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Stock Camber adjustment

51K views 20 replies 8 participants last post by  Ace Tech Pat. 
#1 ·
I know that the factory setting has about .5 degrees of negative camber on the front wheels. I have searched and found on this and other forums that some people have been able to get as much as 1.5 degrees of negative camber from the stock setup just by loosening some bolt(s) and pushing on the wheels. I'm afraid that for a noob like me (even a noob that is trying hard to learn and not be a noob anymore) that this is not enough details. What bolts need to be loosened up and what exactly should I be pushing/pulling? How do I tell if its working or not? Finally (and maybe most important), will this adjustment mess up the rest of my alignment? Like will loosening things to screw with camber mess up the toe or are the two completely independent of each other? Thanks for any help that you can offer.
 
#2 ·
People reporting anything much over -1º had to have been MS3 owners, not normal mz3 owners. The MS3 comes stock with around .5 to .8 more negative camber up front.

To attempt maximizing your front camber and caster, slightly loosen the 3 upper strut bolts -- these are the 3 bolts that go through the brass-colored plates on the strut towers, accessible from within the engine bay. With those bolts SLIGHTLY LOOSENED (don't take them all the way out, or even close to it) have someone push on the strut assembly towards the center of the car and towards the firewall as far as possible. It won't move much.

While they're holding it in that position, re-tighten those 3 upper bolts. They do not need to be very tight, try to remember how much you loosened them and go back to the same tightness -- it's very easy to break them by over-tightening (ask me how I know).
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the quick reply! I assume you mean this 3 bolts?



What is the best way to do this? Car on the ground/car off the ground with wheels on/car off the ground with wheels off? Any other tips you have would be appreciated as well.

I also think you may have opened up another small can of worms. I know going all the way in (towards the center of the car) maximizes negative camber (which will be good for my autocrossing). But you also mentioned that I should go as far towards the firewall as possible. I believe that this is the caster adjustment, but I don't know what exactly that will do to/for the car handling?
 
#21 ·
Thanks for the quick reply! I assume you mean this 3 bolts?



What is the best way to do this? Car on the ground/car off the ground with wheels on/car off the ground with wheels off? Any other tips you have would be appreciated as well.

I also think you may have opened up another small can of worms. I know going all the way in (towards the center of the car) maximizes negative camber (which will be good for my autocrossing). But you also mentioned that I should go as far towards the firewall as possible. I believe that this is the caster adjustment, but I don't know what exactly that will do to/for the car handling?
Hello, you have to remember these simple rules, Caster is the forward or backward movement from true vertical. Camber is the inward or outward movement of the tire .
 
#5 ·
Increasing caster helps with dynamic camber during a turn and can give the steering a more solid, stable feeling at higher speeds and a better return-to-center feeling. Caster is where it's at, really -- no negatives to increasing it, to a sane point, like there are negatives to increasing static negative camber.

Honestly, you're probably not going to notice the difference, if you can even get a measurable improvement from just moving the strut mounting up top. Just give it a try! It'll probably be a little easier with the corner you're working on off the ground and the wheel removed.
 
#6 ·
Squeezing more camber on stock setup?

Hi there,

I have a mazdaspeed3 and i need more camber for sports. Right now i'm at -1.3 and i heard of people saying that grinding some parts down or physically modifying the current setup can give a bit more camber. i'll be happy with -1.8. How can one go about physically modifying to get more camber?

I cant find any guides

Thanks =)
 
#10 ·
Re: Squeezing more camber on stock setup?

i know there is k-mac camber plates but some people posted on the forums say they are not that good and might bend. I am interested in physical modification over getting coilovers. IDK how to set up coilovers like adjusting the damper etc so i'm kindda against that. The stock suspension is acceptable except for forward camber
 
#11 ·
Re: Squeezing more camber on stock setup?

if you can't turn a knob.. then I'm more afraid of what you'd do with a rotozip to your top hat....




No one has physically adjusted their camber by cutting into their hats. I can't even imagine a race team would do such a thing (not that they could to begin with) because getting -2.5 degrees or so out of the BC or whatever other plates (KW V3? and Stance) is beyond plenty.
 
#14 ·
Re: Squeezing more camber on stock setup?

Also I just remembered my friend in his evo x need only remove his lower shock bolts and flip the bolts. Because the bolt has lobes in it he can get free neg camber. I wonder if its the same for us since both evo and ms3 has mac pherson struts setup.

Does anyone know if the front shock lower bolts are straight bolts or does it has lobes or offsets?


Picture is the bolt in question but that is on a evox
 
#16 ·
Re: Squeezing more camber on stock setup?

Uhhh..

well, you have a mazda 3, not an evo. While yes they too have a Macpherson strut.. it still isn't the same.

Our bolts are normal bolts, and not cut outs. I'm pretty sure an Evo doesn't have cut out bolts either, those are never "OEM" parts as they wouldn't pass OEM testing, those have to be aftermarket.


I installed a Mazdaspeed Coilover system yesterday (which was annoying having to remove oem top hats and stuff).. there is just isn't any room hardly, especially with the fat OEM top hats.

Even with shaved bolts.. which actually you couldn't use because it isn't threaded like that, we don't have nuts, the bolts go right into the hat. But IF that was the case, you still wouldn't get but about -0.1 degrees tops.. If that much.


Your [safe] options remain the same. KMac plates or coilovers.
 
#19 ·
I was thinking put a drill of equal size to the 3 bolt holes and drill it towards the engine. sort of lengthening it. Then if the top hats are too fat, grind them down a bit. I dont aim to achieve ubber camber fron this, only enough to put another neg 0.5 degrees.

The kmac plates bend from what people are saying. Also its availibility is kindda rare in North america and its overpriced on the aussie website
 
#20 ·
Changing camber always has an effect on toe. The suspension setup dictates how much effect it has. If you are going to lengthen the openings you need to make sure you do them evenly as this will have a greater effect on toe if one of the inner holes is longer than another. Negatively for the firewall side bolt, positively for the radiator side bolt. I would have your alignment checked after doing anything to the positioning of the struts.
 
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