[jwebb335xi]

Anybody out there with experience installing Dinan Camber Plates on an XI. It looks like you just lower the strut (by removing 3 nuts at strut tower) and swap the reinforcement plate for the Camber plate.... Is it that easy? 45 minutes work at most.

[gavronm]

I'm not sure if it's different on an XI but I was able to follow a method described by someone in a follow-on post in what I believe is the main DIY for that install. Without pulling the strut out of the fender well I was able to remove the nuts, pound the pins out of the OEM hat, slide the Dinan plate into place, and then insert the Dinan hardware. All of this is done with the car jacked up and another jack under the hub so you can raise and lower the suspension.

Generally speaking:

Car on jack stands

remove wheel

put a jack under the brake rotor or hub (whichever you prefer - use a block of wood)

remove OEM top hat nuts

pound out the pins that you can

lower hub with jack

spin top hat so the pin you can't get is in a different hole - raise the hub and then pound out that last pin.

lower hub again

slide in the Dinan plate

Through the big hole at the top of the strut mount drop the allen head bolts through the dinan plate and through the OEM top hat - rotate/move the dinan plate and top hat as needed to get these in.

Hardest part - from inside the wheel well tighten the nuts on the underside of the OEM top hat - may want to cut/shorten a wrench for this. I had a ratcheting box wrench and it saved the day. You will have to raise/lower the hub and spin the dinan plate around to get at all the nuts.

Once those are tight make sure the plate is oriented correctly then raise the hub so the Dinan pins extend through the slots in the top strut, shove them as far inboard as they will go, tighten them down and head to the alignment shop.

Sounds like a lot but once you see what's going on it's pretty straightforward. For me it beat the hell out of trying to pull the whole strut out of the fender.

[gabylonfive]

I've installed a couple sets of these - doing them on the car is way more trouble than it's worth imho. Drilling/knocking out the alignment pin is easy enough but knocking the top nut studs out is a pita and kind of sketchy with the corner loaded by a jack. With the entire assembly out it literally takes 10 minutes to press the studs out, mount the plates, and put everything back in the car.

just my $.02 though. if you are dead set on doing it in the fender well, the instructions above should work.

[mlifxs]

i haven't done the dinan plates yet nor do I have an xi but here is one diy for them, rwd
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6062243

note the author uses a c-clamp to remove the strut mount studs

[gabylonfive]

Originally Posted by mlifxs

i haven't done the dinan plates yet nor do I have an xi but here is one diy for them, rwd
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6062243

note the author uses a c-clamp to remove the strut mount studs

^ i followed Chowbow's DIY as well and it helped immensely. I didn't have a beefy enough c-clamp though so I just ended up using a box 14mm socket and my bench vise instead. worked like a charm.