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A couple of tricks--some easy, some not, some a little crazy.
-Most of us know that lowering the car will gain more negative camber
-Front offset bushings for the lower control arm are a great little tool to allow SAME ride height but with increased negative camber. They are easy to install and they work.
Now I know why I only managed to get 1.5 Degrees on the front. Next weekend I will make sure I use the 'Judo Chop' Method to get a little bit extra out of it.
If anyone lives in Florida and wants to come Autocrossing. We do at Buckingham airfield near Ft Myers, usually first weekend of the month. http://gulfcoastautocrossers.com/
Now I know why I only managed to get 1.5 Degrees on the front. Next weekend I will make sure I use the 'Judo Chop' Method to get a little bit extra out of it.
If anyone lives in Florida and wants to come Autocrossing. We do at Buckingham airfield near Ft Myers, usually first weekend of the month. http://gulfcoastautocrossers.com/
Rubber mallet works well too. Use the caster adjustment and you can get even more. I like doing my alignments and corner balancing with 3/4 tank of fuel and drivers weight in the seat, either a friend of similar weight or some lead weights work well too.
Well over the weekend I went back and had another go at getting more camber on the front wheels and managed to get about 1.7 Degrees on the front. To be honest I was a bit nervous about forcing the wheels out as the car was on axle stands and really didn't want to push it off them. I still have not tried it out yet, autocross is still not for 10 days.
also make sure that your front upper control arm bushings aren't bound up, which will raise the front ride height and allow less negative camber. i stacked some weight (not enough though) on each front corner when i tightened them after swapping in my shocks. this year i'll have a large friend sit there.
Originally Posted by EricMeyer
A couple of tricks--some easy, some not, some a little crazy.
-Most of us know that lowering the car will gain more negative camber
-Front offset bushings for the lower control arm are a great little tool to allow SAME ride height but with increased negative camber. They are easy to install and they work.
-Jack the car up after you've maxed out negative camber and kick, pull, punch, hit, judo chop the bottom of the tire and sometimes you get another .1 degree camber. If you say "Judo Chop" like Austin Powers you'll sometimes get .2
-Heat up your spindle or upright and bend it. This is an old Spec Miata trick to get more camber that is totally illegal but it works. Have somebody smarter than me do it. They both don't have to match as you're looking to get the potential for more camber and then measure it to actually obtain your target. Most people are scared of this one but you don't have to be. Most of the time people are just looking for an additional .5
-Realize that you can drive the car with less camber. You can use springs and bars to help the cars behavior. We ran about 2.4 up front and 1.9 all season last year and finished second in points. We ran a higher than most people think ride height because that is what the geometry showed was best.
-Invest in driver coaching. More often than not a road course driver (can't speak for AutoX) will go through a learning curve that has then inputting a lot of understeed into the car----driver induced understeer. Some people will try and fix this with go-faster parts, install them and wonder why they still have traces of the same problem. Guess what? Driver issue, not car issue. See it all the time. The better you can drive a car the better the feedback it will give you. Have someone much better than yourself drive your car and offer feedback. This is invaluable. I frequently have fellow racers throw down some laps and offer their .02 All your looking for are a tenth a second in a dozen corners and all of a sudden you've improved by 1 second a lap. For the most part this is about 1 or 2 mph faster mid corner speed across the entire track. Brake less, let the car roll and go full throttle to the next braking zone. Repeat process.
See you at the track,
E
unfortunately, none of those are legal within the rules for Stock class autoX where i run (although the roadracer owner of the shop i use suggested at least some of them). i'm perfectly happy with my settings; tire wear and temps are fine with what i have.
i was simply pointing out that a blanket statement that "you should be able to get at least X camber on Y car" isn't necessarily accurate. i know RX-8 owners who can get both more and less than i can with stock equipment.
when i had my STS miata, i needed to raise the ride height to take some camber out!
Hi.
Some time ago I upgraded to Mazda Speed shocks and springs. The car sits lower then stock afterward and it was suggested that I reduce the camber to 0.
During a recent alignment I was told that the rear camber is not equal. I have -3.0 on the left and -2.7 on the right. I was also informed that the camber adjustments are seized . We tried PB and let it sit for a week, with no effect.
Questions I have are;
(1) What are factory camber setting and are there different settings for the installation of Mazda Speed shocks and springs?
(2) What is the name of the part (lower bar) the rear camber adjustments are on?
(3) If the rear toe adjustments are not frozen should I change them as well, just to be on the safe side?
What is this part called,,,, Trailing link? Lower Link? Rear Lateral Arm?
Hi.
Some time ago I upgraded to Mazda Speed shocks and springs. The car sits lower then stock afterward and it was suggested that I reduce the camber to 0.
During a recent alignment I was told that the rear camber is not equal. I have -3.0 on the left and -2.7 on the right. I was also informed that the camber adjustments are seized . We tried PB and let it sit for a week, with no effect.
Questions I have are;
(1) What are factory camber setting and are there different settings for the installation of Mazda Speed shocks and springs?
(2) What is the name of the part (lower bar) the rear camber adjustments are on?
(3) If the rear toe adjustments are not frozen should I change them as well, just to be on the safe side?
What is this part called,,,, Trailing link? Lower Link? Rear Lateral Arm?
Regards.
I just so happen to have a brand new one sitting on my bench with the part number sticker still on it.
I just so happen to have a brand new one sitting on my bench with the part number sticker still on it.
I looked up the # F151-28-500B on my list of parts and it reads Upper Link for the front and rear. the part I am looking for is on the bottom. Are you sure it's the correct part?
Only the bottom one has the end link mounting bracket as shown.
I agree that it looks like the correct part, because of the bracket.
