I recently had the nonadjustable Mazdaspeed shocks & springs installed by Performance Alignment in Cincinnati, who are probably top of the ladder for performance suspension work in this area.

I asked for a slightly agressive alignment, and got it. An aside, though, is that one reason I'm running 1.1 degrees of negative camber up front now is that my front camber adjusters are both frozen; due to corrosion, I guess. The shop tech said he's seen other RX-8s with this problem. I am just past 42k miles on my 2004 car, and it's been through three mild winters here.

I verified again that they're frozen with my Mazda service dept. today in getting brake work and new Bridgestone RE960 AS Pole Positions installed. They were reluctant to reef on the camber adjusters for fear of ruining them. I was told new lower control arms up front would run about $700.

Anyone else had this prob, and did you find a way to free up the camber adjusters?

Rear camber adjusters are fine, BTW.

 

I had the problem on my drivers side..had to cut it off...I think that the bushing is a replaceable part...so you shouldn't need new control arms. They seize at the washer at the rear of the bushing...you might be able to spray a bunch of penetrating lube on the area and free them up...worth a try..it worked on one side of mine

 

Pardon my ignorance, but how exactly do you adjust camber on a stock suspension setup?

 

Camber adjusting bolts are the front bolts on the lower a-arms......

 

I see. I read in Grassroots Motorsports that adding a little negative camber can help your handling, and I was curious how to do it myself, but I've never messed with a suspension before. Some more details would be appreciated, like exactly where these bolts are, how to adjust them, how to know how much camber you've put in, etc. Thanks.

 

To do it properly you need an alignment tech who knows what he is doing. And a good rack...... It's difficult to end up with meaningful #'s when you are doing it by hand with a measuring tape and a protractor

 

i just got almost all of my suspension replaced after an accident and when they sent it to sts to be aligned, the same thing happened to mine on the front passenger side. the guy said he'd probably have to just cut it out and replace the bushing.

 

Thanks for the input, guys. I'll check with the Mazda parts dept. and see if the adjuster bits and pieces can be ordered separately from the control arms. If so, problem solved, or perhaps Mazmart can help. Will also hit it with penetrating oil every oil change and see if that helps.

I'm not too worried about 1 deg. of negative camber wearing out the inside edge too quickly, but long term the adjusters need to be fixed. Meanwhile, it turns in great!

 

How did you make out? I ran into this problem out of warranty and had to pay over a grand to the dealer to replace the LCAs. However, the dealer sounded like they would've replaced it if I was still within the warranty.

Penetrating oil didn't help (I did three days worth of spraying with PB blaster). It just turned the rubber bushing. The bolt inside was broken.