Lowering springs or camber plate for track use

[espooner]

I ordered my 2002 Boxster S with M-030 suspension - American, not ROW, as not available in US. As I have tracked the car over the years I have always been cording the outside edges of the Michelin Sport Cups, which wear twice as fast as the rears, as a result of lack of negative camber. The car is also my daily driver, however. I need to get more negative camber into the front suspension. I'm a fairly good "shade-tree mechanic, but have no access to a lift or special tools. It appears i I have 3 options and would like to get opinions.

1.) Least expensive - buy camber plates and install myself to get another 1.0 to 1.25 degrees negative camber. $350 if I do it myself. How hard?

2.) More expensive - buy ROW M-030 springs or H&R for $450, and have them installed by mechanic for another $600-$1000 depending on who does it. This would lower the car's center of gravity, get another 1.0 degree negative camber, and probably be a better handling solution for the track.

3.) More expensive yet - Camber plate AND springs. Should be great on the track, but is camber plate necessary for this ?

4.) Too expensive, I think - buy springs ($450) and GT3 adjustable arms ($980) and have them installed by mechanic (another $1000). This is WAY out of my price range, I'm afraid.

Any and all comments and experience would be welcome. I need to do things quickly, as track season is here, and Michelins are not getting any cheaper.

TIA

Eric

[ericinboca]

Camber plates

Easy to install. They take the place of the stock strut mounts. You take the strut out and replace the top mount, and reinstall. Sounds easy, and it is not bad. I have aftermarket coilovers, so I can take the tension off the springs by lowering the perch. I don't remember how much tension there was with the stock set up - you may need spring compressors. I can get my coilovers in the front out without removing the wheel carrier and without having to disconnect the lower control arm, but removing everything else.

Couple things on plates. I have never explored them thoroughly, so I could be wrong, but I would have thought a camber plate would give you more negative camber. How much negative camber can you get now without the plates?

You likely are not, but don't mistake solid strut mounts with camber plates. Solid strut mounts often can be intalled two ways - one way gives you a range of camber something like +1 to -1.5. The other way gives you -1 to -2....just making these numbers up to illustrate. One other thing to think about on camber plates - they probably have solid mounts - which is awesome for the track, but will transfer a little more noise to the car.

Lowering springs

If you think you can tackle the plates, you can probably handle the springs too. Not that much extra work - same idea - you take the strut out by removing or dropping the wheel carrier clear, remove the three nuts in the front trunk, and you have a strut assembly in your hand. Compress the springs to remove the strut mount. Uncompress the springs and keep track of how everything is stacked together - the order and which side is up.

Have you tried enlarging the hole where the top of the strut is to get more negative camber? On a lot of 986's, the stud for the strut hits the inside of that hole. When I first starting tracking my car, we enlarged that hole and got more neg camber that way. Worked until we started hitting the body underneath.

Full disclosure - I think taking the strut out is easy - can change a set of front springs in an hour. (I use different spring rates for different tracks.) I have all the tools and have a rack, so I am seriously set up for it. Still though, it is a job someone with aptitude can tackle.