Broken Ground Control Camber Plates, 3rd time, ritual self-disembowelment imminent

[digger]

Yes, good idea to ask them. There are multiple versions based on the shock dimensions, i am using koni SA with M14x1.5 mm thread that is 22 mm AF nuts and shaft is about 22 mm iirc for reference

[Dagamus(NM)]

I bought mine second hand so I am trying get it sorted. The image bottom left does show a large washer. I guess I will email GC and see what they say. When I search images online I see them both ways. But if the GC washer is narrow ID it would have to go on top.

Edit: Max at Ground Control told me that hat on the bottom is the requirement for Bilstein struts. Others it doesn't matter whether they are top or bottom so they send them out in the Bilstein configuration. Awesome that the instructions they send make zero mention of this.

[digger]

Finally getting around to ordering the last of the parts that I need to put my setup together and noticed the instructions on the ground control site. In the image a few posts up I see the metal hat is installed on the bottom of the camber plate with the long part pointing up. The instructions show the thick washer at the bottom and the hat coming down from the top. The nut sitting into the recession on the hat makes sense though in this configuration I have absolutely no idea what the point of the taper on the inside of the hat is. But I can see how the piston could pierce and push through the mount into the hood like OP experienced if the wrong combination of parts were used.

GC sell them with the hat on bottom and big washer on top as shown in pics on website and how i received mine. Also on the image bottom left it shows the washer on the top. i dont think the nut would sit in the recess it is too large of a nut if you put the hat on top?

[Dagamus(NM)]

Finally getting around to ordering the last of the parts that I need to put my setup together and noticed the instructions on the ground control site. In the image a few posts up I see the metal hat is installed on the bottom of the camber plate with the long part pointing up. The instructions show the thick washer at the bottom and the hat coming down from the top. The nut sitting into the recession on the hat makes sense though in this configuration I have absolutely no idea what the point of the taper on the inside of the hat is. But I can see how the piston could pierce and push through the mount into the hood like OP experienced if the wrong combination of parts were used.

[digger]

no progressive besides the whole spring..

the bump stop is progressive, whereas the spring is linear until it is solid and it suddenly goes to 20,000,000 lb/in meaning you just have the tire stiffness

[kronus]

no progressive besides the whole spring..

[digger]

seems pretty clear that the op's issue was caused by the damper bottoming out before the spring did, which turned it into a fairly effective punch.

The damper is supposed to bottom out first on that design but specifically the foam bump stop part not the internal gizzards. You dont want anything to be a hard stop and the coil going solid is not what is supposed to happen as there is literally no progressive so it generates huge loads

[digger]

I am in agreement with repeatedly bottoming out. This is the hat in question outside of the camber plate. I guess this is a good PSA for bump stops. Cheaper than fixing that hood.

That said, there are four different styles of this hat to match the strut that they are mounting on top of. Possible that the combination was wrong. Maybe a tapered hat on a flat strut or vice versa. They come in two lengths as well. Still would need a serious impact to shear through it, but the shapes being off would help get there.

Thanks for this, the image on GC website doesn't seem to match anything of these perfectly.

this exploded assembly doesnt seem right either

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1837/9529/files/E30_Street_Sport_CCP_8c2cd00c-5b36-441c-a901-87bce38fd848.pdf?v=1681757606

What is strange that if bottoming out hard enough to fail in such a short time that you would surely not be a happy camper while driving.

The locating recess does create a reduction in the material but yeah reduction in the peak shock load kinda matters

i have 14 mm Koni SA so presumably the 2nd version 14mm flat/tapered, but i don't recall such a large chamfer but mine are like 12 years old

Is it relatively simple to disassemble one of these to inspect condition of the polyurethane and service them as required?

[Dagamus(NM)]

I am in agreement with repeatedly bottoming out. This is the hat in question outside of the camber plate. I guess this is a good PSA for bump stops. Cheaper than fixing that hood.

That said, there are four different styles of this hat to match the strut that they are mounting on top of. Possible that the combination was wrong. Maybe a tapered hat on a flat strut or vice versa. They come in two lengths as well. Still would need a serious impact to shear through it, but the shapes being off would help get there.

[kronus]

seems pretty clear that the op's issue was caused by the damper bottoming out before the spring did, which turned it into a fairly effective punch.

[digger]

Was this ever resolved? It seems like there wasn't a top hat installed; as if the top of the shock itself is pressed upward against the bearing without a top hat/spring hat.

blast from the past....i dont have a section view of the design but it looks like the "top hat" failed through punching shear of the annulus circled in red. that isn't made out of cheese and so i would presume repeated bottoming out, strut internal issue, loose nut causing hammering (they are pita to torque the big nuts) or massive machining defect on the camber plate hat. on the back of an envelope that should take circa 5 tonnes statically

It would have been nice to the the disassembled bits and to manually traverse the strut through range of motion

my only interest i have these street camber mounts and have recently started getting a knock so will be pulling apart to troubleshoot if the camber plate is doing the knocking

[ak-]

Was this ever resolved? It seems like there wasn't a top hat installed; as if the top of the shock itself is pressed upward against the bearing without a top hat/spring hat.

[Northern]

Those metal strut bushings look like they have a slightly thinner hat than the GC race plate versions, but I still have no idea how they could possibly get enough force through them to shear off unless you're bottoming out the strut or have some other strange issue.

[d.brocco]

What was GC's response? I don't understand how you can break 3 of them, and GC isn't trying to find a solution. Their website even says they have a lifetime warranty. You'd obviously still be out labor/alignment/etc. but I just don't see how they could blow you off and make you pay for the part.

Anyway, I've been running IE race plates on my street car for 7 years or so, no issues at all. Koni S/A's on full stiff.

Thank you. Ground Control is MOST DEFINITELY blowing me off. Plain and simple. I actually ended up ordering the IE Race Plates as well, based on my personal experience with their other parts. Even though their phone is just a busy signal in 2019 which boggles the mind..

The struts were professionally shortened and fully finished by Ground Control. The shocks are Koni yellows - also a personal upsell by Donovan at Ground Control. I am assuming they are short!!!

Ride height is pretty low, but i believe lots of stuff would stop the damper travel before they would bottom out. (skid plate, exhaust, oil pan etc.)



The only other weird thing that I can think of was that Ground Control also screwed up the original shipment. Only some of the kit was shipped and the shop mistakenly inserted the rear bearings in the front. The steering stuck in both directions so i took it back in. Could that have permanently damaged the strut or something else?

I have now spent more fixing this shit than i did on the kit itself. Life was so much simpler when i had HRs and non-adjustable billysports that only rattled apart my whole car. FML thanks for all the help boys

[ForcedFirebird]

So much easier to see the pics!

As nrubenstein said, the plates shouldn't be holding any weight in that area (only the spring perches should have weight on them) and the only way this could happen is if you were bottoming out the shock, not sure switching brands will help you any.

The spring is what holds the weight, not the shock - shock just control the rate of compression/rebound. If you were to remove the shocks and set the car on springs only, it would stay up just fine - I have many times rolled cars around the shop without rear shocks (would need something to keep the strut tube centered in the front).

Could you post some pics of your ride height and setup? Are the strut tubes shortened, or are you riding low with full length units?