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Suspension Travel
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Strut bearing "stack height"

Let's look at another way that we can help maintain suspension travel on a lowered car with strut suspension:


Figure 2

Figure 2 shows two cars set at identical ride height. Both cars have strut suspension, but the car on the right has more travel than the car on the left (indicated by the blue circle). This is because the car on the right has upper strut bearings which have a shorter "stack height". The shorter stack height allows the bump stop to sit higher up relative to the chassis, and this in turn increases available suspension travel. In general, camber plates have shorter stack heights than factory strut bearings because they do not incorporate a thick rubber pad. Camber plates use a solid spherical bearing to hard mount your strut to the chassis (an exception are the K-Mac camber/ caster plates, which use a thick poly-urethane pad).
Most people associate solid camber plates with a harsh ride, due to the lack of a thick rubber or poly-urethane pad to act as a cushion. I have found that this is not necessarily the case. If the solid camber plate has a short stack height, then the increased travel means that the suspension stays in the range where only the spring is needed to absorb bumps. Thus there are no dramatic increases in the spring rate caused by bump stop interaction. The overall effect is that the ride is actually smoother in some ways. Sure, you feel more through the seat of your pants, and there is an increase in "noise". But you no longer cringe when you see a big bump or pothole coming up. There's just a "whump" as the spring absorbs the impact. No crashing.
To read more about camber plates and stack height click here...

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Home
Back to Myths
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More Myths Part 1
Weight Transfer
Splitter Theory
Suspension Travel Theory
Stress Bar Theory
Driving Position