handles like jello

so i jus got back testing out the mazda 3's handling on my local mountian road. i wanted to compare it to my old stock 626(no comparison). the 3 handled well even tho i couldnt do wat i really wanted to, because im still breakin in the engine so nothin above 3,000 rpms. but me and my friend noticed something a lil awkward. when we took this particular turn(the turn was like the letter"U") at around 55-60 mph we felt the car shift a little but it was stickin to my line like glue. best way i could describe it was it felt like my tires were jello. i didnt feel like body roll because i wasnt stuggling to stay in my seat like i would in the 626. idk if thats a good explanation but i jus kno it wasnt body roll. is this just a case of crap tires or is that jus how the newer cars feel? i havent driven anything above a 99. i tried out my friends civic but there wasnt really any comparison since he highly tuned high suspension and wat not. thanx in advavnced for any insight on my situation.

what size are the tires??
my 3 came with the 15" steelies with 70 (i think) series sidewall.
 
so what your feeling is just the sidewall flexing...
if u wanna fix it, get larger rims, with a lower profile tire
and if you want, lower it, and your car will handle amazing.

First of all, as dentinger indicated, it would be nice to know what model, tire and size you have. 
I have the 17's and the car came w/BadYear RS-A's.  They sucked in anything but dry weather.  I finally replaced them w/Falken's and while not the absolute best (they rate well and are relatively cheap,) I am much happier now.
I found that pumping up the fronts to, oh... 36-38psi, and/or reducing the rears to 30-31 helped a lot.  This is an old autoXer's trick when running FWD cars too, though they might go up to 44psi.  So not exactly an original idea on my part.
Keep in mind though, that the 3 is a bit heavier than what you seem to be used to and that is one of the biggest enemies of handling.  The wheelbase may be a bit longer than your 626 too, though I'm guessing about that one.
While this car handles well, it's not up to the standards my old autoxer '80 Honda Civic was either.  That car weighed in @ 2150 w/me and half a tank of gas onboard, and had a very short wheel base (88.6".)  But the 3 understeers less naturally than the (old school) Honda did too.
 
 

sorry it was really late and i forgot to add the important tings like year model and what not. i got a 07 hatch back with the stock 17" tires( goodyear rs-a 205/50r17). it doesnt look like i have a lot of sidewall, but it does make sense. is there anything with a stiffer sidewall. i am definetly gonna try the tire pressure thing. as for the weight of the 3 its not to bad in my opinion. im planning to go with some yokohamas soon. and as soon as the shocks go they are gonna be replaced with tein dampers with the edfc. till then strut bars, braces, and sway bars. and i completely agree about hondas they handle great and have great potential for power. was gonna get one but wanted to be a little different. if u have any other advice about handling it would be greatly appreciated. would like to hear your opinion about the strut bars and sway bars.

Sure!  Easy one.  Lose unsprung weight.  Wheels (OEM 20lbs+/-,) tires (OEM22-24 lbs,) anything outside of the springs.
Yes, sway bars are good @ reducing understeer, but unsorung weight, and overall weight is that absolute enemy.  Just ask Colin Chapman of Lotus!   Well OK, bad eample since he's dead, but you get what I mean.                
Sway bars, I am currently running the Progress rear, but if I had the funds and time would go w/either the Eibach set, or the Racing Beat set.  Eibach seems a better mix of street/track, where as the RB is just a little bit more radical.
 

i got the eibach sportline springs...
very little body roll now compared to stock and im much happier now with the handling too....
 
oh, and off topic, but virgin, how much did u pay for ur exhaust??
is it a catback?? and it's a vibrant exhaust right??
ive been thinking about doing a cat back eventually when i have the money

wats the difference between sway bars. i mean aint it just a piece of metal that prevents body roll. and im kind of reluctant to swap out my rims. there the nicest stock rims i've seen in a while. idk if i was i might switch them out wit some three spoke.  o and is there a carbon fiber trunk lid for the 3? that would b sick.

the vibriant sounds mad nice. im pretty sure its a catback that what it sez in the description. im liking the 5zigen exhaust myself.

u mean like a full carbon fibre trunk??
ive looked, and all i came up with was CF hoods... mostly oem replacement ones tho.....

yea me too. i about to go as far and find someone to custom make one for me. my friend had it on his civic. it was so kool. and im gonna do a quick swap out of my tires and rims. one friend gonna let me borrow a set to test out. ^_^. im so freakin excited.

