J&M Products.

http://www.hotpart.com/index.php?p=s...17c108e60cae53

 

I like the added caster adjustment on those. but do you really need that much caster adjustment? I have never had a problem with not getting enough. Camber on the other hand, I can never seem to get as much as i would like/need.

 

Agreed. They should have made the provisions for quick adjustment and reference markings for the camber not caster. The caster is just set from the underneath slots just like the standard non-adj stock mounts. This way you could unbolt and move them at the track, then reset them for the drive home to the original alignment postion for street use.

As a cautionary note to any looking to buy these- Beware of lowered vehicles and/or soft springs and struts. They will come in contact with these. I can not verify through any disclaimer on their part, but from experience can positively say that this design would ONLY work on a car that is stock height AND stiffer springs (WS6 or better) or the strut will ground out on the underneath of them on severe bumps or dips.

 

hmm, interesting point vsixtoy... i was considering them since they're alot cheaper than the billet ones sold on spohn's site, but since i dont know a whole lot about suspension, i'll take your word for it...

 

Yup those look nice. I was comparing them to the ones from Spohn (same price). Dean will those J&M units cause you to bottom out because of their design? Or will those similar ones from Spohn also cause the same problem (neither are raised?). I guess the cheapest raised setup I've seen is the Ground Control plates (like $230 or something).

 

they look good, has anyone on the boards tried the spohn ones?

i've been thinking bout upgrading and this is a cheaper way to go then the spohn product

 

crazy, the problem is with how narros the center section is. you should nto have an issue with the spohns.

BTW, i do beleive that spohns are actualy raised. IIRC Dan told me 1.5", a little less than my HMS mounts.

kretos -- I have the HMS, which are basicly the same design. I know the maker of the Spohn ones, he runs them on his car. And i beleive vsixtoy runs spohns also, or HMS, i can't remeber.

here is a shot of mine.

 

HMS, I keep wiping out bearing though. My secoond set is starting to knock- These were very high end Aurora bearing I used this time. But I run Koni Yellow's on max settings. Here's a good shot of mine before I installed them. You can see in the picture that the HMS units (basically identical to Spohns design) Have plenty of extra strut travel clearance up inside the mounts for lowered cars

 

Here's a shot from underneath the wheelwell. This picture shows well how the other J&M style would be a problem with travel. If you look closely at the strut shaft, you can see the markings of my strut compression depth. I run very stiff 800+ lb spring rate on a lightweight V6 car- so my travel is very little, but I would even ground out the J&Ms, and My front end is way stiffer than pretty much anyone here.

 

Topside shot shows how they can still be mounted with a STB and clearance with master cylinder is ok.

 

vsixtoy: Would you say that with the HMS (maybe Spohn/Alloy also) strut mounts the STB has to be mounted out farther from the center of the strut tower than if the stock strut mounts were installed?

Is the 'footprint' of the HMS mounts larger than that of the OEM mount?
If somebody mounted their STB when the OEM mounts were in place they may have to relocate the STB farther out when going to the HMS or Spohn/Alloy mounts?

It looks to me in that last pic the STB is mounted out along the edge of the strut tower 'plateau'.

Mike

 

WEC, The HMS mounts have the exact same footprint as the stock mounts. The stock mounts were used as a template when Karl Hunter made these. This is the best top veiw picture I have on file showing the mounts of the STB (Removed in picture, but mount pads are there) I run a very wide Edelbrock STB so the mounts just slightly overhang on one corner, 95% of the surface is flat to the plateau. I have it mounted out as far as I can safely because I need clearance for my intake.

Dean

 

If you look at the installed pic in that first link you can see they use a set of spacers to lift the bottom plate. Wouldn't that give you extra room for the body of the strut to come up more?

 

vsixtoy is that a baer bumpsteer kit?

how much of a feel increase did you get from those solid tie rods?

