Verus Engineering Front Camber Plate Install (BRZ/FRS/GT86/GR86)

We should have done this modification sooner! Installing these was a breeze, and dialing in your camber is now a total cinch. Best part? We can finally start to add in some much-needed negative camber up front and no more worrying about rubbing tires on struts, or fenders. It’s like a dream come true.

If you’ve been keeping tabs on Marlon’s BRZ odyssey thus far, you know it’s been one wild ride. Picture this: we’re trying to turn his daily driver into a track-day capable car without turning it into a bone-rattling torture chamber. It’s like trying to teach a cat to fetch – lots of potential, but also a whole heap of unexpected chaos. To execute this I recommended that he forgo purchasing coilovers and we start with a much cheaper and more comfortable option… Lowering springs, because, after all, his car was quite literally brand new. With less than 1000 miles on the car, I wanted him to get some use out of the OEM dampers before rushing off and replacing them.

Long story short, the initial modifications included Swift Spec R lowering springs and an aggressive wheel and tire combination. However, due to the aggressive tire/wheel sizing, adding negative camber with camber bolts was not feasible as it resulted in tire-to-strut interference. This meant because we couldn’t add any more negative camber to the front we were stuck with a whopping negative 0.2 degrees of camber which is basically zero and not good for a track-focused car.

You can read all about that by clicking the link below.

Lowering a BRZ/GR86 (Swift Springs)

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Sticking to my guns on the ‘no coilovers’ mantra, I suggested a different approach. What if we try aftermarket front lower control arms with adjustable ball joints? My theory was that by pushing the bottom of the wheel outward to achieve negative camber, instead of pulling the top of the wheel inward like camber bolts do, we could dial in some negative camber without risking that dreaded tire-to-strut kiss of death

Another long story short… That didn’t work… Well, it did work, but it only gained us another negative 0.7 degrees of front camber. Any more and we again risked the dreaded tire-to-strut kiss of death.

You can read all about that journey by clicking the link below.

Cusco FLCA Install (BRZ/GR86)

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Now that we have completely drained Marlon’s bank account by trying to make my idea of refusing to use coilovers and go with lowering springs instead. No seriously though… We installed the lowering springs, then he got an alignment, then we installed Cusco FLCAs, and he got another alignment and now we are on to the third and final option out there for adjusting camber (without using coilovers) and will need to get a third alignment. Wish us luck (and send reinforcements for Marlon’s wallet)

Enter the Verus Front Camber Plate Assembly. By bolting these onto your stock strut with either the OEM spring or an aftermarket lowering one you gain the ability to easily adjust your camber as you would if you had a coilover installed.

• The Verus Engineering Camber Plates allow you to adjust camber up to -3 degrees at stock ride height without the use of camber bolts. 
• They utilize high-end, wide-body spherical bearings to increase driver feel and connection with the road without sacrificing longevity. (this doesn’t translate into much more NVH)
• These camber plates are direct replacements for the OEM top hats and retain the same installed height as the OEM units.
• Not to mention they add a nice amount of bling to your car and show that you’re pretty serious when it comes to dialing in your suspension.

To begin the installation process. Jack Up the front of the car, place it on jack stands, and remove the front wheels.

To successfully install them, you’re going to need to completely remove the strut from the car. Just like you would do if you were installing lowering springs.

Locate the X2 19mm bolts that secure the knuckle to the strut. These will need to be removed.

Then you’re going to need to unclip the two clips that secure the wheel speed/ABS sensor wire to the strut.

Remove the 17mm nut that secures the sway bar end link to the strut.

Remove the X1 12mm bolt that secures the brake line to the strut.

And then, lastly, Remove the X3 12mm nuts that secure the strut to the chassis. Make sure to have someone hold on to the strut to prevent it from falling when you remove the final 12mm nut.

Here is what everything should look like before removing the final three nuts that secure the strut to the chassis.

Now that the strut is out of the car, you are going to need to remove the small rubber cap from the top that exposes the 17mm nut that holds the strut to the top hat.

CAUTION! We didn’t use spring compressors because we had already previously installed lowering springs. This meant there was hardly any energy stored in the spring as it sat removed from the car. But if you still have your OEM springs, you’re going to need to use a spring compressor to allow for safe removal of the top hat.

Despite not needing spring compressors to remove the OEM top hat, we did employ the use of them to install the Verus camber plates.

You don’t need a “through-style” socket to install and secure the new Verus top hat—their design allows you to use a regular combination wrench. We just used the through-style socket since we had it on hand from removing the OEM top hat. It’s also crucial to thread the Verus nut on by hand for at least three full turns before tightening it with tools. The tolerances are tight where the bolt passes through the spherical bearing, and it can bind, potentially stripping the threads on either the stock damper or the Verus nut. Be cautious, as a little prevention goes a long way. Stripping something at this stage could leave your car out of commission for days while waiting for replacement parts.

