Rear camber question

[millionbucks]

Hey guys I just went to get my 18" motegi RIMS with new rubber put on and decided to get the allignment checked out. With the stock suspension still on the car I recieved a reading of -2% in both rear wheels. Although technically(according to the computer program) this is still within mazda spec for this vehicle, it has and will cause signigicant inside tire wear. This sucks cause I just bought brand new rubber @ 200$ a tire and I want them to last a little more then a season. Does anyone know of a way to adjust the camber? I dont want to get a camber kit as I have stock suspension. I'm thinking I'm gonna get some drop springs (prolly eibach PROKIT) eventually so if i do does anyone know where I can get a hold of a good camber kit to correct this problem so I'm not buying new shoes next season again.

BTW I have ordered the Accolade DTM body kit for the 4 door 3 should be here and on in a few weeks

Thanks for any help

[millyowner]

Most IRS equipped cars hover around -2 degrees of rear camber. Technically, it wears the inside edges of the tires a little faster, but not nearly as much as rear toe being out by 2 degrees. Regular tire rotation compensates for the most part.

[millionbucks]

ok so this is normal then, I kind of expected it being the two rear tires were both out by almost the exact same ammount. That would be quite the anomaly if incidental. As for the toe it was 0" and 1/16" which is more then sufficient so I guess I'm ok.

Thanks for the info

[x5918]

2005 Mazda3 hatchback REAR CAMBER ANGLE 2.7 degrees -- original Eagle RSA tires showing threads on inner side after 18k miles. Rear camber -1.6 left and -2.7 right. Especially the negative 2.7 is way out of specs, the tire is leaning inwards too much, the acceptable camber range is [-0.3 .. -2.3] degrees. Q: Anybody else had this issue? Could it be a factory defect? (covered by warranty)

[millyowner]

The camber should at least be adjustable in the rear, but probably not covered under your warranty. An annual alignment check and adjustment is typically looked at as normal maintainance.

[x5918]

The camber should at least be adjustable in the rear, but probably not covered under your warranty. An annual alignment check and adjustment is typically looked at as normal maintainance.[/b]

I took the car to the Mazda dealership for inspection, unfortunately it was saturday afternoon 2pm, so the mechanics had left. The service manager looked at the printout I received from the alignment shop. He thought that it could be a problem with the right side strut. Im gonna drop the car to service on a wekday, and see what up.

Btw. at the alignment shop, they said that the rear camber adjustment would require a ordering of a camber kit, which would have cost about $150 with installation, the -2.7 was beyond adjustment .. or something of that nature. Not sure if aligmnent guy meant that the rear camber is not adjustable on Mazda3 , or there was more need to adjust, than what was possible, by tweaking the bolts or by grinding off material from brackets...

[millyowner]

A camber kit? Does you car have lowering springs? With a factory suspension, if your camber is off by that much, it means the rear camber is adjusted wrong or the suspension is bent or somehow damaged. Don't trust the alignment shop as far as what is adjustable on your car. They are wrong a lot of times. They may not even know it's adjustable in the rear when it really is.

I have this problem with the millenia, which has adjustable camber front and rear, but they never adjust the front and almost never adjust the rear unless I explicitly tell them to. They usually just adjust the toe angles. I got my printout back after my last alignment and I had -0.5 degrees on the RH side and -1.6 degrees on the LH side. Even though the toe angles were within spec, the car would wander slightly at speed after the alignment. I took it back in and showed them the bolt on the control arm that adjusted camber on the front and I made them perform another alignment for me at no charge.

[x5918]

The jury is back. Verdict from Mazda dealership service: something might bent, due to previous contact with curb, but too small deflection to be detectable. Speculations of "a cradle shift", because the front wheel had taken a hit. The Mazda service did some tweaks, and now I have 2 degrees left, and 2.4 on right hand - so slightly better. Anyways to actually correct the problem, a camber kit would be needed. Alternatively: fixing the sofar unnamed bended part, I have to take it to collision shop, with about $200 per pull, possibly needing upto 3 pulls to straighten any frame shifts. With remaining minus 2.4 degrees camber, the advice was: its probably not worth pursuing - the tire wear out will not be that big of problem. Delership charged $95, but got a discount from previous 15k service, paid $75 for the checkup & tweak.

[millyowner]

Not sure about the specs on the M3, but 2-3 degrees of negative camber on the rear wheels is normal on some cars. Regular rotation front to back should minimize inside tire wear. So long as the camber difference is within a half degree across both wheels on the axle, the car should track properly.

[ionorick]

You may want to look into SPC or eibach camber kits. I am currently running the eibach camber with some tein s-techs. I had the same problem with wearing of the tire. Try looking at the pressure within the tire that was my problem to begin with not my camber