 

They are spacing it very little though. I don't like the idea of posting the three mount bolts on pillars (spacers under them) instead on having the mating surface of the plateau flat against the entire mount for flex support. It will end up weakening under high rebound forces.

Rem. the biggest notice to turning response by far is the solid bearing strut mounts. The baer Bumpsteer kit shows no difference in turning response at all (Unless you have bad componants you are replacing- and then, even the stock tierods would show improvement. The bumpsteer kit does just that, Helps prevent unwanted steer over a bump due to poor tierod geometry. My car is very low, yes it did help that mostly, but not entirely under severe bumps. I still get just the slightest wiggle on a hard bump It did not entirely correct my geometry due to being so lowered..

 

speaking of that, I know your running big wheels, I don't know what size though, but are you having issues with clearance on the bear tierods? I replaced mine recently and I'm looking at those but don't want to deal with clearance issues.

 

Here's what I have-
Factory IROC 16x8's that I had chromed (not aftermarket) However, the ones on the front are "Rears". So if anything, I would have more of a clearence issue than someone running "Fronts" with a wider offset. Tires are 245/50-16 Goodyear GS-D3's.

If you look at the picture I posted showing my front brake assembly above, you'll see that I run a 1/4" spacer so those "rears" will clear the calipers. The tierod clears the rim but JUST BARELY (never any rubbing, no markks after well over a year of hard driving and even high speed track use). I have my wheels balanced with tape on weights on the inside of the wheel anyways and not on the outer edges like streetcars usually do. (I run 4 "rears" strictly so I can rotate my tires, this is and always will be a streetcar)

So in conclusion, anyone running normal offset rims from the factory (Front's and rear's) Will be better off, especially if you are running the 1LE brake package because that even further offsets the wheel away from the tierod.

 

I was once going to buy these and had my name on the pre order list and what not. Then it ended up taking a hell of a long time for J&M to actually make them. By the time he was actually ready to ship them out I no longer had the money I had put on the side to buy them. Though now when I actually see them on a car...I don't really think I want them. Plus I get about -2 degrees of camber already with my stock tops. I'll just buy some Spohns or the HM one to get more travel.

 

Dean...did you ever solve the bearing problem? Reason I ask is that both Karl and I have been running the HMS mounts for years and have never wiped out the bearings. Neither has any one else that I'm aware of.

I'm wondering if your max setting on the Koni Yellows has something to do with that?. You may be over dampening and sending excessive shock loads up through the bearing. In fact I'm pretty sure of that.

I run Koni yellows and so does Karl, but we normally never run any where near full hard. Usually about half a turn in the front. Karl's on 18"dia Goodyear slicks and he only occassionally runs full hard during racing. For street use we back them off.

 

Its definately from the high damper forces. The front end of this car is lighter because of the V6, that combined with very stiff springs for what weight this car is (I'm 200lbs lighter than you V8 cars up front) I have to run very high shock settings to control the springs. Part of the business of going fast- I expect to have to replace things more often. Its definately the bearings though and not the retainer clip .

 

what would the strut hit?

 

just tried to email you, vsixtoy....you're no longer with aol? can you let me know your new email address? i need to know how to buy the HMS camber plates...spohn is on back order. also, what spring rates are you running?

 

HMS Camber plates were a one time special Production, primarily for TGO members. Only about twenty five sets ever made. Karl might be be persuaded to make some more, but you'd have to check with him.

huntermotorsports@hotmail.com

 

anyone have anymore info on the HOTPART strut mounts??? im really interested in getting them however my car will be lowered 2" and i want to make sure these work and not interfere.
intrax springs and more than likely KYB AGX's

 

i emailed the company and they gave me this response...
That statement is false. That is someone who has never seen our plates or
used them. Our camber plates are designed for a racing application for
people who have trimmed there bumpstop on the lower control arm. We do
highly recommend if you are trimming the bumpstops to remove the spring and
run the suspension through the complete travel and make sure the strut will
not make contact as every strut is slightly different but we have never run
into this before.

whats everyone think?