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Originally Posted by skier_du
That's true. But I've found the added NVH of camber plates is not nearly as bad as people think it's going to be. Especially if your suspension is fairly stock or has a soft setup. I added GC camber plates to my xDrive when I had the Powerflex race bushings replacing the rubber in the 2 front control arms, along with Bilstein B8 and Swift Spec-R springs on my car. My wife is sensitive and never even noticed the difference. Only thing I felt was a little better steering response and a little more connected to what the front tires are doing on the road. Personally, I think if anyone is on the edge of whether or not to get camber plates, it's completely worth it.
Regarding the axles, this is my second xDrive 3 series and I've probably driven over 100k miles lowered between the 2 cars. Some has been with stock top hats. Some has been with camber plates. I've never had an axle problem. And my cars have been fairly low. Like almost tucked to slightly tucked low. The problem is definitely the lower bushings pushing the hubs out and thereby pulling the axle joints apart. Similar to adding the longer M3 lower control arms. Just avoid doing those camber bushings. That way the axles should be able to stay within the designed range. And anyone should be fine as long as there's not other problems.
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It was pretty night and day when I swapped out my camber plates from stock with b14s. A lot more road noise is transmitted to the car on rough roads. Its particularly bad on freeways around SF but I like the performance gain so I live with it for now. Everyone's tolerance may be different so I usually suggest those interested about camber plates but are also concerned about noise to go for a ride in a car with pillowball or camber plates so they can hear for themselves how much is transmitted into the cabin.