Warning: If you are not competent or do not feel comfortable doing any of these modifications or procedures, then please do not do so. I will not be held responsible for any damages caused by a result of your actions. Now on to the fun stuff!

When Ben from Rogue Engineering contacted me about reviewing this new product, I was interested to see what these were all about.

Since I already have a procedure for changing rear shock mounts (RSMs) and reinforcement plates I will just give some impressions.

Pictures:

Advantages:
These plates combine the advantages of the factory Z3 reinforcement plates with the convenience of studs which project into the wheel well for removal of the shocks externally without removing any of the interior carpet. This makes shock absorber changes and adjustments on Koni shocks much easier.

You may note that the GC plates I had were a horseshoe type of design which really does not provide the reinforcement that the factory Z3 plates do. So, I had been running the Z3 plates with the GC semi-circular plates on top of them to get the advantages of both. The Rogue plate provides both.

Impressions:
Installation I expect to be just like with the GC plates. I will update with an installed picture or two once I get them in in the next few weeks. These plates are 6mm thick. I suspect the Z3 plates are thinner, but I'll measure them once they're out of the car. One more thing I really appreciate? The hardware is metric! No need to look for an equivalent size or drag out the english wrenches. Why it's 10.9 grade I don't know though... I guess the wrench monkeys can use their impact guns on them or something! The yellow zinc (I would have called it cadmium) coating looks great and appears to be quite durable. Time will tell.

Update [05.12.04]: Install was a snap, just drop them in after pulling back the carpet. The inner diameter of the plate is just a touch larger than the Z3 plates. I imagine this wouldn't cause too much of a problem, but they are about twice as thick as the Z3 plates. The coating on the Z3 plates looks very similar to that of these plates.

You can find more information about these plates on Rogue Engineering's website.