But my manual parts list and the parts list I have from the dealer both list it as two different but incorrect parts.
Still looking for Factory or MS settings
Yeah, the label you're seeing is incorrect. I originally ordered the one labelled lower and received the upper. I returned it and ordered the part you see pictured above. The one in the photo is the one you are looking for. As team said, you'll need to order a bolt, the washers, and nut along with it.
To answer your other questions, even if this was your father's Buick you still don't want zero camber., less so on a sports car type suspension like the RX8 has. You likely can't get to zero any way with the car lowered, especially in the rear. I'd recommend about 1/2 deg less negative camber in the rear than the front. -1.5 deg front and -1.0 deg rear is good for a street car, but this is at the factory ride height. If you can only get to -1.5 deg in the rear then set the front to -2.0.
When you get an alignment they will set both camber and toe. Toe has a lot of impact on tire wear for a street car, so keeping the settings low is good. Recommend 0 to 1/16" total toe-in on the front and 1/16" -1/8" total toe-in on the rear.
These are just my feelings. Others may have their own. If you want more aggressive alignment settings for track or autox there is a thread dedicated to this on the front page of this racing forum.
I don't push this car like I use to so I am not looking for a racing grade setup. What I am looking for is that stock, gab the road feeling the car use to have when powering through an intense curve. This is why I was looking for Factory setting and maybe MS settings.
Thank you Team for your suggested settings. I will try them.
I Do realize I will need new bolts, as the old ones have to be cut off. That is not my concern. I am concerned with ordering the correct links/bars because of the conflict between what looks correct in the diagrams and what I see on my car. I too argued for the one with the brackets on it, with my mechanic, who then pointed out the label for the part was 'Upper Link'. And it has a different name in my manual parts list. That is why I am trying to find out it's correct name, so I can order it.
I also do not understand why I cannot join in other ,similar, threads with different members to ask these questions, especially when some of the answers here are confusing or not exactly what I asked for? Granted I didn't visit for a while but that never use to be an issue.
Anyway, thanks for the help you have offered. I do appreciate it.
I don't push this car like I use to so I am not looking for a racing grade setup. What I am looking for is that stock, gab the road feeling the car use to have when powering through an intense curve. This is why I was looking for Factory setting and maybe MS settings.
Thank you Team for your suggested settings. I will try them.
I Do realize I will need new bolts, as the old ones have to be cut off. That is not my concern. I am concerned with ordering the correct links/bars because of the conflict between what looks correct in the diagrams and what I see on my car. I too argued for the one with the brackets on it, with my mechanic, who then pointed out the label for the part was 'Upper Link'. And it has a different name in my manual parts list. That is why I am trying to find out it's correct name, so I can order it.
I also do not understand why I cannot join in other ,similar, threads with different members to ask these questions, especially when some of the answers here are confusing or not exactly what I asked for? Granted I didn't visit for a while but that never use to be an issue.
Anyway, thanks for the help you have offered. I do appreciate it.
The OEM alignment specs (camber, caster, and toe) are in the service manual in the Suspension section. I got my copy by searching on google and downloading it from the rotorheads site. I think it may also be posted n a thread here somewhere.
The OEM alignment specs (camber, caster, and toe) are in the service manual in the Suspension section. I got my copy by searching on google and downloading it from the rotorheads site. I think it may also be posted n a thread here somewhere.
Thanks, I'll follow up on that this eveing.
I just came from my dealer. I showed him a pic and he called the part a Rear Lateral Link. He gave me to part #'s, one for the left and one for the right.
Left; FE03-28-550A
Right; F151-28-550B
His diagram was different from the one in my manual and from the one I got from my mechanic.
also got part #'s for the hardware.
Plate,Cam-sub frame;, F151-28-473 Qty-2
Bolt, Ajust;,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, F151-28-66Z Qty-2
Nut;,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, F151-28-1406 Qty-1
The part I removed from my 04, RX-8 and the part I got from MAZMART to replace it are different.
Did Mazda redesigned this part?
As you can see in the pic the angel of the bushing housing from the ball mount is grater on the part I got from MAZMART then the OEM part I removed.
I was worried this will give me decreased rotation area of the ball at the wheel housing and alter the way the whole thing sits, or wind up snapping the mount.
Did anyone else run into this?
I didn't find any difference between the two left rear links and there seems to be a sleeving between the ball joint and the bushing mount, at the ball end, so it might rotate with enough force.
well job complete. camber set to -1.0. will send it in for an alignment and have them set the front to -1.5.
I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for my test drive tonight.
Regards and Thanks.
Last edited by titaneum_grey; 05-21-2015 at 11:11 AM.
Reason: update after insalment
Well I just replaced my entire S1 rear suspension arms with S2 suspension arms and they all matched exactly. Not sure what the issue is, both specifically and generally speaking ...
Well I just replaced my entire S1 rear suspension arms with S2 suspension arms and they all matched exactly. Not sure what the issue is, both specifically and generally speaking ....
In correspondence with MAZMART, who did some investigating on the issue, the part number was changed, at some point, from F151-28-550A to F151-28-550B which represents a design change.
It is likely that my 2004 link was of the original design and the new one is of the latter. I can only surmise that both numbers were for the 1st series.
Last edited by titaneum_grey; 05-28-2015 at 12:28 PM.
A couple of tricks--some easy, some not, some a little crazy.
-Front offset bushings for the lower control arm are a great little tool to allow SAME ride height but with increased negative camber. They are easy to install and they work.
Do you mean upper control arm bushings? The only ones I've seen are for the UCA from whiteline, up to 0.5 degrees adjustment.
02-13-2011, 08:32 PM
). i'm perfectly happy with my settings; tire wear and temps are fine with what i have.