that is oversteer. some people like to increase this and drift, but i don't like it personally. a sway bar would help the bottom end of it and a strut tower brace in the rear will help the top end of it. you just need to firm up the rear end and do something to get better grip.
 
as far as the carbon fiber hatch thing goes, there is a guy that i can set you up with that if you can get a group buy together, he can have them custom made, but they are not readily available. i have gone through all of this with my old pro 5 but i couldn't get enough people who wanted to put up money to get one.

thats sounds great im definitely down for the whole group purchase thing. im gonna have to wait a while tho. because i jus bought the car and i got a whole bunch of bills and birthdays to take care of. gotta get my financial situation in order. o and how big does the group gotta be, 20 people? if thats the case then im sure it wont be to hard.

as far as oversteer goes thats not it. the car is still pointing in the rite direction and i have controll over it. i kno wat oversteer feels and looks like. this isnt it. idk jus put ur hand on a peice of jello and move from side to side.lol. if u did it notice the instability. thats wat the car feels like. i wish u guys were here to to experience it. so u could be like "ooooo".

and i went to go put the test set on and the didnt fit. so i went out again and i went faster this time around. couldnt notice it as much, i think it was masked because i was feinting this time around into most of the turns. but on slower turns i still noticed it. idk. these tires are about to go soon. cant wait

p.s. this is my fisrt second page kool.lol. im gonna go to sleep happy!

 
wats the difference between sway bars. i mean aint it just a piece of metal that prevents body roll.
What's the difference?  Size of the bar which directly effects handling, that's all.  Whether they're in pairs, front and rear, or rear only like my Progress.  They are spring steel and can be made adjustable.  Also the use and quality of the steel. 
Don't discount the use of a good sway bar set, my friend. 
 
and im kind of reluctant to swap out my rims. there the nicest stock rims i've seen in a while. id if i was i might switch them out wit some three spoke. 
 
That's fine.  I was only suggesting that losing weight in that area would also improve handling.  While many AM's don't save any weight, and some are actually heavier, I've seen wheels that can save 6lbs per corner.  That's a nice drop, imo. 
o and is there a carbon fiber trunk lid for the 3? that would b sick.

Sick, maybe, and it would save you some weight but if you're primary concern is handling, spend that $7-$800 on springs, shocks wheels and tires and you'll be much closer to where you wanna be. 
 


 

yea i only mentioned the carbon fiber hood cuz it my birthday soon. so im gonna try to get myself something nice . coilovers, tires, etc. i will jus get wen they need to be replaced. jus wanna get the full use out of them. thanx for skoolin me on sway bars. i was jus gonna buy the cheapest ones i find.

about the group buy that i mentioned earlier:
it came up on one of the other forums that i deal with and we were going to do a group buy on cf hatches for our pro 5's there were a whole lot of people that were interested, but no one wanted to put up money to get started. here are the standards:
   15 is the minimum order, they all have to be the same in color, size, shape, weave, grade, everything exactly the same. the hatch will be oem style and you will be able to use all of the stock accesories (wiper, handle, etc.) and will shut the same as the factory without having to baby it. this does not include glass or lexan, you will have to handle that part on your own. the company does do lexan, but they could only do it for a group buy if that is what everyone in the buy wanted. the running number on price tag is about $700 plus shipping and that is just the hatch. but this number could go down $100 dollars or so. this should drop about 150 lbs. off the back of the car so this is a lot of weight reduction for one place. the thing that kept it from happening for us is that everyone on the forum wanted to see a finished product and see the weight reduction but he couldn't deliver until they ordered them.
     if you can get it together, i could set you up with the guy, but i will not be buying because i don't have a mazda 3 so i would have nothing to do with this, only a link.

wsoape281 is this ur guy's work? cuz if so it looks good!

i'm not sure, but that is what his would look like.

FYI..to make a mold to produce parts like that costs around $2000

wow. thats a lot of dough.

the shop that i know, the minimum buy is like $8000. then they mass produce them after the original group buy.

I stayed with 17's but put on 215/45/17 Perelli PZero's and they were way better then the stock RSA's.  I went to 40psi Ft/Rr and really don't notice that feeling anymore.  So try increasing the tire pressure about 2psi at a time and see if you can feel the difference.