One VERY IMPORTANT thing to look out for is the Verus camber plates are directional. See below how one is marked with an “R” for the right strut (passenger side in America).

The other is marked with an “L” for the left strut (driver’s side in America)

Now simply reassemble in reverse order of removal.

• X3 12mm nuts that secure the strut to the chassis are torqued to 17 ft-lbs.
• X1 17mm end link nut is torqued to 34 ft-lbs.
• X1 12mm brake line bolt is torqued to 24 ft-lbs.
• X2 19mm knuckle bolts/nuts to 114 ft-lbs each. Torque on the nut side.
• Reinstall the two plastic clips for the wheel speed sensor.

One drawback to these is that they no longer fully seal the wheel well and engine bay like the OEM top hats do, which allows more road debris and dirt to enter. In areas with frequent rain, you’ll also see more water in the engine bay. While this isn’t a major issue, it does require you to monitor the engine bay more often, keeping an eye out for standing water or corrosion that could lead to potential electrical gremlins. Again, this shouldn’t deter you from purchasing these because this isn’t going to be a huge problem, but it’s just worth mentioning.

And then on top.

• Use a 6mm Allen wrench and a 19mm wrench to completely secure the top hat nut. 41 ft-lbs
• Using the 5mm Allen wrench, you can set camber. It is recommended to adjust the camber in the air so that the anodizing on the plate does not get scratched. *Maximum torque for the adjuster bolts is 98 in-lbs (8 ft-lbs)! INCH-POUNDS!!!! be careful to not overtighten this as you run the risk of stripping them out and potentially rendering your brand-new camber plates useless. Make sure you also remind whoever does your alignment that these do not need to be He-Man tight.

The picture below shows the top hats set to the “mild camber” spec and as you’ll see further below we did relocate the hex head bolts to the other provisions on the adjustable part of the plate to achieve maximum camber.

See what I mean about them looking pretty damn sick.

Here you can see how we moved the 5 mm hex head bolts to the other provisions and allowed for the adjustable part to move even more inboard. (This is completely safe and is recommended by Verus to achieve maximum camber.)

HOLY SMOKES! That’s a lot of negative camber… The Verus camber plates allow up to -3 degrees but remember we also have the Cusco front lower control arms with the ball joint set at the 5mm setting giving us another 0.5-0.7 additional degrees of negative camber. So my guess, as the car sits, the camber is somewhere near the negative 4-degree range. This is too aggressive for someone who will be dailying their car as you’ll see below, we get the camber set to a much more tolerable number.

It’s important to note that with the installation of the Cusco Front Lower Control Arms, there’s been an increase in the overall track width by 10mm—5mm on each side. Consequently, this results in the tires extending outwards more prominently at the point where they contact the concrete.

So there you have it, folks. If we had just ordered and installed these at the same time we lowered the car, we would have avoided any issues with tire-to-strut contact. This would have saved Marlon a significant amount of money, as he wouldn’t have needed the unnecessary Cusco front lower control arms or paid for three alignments in just a few months.

Speaking of alignments, here are the current specs after installing the Verus Front Camber Plates. The front camber now has a more appropriate amount of negative for a car geared toward some track use, and Marlon no longer looks like a poser on the streets. It’s important to note that this isn’t a “track-spec” alignment, but more of a maintenance setup. Marlon will likely do a track day or two on this alignment before we install more parts. The goal is to avoid drastically changing the car’s feel after each modification, so we aim to keep the toe, caster, and camber consistent, allowing Marlon to clearly feel how each part impacts the handling. After installing the rest of his parts and truly understanding their individual impact on how the car behaves, we will then begin to dial in the toe and caster to a more aggressive “track-specific” alignment.

If you own a BRZ, FRS, or GR86 and are looking to get into HPDE or track days without breaking the bank, Marlon and I highly recommend Swift Spec R lowering springs, which cost around $500, paired with Verus Front Camber Plates, priced just under $400. For about $900 total, you’ll spend significantly less than you would on a decent set of coil overs while still retaining a good level of comfort by using lowering springs with the factory dampers.

As always, thank you so much for taking the time to follow along with our marvelous misadventures in modifying Marlon’s car. It’s finally at a point where I feel it should be, especially given the amount of money that’s gone into it so far! That said, there’s definitely been a steep learning curve for me, since I’m a Honda guy at heart and haven’t had much (or any) experience wrenching on Subarus. But every step has been a valuable lesson, and I appreciate you sticking with us through it all! And now, I’m at a place where I can actually begin to recommend how people should go about modifying their own BRZ’s

I’d love to hear your feedback on our journey so far—whether it’s good, bad, you want to congratulate us on finally cracking the DaVinci code of modifying Marlon’s car, or if you have any questions. Feel free to reach out to me via email at Billy@Functiontheory.com, on Instagram @Functiontheory, or just drop a comment below, and I’ll be sure to get back to you!