zx2 + eibach woes

[Ryencool]

I love the setup except the fact that its killing my tires. My camber is way off -2 on hte fronts and -3 in the rear. I just bought some camber bolts. I dont see any diffrence after installing thme but im sure a 1 - 1.5 degree diffrence isnt extremly noticable. Im goin to the shop ot get two front new tires befroe I try to drive from NY to TX in a few weeks. Anything else i can try?

<small>[ September 27, 2003, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Ryencool ]</small>

[Ryencool]

just went to discountire.com and found some falken ziex for 48$ a piece plus free shipping, cant beat that eh. Hopefully with these bolts i can solve my alignment woes ;(

[Mazdaracer]

I found that using a nice concrete (read: dusty) driveway you can get a better idea of the contact patch of the tire. I have -1.5 rear camber, and i definetly notice it. Infact, i wish i had your problem...i can't get more than -1.25 up front. Now i also refuse to use 2 bolts on the same strut mount, they just look pretty dinky...i have no bolts in the rear and 1 each up front in the top slot.

You could also slot the stuts mounting holes for positive (towards the engine) camber. Basically the same as using the bolts, but if the bolts aren't enough, the slot could make up the difference.

(ZX2 + H&R for the MX3)

<small>[ September 27, 2003, 04:27 PM: Message edited by: Mazdaracer ]</small>

[millionflame]

Originally posted by Mazdaracer:
You could also slot the stuts mounting holes for positive (towards the engine) camber. Basically the same as using the bolts, but if the bolts aren't enough, the slot could make up the difference.

What do you mean by slotting?

Like cutting a bigger hole or something???

~A

[curtklze]

good lord:

just break down and spend $100 on a 4 wheel alignment, you already have the camber bolts, so just do the job properly and be done with it.

P.S. The Toe is what is wearing out the tires, not the camber.

[Ryencool]

p.s. it isnt the toe. I dont know how many times people have tried to tell me this. If the toe is not dead on, which mine isnt your car pulls to one side, so my stearing wheel is slightly off center. this means toe has no effect and im not dragging the tires cause im straigthening them out. The tires both show similar wear on the inside edge, it istn feathering, it is one side is worn one isnt. maybe your was toe or somone you know but mine is not. When your rear camber is -3 and front is -2, i think thats gonna wear them like mine has done.

SO, for the last time, its the tires sitting like this / \ instead of this | |...simple concept, pull out the mx3 manual it describes it pretty well.

<small>[ September 28, 2003, 05:26 PM: Message edited by: Ryencool ]</small>

[JasonH]

So why haven't you gotten an alignment yet?

[ProtegeSTS]

Originally posted by Ryencool:
p.s. it isnt the toe. I dont know how many times people have tried to tell me this. If the toe is not dead on, which mine isnt your car pulls to one side, so my stearing wheel is slightly off center. this means toe has no effect and im not dragging the tires cause im straigthening them out. The tires both show similar wear on the inside edge, it istn feathering, it is one side is worn one isnt. maybe your was toe or somone you know but mine is not. When your rear camber is -3 and front is -2, i think thats gonna wear them like mine has done.

SO, for the last time, its the tires sitting like this / \ instead of this | |...simple concept, pull out the mx3 manual it describes it pretty well.

You're a bit wrong there. IM me if you have more questions, but...

a) if toe is not zero, there is NO reason why it would pull to one side. Infact, I currently run 1/2" toe out upfront. Yes, and entire half inch!! That's ton, and definately not recommened for you guys, so PLEASE don't do this. Anyway, my car doesn't pull to one side at all, and it won't.

Camber will wear tires faster than normal, we all know this. HOWEVER, I run 2 or 3 degrees, same as you, with as heavy a car as you do, and before I ran the 1/2" toe out, my tire wear problems were small. They are far far worse now.

So, how badly are your tires wearing? Did you actually GET an alignment when you put the camber bolts in? A month ago while having to do an emergency camber bolt replacement while IN GRID for Nationals, I could visually see the difference between ~2 degrees and ~2.3 degrees. If you can't see a 1.5 or 2 degree change, you're not looking hard enough, or you didn't get it changed.

BTW, tighten the hell out of the camber bolts, and get a new set with each alignment if you drive hard at all. You need to stress the hell out of the bolts to preclude them from slipping, and they aren't much good to torque again, much like head bolts, rod bolts, etc.

[Ryencool]

i just put the bolts in this week, waiting for my new tires to come in and then ill get an alignment. Im just saying visually i didnt see a diffrence after I installed them. Hopefully the guys whom ount and blance my tires will know how to adjust them correctly incase I didnt, however im 90% sure i did it right. The tires are worn bad, the left front on the inside you can see burn spots, or spots wear the top rubber has torn, maybe hte size of a penny in a few places. Not sure what its called. THe outside has plenty tred left, but they suck in the rain and sharp corners they spin, so not fun. So as of right now i havent gotten an alignmet since the bolts, but visually couldnt see jack after i put them on, should i be worried?

PS. My toe alignments after the spring and stur install were this

toe left front before 0.99 after 0.20
toe right front before 1.36 after .12

both well within spec but could have gotten out since then.

<small>[ September 29, 2003, 08:31 PM: Message edited by: Ryencool ]</small>

[ProtegeSTS]

are those in degrees?

If so, they are horribly out of spec. My ~half inch is .37 each side.

And when you put the camber bolts in, it gives you freeplay, so if you tried to get rid of some camber, it should be noticeable. It depends on where you tightened them.

and FWIW, unless you've got a good shop, they'll charge you more to adjust camber by those bolts.....and that's only if they actually know HOW to use those bolts. My Mazda Dealership didn't, and I had to have a 10 min conversation with the service manager on how to adjust camber on my car, and how it was perfectly streetable the way I wanted it.

GRRRRR...

[Ryencool]

well my guess is that between that last alignment and now they have settled wrong or I have hit one to many curbs to knock it back out again. When i was on the phone with teh guy im atkin it to, I tolled him it was lowered and he was all i dunno if we will be able to alight it then. I immediatly said I just installed camber bolts and he goes, you did it the right way then. SO Im guessing hell know, hopefully, maybe, possibly, haha.

[ProtegeSTS]

well that's good.

the Mazda dealership here is full of idiots.