[bmw335ie90]

So I guess this is mostly a PSA since I did not take any pictures but Tambohamilton has it documented in his build thread here: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...8&postcount=38. I unfortunately did not see this thread until after I ran into issues.

It was discovered that Xdrive strut top mounts are about ~6 mm lower than RWD ones. Dinan camber plates lift the front suspension about ~7mm. So in theory, if you combine Xdrive strut top mounts and Dinan camber plates on a RWD car you will not lift the front suspension hardly at all. What happens in reality is that this combo causes significant binding issues with the camber plate nuts hitting the spring top hat. You would never really notice this as there is no binding at all with the strut out of the car. The load of the car compresses the top mounts much more than anticipated.

To solve the problem I replaced the Nyloc nuts with regular nuts and blue loctite to gain about 1mm clearance. I also ground down to top hat to gain about another 1mm clearance. Then once the top mount and camber plate were assembled and torqued, ground down the nuts about another mm. In total I gained about 3-4 mm clearance which completely solved the interference issue.

[whyzee125]

Interesting mod, that's good to know. I've been thinking of removing my Dinan camber plates to get a bit more suspension travel but may do this instead.

[The Nightman]

Interesting. Biginboca paired Dinan camber plates with xdrive strut mounts without issue, but coincidentally also used xdrive spring perches

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...&postcount=763

I like the xdrive strut mounts as they are reinforced with gussets and may be more rigid than RWD mounts

[neilvan]

Originally Posted by whyzee125

Interesting mod, that's good to know. I've been thinking of removing my Dinan camber plates to get a bit more suspension travel but may do this instead.

I don't believe any of the mount changes will gain you more travel; Just a lower stack height so it'll raise/lower the effect length of it all. Where the spring sits on the perch doesn't change per which mount you go with

[bmw335ie90]

Originally Posted by whyzee125

Interesting mod, that's good to know. I've been thinking of removing my Dinan camber plates to get a bit more suspension travel but may do this instead.

I'm not sure I follow, the top mount and camber plates do not effect shock travel distance?

Originally Posted by Guy Fieri

Interesting. Biginboca paired Dinan camber plates with xdrive strut mounts without issue, but coincidentally also used xdrive spring perches

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showp...&postcount=763

I like the xdrive strut mounts as they are reinforced with gussets and may be more rigid than RWD mounts

For sure the AWD top mounts are way beefier, I would expect the bearings to last just as long as they are essentially the same as RWD in design.

I believe the reason he did not have issues is that the spring plate (spring perch) between RWD and AWD are different. If you combine Xdrive top mounts with Xdrive top plates there is no reduction in ride height. The black AWD top plate has more offset built into them and is also missing the little spacer thingy that sits on the strut shaft.

RWD


AWD (Xdrive)

[whyzee125]

Originally Posted by bmw335ie90

I'm not sure I follow, the top mount and camber plates do not effect shock travel distance?

Sorry I forgot to mention, I have coilovers so I adjusted the height lower to compensate for the Dinan camber plates but I think I may go back for a little more travel.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by neilvan

I don't believe any of the mount changes will gain you more travel; Just a lower stack height so it'll raise/lower the effect length of it all. Where the spring sits on the perch doesn't change per which mount you go with

Exactly!