impact gun as this could distort the position of the spring compressors and cause injury and/or damage to the strut.
  • Once the stock top mount is removed simply install the new camber plate in its place and tighten the top nut.
  • Install your strut back into your vehicle and reconnect all suspension components.
  • You can now proceed to adjust the camber.
How to adjust camber using MaXpeedingRods camber plates?

Adjusting MaXpeedingRods camber plates is extremely easy. All you will need is an allen wrench to loosen the four camber adjustment bolts. Once the bolts are loosened simply move the strut to the desired position. Once the adjustment marks are in the desired position tighten the allen bolts and you are all set. It's that simple. Be sure to adjust camber only a bit at a time and test drive your vehicle to gauge the effects of the new settings. Never adjust camber from one extreme to the other as this could severely affect vehicle handling and compromise your safety.