Thanks!!!! I will set it at -1 once I get them installed. The inside edge of my rear tires 1'' are pretty noisy. The tires are new other than that, I hope this will quiet them until I have to buy new ones. Any Pointers in setting new camber arms? I am thinking of making new arms 1/4 in longer than factory arms until I get 4 wheel alignment.

 

You'd be surprised. A little goes a long way with these. Using the factory arms as a guide, we did 3 turns on mine when installed and it was way too much. My springs went in at the same time, so I was then lowered too.
I'd suggest: Line 'em up with the old bar, till the bolts will go through both arms together, then add a single, full turn and see what happens.

 

Cool. I will try it. Thanks again!

 

Hi there - old post, I know. But do you mean one turn out, as in one turn to make them longer?

Thanks,
Stefano

 

Yes, that's exactly what I meant.
Since you are trying to reduce negative camber by replacing the UPPER control arm, you want that control arm to push the top of the wheel/tire out just a bit. A little goes a long way, so if you don't want that much change, try 1/2 a turn OUT to lengthen the control arm.

 

bump...

I have a 2010 Mazda 3 2.5 SGT with H&R lowering springs. I too have had an uphill battle with the premature rear tire wear. I have installed a rear camber kit as many people have but the problem is still there even after purchasing 4 new tires and getting an alignment at the time of the camber kit install. When I had the alignment done at Fire Stone they told me that they couldn't get the rear alignment into the "green" zone but that it was fairly close to it. My question is if anyone has had any luck with their uneven rear tire wear with lowering springs installed and a rear camber kit... I suspect that they couldn't get the rear alignment into the green zone because of the lowering springs but I want to hear what some of you have to say about this. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

Total bullsh*t, bluesmoke.
First mistake, taking the car to a Firestone dealer. They are Morons, with a capitol M. They hire techs that are fresh out of UTI and other pay-for schools that have no real experience.
I took my wife's car to a Firestone once for inspection and to look at the A/C system. They were convenient to where I worked. What I saw and heard while there only told me that all they were interested in was their bottom line.... probably extreme pressure from above. The service writers/managers there did not know cars, but knew bullsh*t pretty good. And BTW: Stay away from the Good Year places too.
Second mistake, listening to anything they tell you. My guess id that they are counting on your lack of knowledge (and theirs) to rope you into unnecessary further "repairs."
I have virtually the same setup as yours and my rears are 0.9 and 1.1 respectively. My tire wear has been GREAT since mine was aligned. I now have 45k miles on a set of Continental DWS tires, which is more than double the mileage for any of the other THREE sets I had on the car before. And they are still serviceable too.
Besides camber, excessive toe-in is the biggest wear factor in alignment, and there is an adjustment for that, one cam-bolt on each side.
Find someone that actually knows what they're doing and unless your chassis has been bent or severely twisted, you should be able to get the car to decent specs.

 

thanks for the reply, , much appreciated... I had my doubts about going to Firestone but I went there for the same reason you did, convenience. My question to you now is what are cam bolts, is that something that needs to bought and installed to correct the toe in?

 

The factory installed rear lower control arm bolts are eccentric and offer toe-in adjustment, so no, no new parts should be required.
Just like having some negative camber is preferable, some toe-in can offer stability in turns, too much can cause excessive tire wear, even more so and faster than too much negative camber can.
I'm just suggesting that might be a "possible" problem and a solution to the problem.
IIRC, Mazda allows for up to 2.5* of negative camber in the rear, good for the auto cross circuit, but not very practical in a day-to-day driver. Mine was originally near the -2.0* marks.
Before the camber arms and alignment, I had three different sets of tires on my '04, none made it past 20k. With over 40k on this last set, I have some uneven wear, but it doesn't begin to come close to the bad wear I had originally. I wouldn't mind getting that RR in below -1.0*, like the left is.
I also have a seriously heavy sway bar out back and the combination really diminshed the understeer. I can practically steer the car using the throttle now. If you live in an area of high snow and/or ice, I wouldn't necessarily recommend that setup for you, unless you're willing to switch it back before the snow flies.

 

Many cars ago, I brought my RX7 in for alignment, they said that its specs weren't in the computer, so they used the next model newer (2nd gen instead of first gen). That didn't work well, drove fine but wore out the inner tread in like 5000 miles. Long story short, I did my own alignment and got fine tire wear, so did my own alignments using a tape measure for about 15 years.

I've now got a 2007 mazda 3 and the rears wore on the inside edge from day one, not horribly, but noticeable. Turns out the camber is set too high (for that zoom zoom). Daily driving I think the factory setting is bull, I don't push the limits but notice zero difference when I changed my camber from the stock ~1.5-2 degrees down to about 0.8 degrees - which is out of factory spec if I recall. I did finish the hole modification I mentioned in page one of this topic, which worked just fine.
I got an official alignment after an unrelated tire problem and they didn't change the camber at all, just the toe-in... leading me to believe that is all they try to adjust.

From another experience with Jaguar test vehicles, we had one that growl'd at low speed from the suspension angle getting shifted when the suspension lowered. I looked at the tires and the inside edge is all worn. I brought it to the dealer and they said they couldn't adjust it outside the factory specs - which as it turns out - cause wear at the price of performance I guess.
So I'm guessing that could be your problem with the last shop that did the alignment, they set the tow in to factory specs - which causes wear, and didn't do anything to adjust the camber you installed a kit for.

I suggest you park on a level surface, check the face of the brake rotor with a level, make it whatever angle you want (I suggest about 1 degree) and then have it aligned and keep the printout. I think something like 0 to 1/16" is the toe-in spec, which is something that you can do at home most of the time. To be basic about it, keep changing until the vehicle tracks straight with a straight steering wheel. Keeping in mind that you may induce some rear wheel steering if you do the back end wrong... you can sight down the edge of the tires by eye to get close, and double check by looking at the car going down the road from a follow vehicle.

Good luck.