aggressive wheel alignment

[tarmac and beer]

i just purchased a mp3 over the weekend. the tires are bald and the previous owner had gotten a very poor alignment performed on the car (steering wheel is off-center to the left and car gently tracks to the right)

i have just ordered a set of 215/40/17 kumho mx tires and now i need some ideas of what alignment to get.

i'm guessing the camber and caster is unchangeable; my car has the oem suspension. what are the oem front & rear toe settings? i was planning to ask the shop to set the toe as: 1/16" total front toe & 0" rear toe.

is anyone using a more aggressive street alignment on an oem suspension? tire wear and/or dartiness?

 

[sampson]

congrats on the purchase and welcome to the club. be sure to add yourself to the production number list (first sticky on the mp3 sub-forum). sorry i cannot help you with that though, not exactly my field. you may get better response if you post your question in the rims/tire/suspension sub-forum, not many people look here.

--sampson

 

[Protege52003]

i just purchased a mp3 over the weekend.

Glad you got your MP3.....T&B. I know you have been looking for some time now to get one.

-R

 

[apexlater]

I am actually running on 205-40-17 MXs on the stock rims, 1/16" toe out front and 0 toe in the rear. The car is naturally darty, and the MXs will "tram" quite a bit (ie: they will follow the crown of the road and ruts as well.)

Camber and caster are not adjustable, although you can rotate the strut tops to gain a nat's ass more neg. camber and caster. If you are just commuting around I would say 0 toe all the way around. If you want it to be safer run slight toe-in (1/16"-ish) all the way around and the car will exhibit a little less oversteer in emergency situations.

For Auto-X I am running 1/8" toe out in the front and 1/8" toe out in the rear. But then I put it back for commuting duty. Toe will wear your tires more than camber. I ran with 1/8" toe-out in the front for about 2 months with a 45mile commute one way and my wear wasn't that terrible in the front inside tread.

It all depends on what you want the car to do.

 

[tonkabui]

i'm pretty sure the p5's suspension and mp3 suspension only differed on components, but their adjustability are all the same. i'll post up what the alignment guys had to work with in terms of tolerances from the factory for a p5 when i get home tonight. i'm lowered on eibachs and illuminas.

 

[RyanJayG]

<table x:str="" style="border-collapse: collapse; table-layout: fixed; width: 192pt;" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="256"> <tbody><tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17"><td colspan="4" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 192pt;" height="17" width="256">2001 Mazda MP3 Alignment Specs.</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td colspan="4" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">
</td>   <td>Spec</td>   <td>Tolerance</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Front:</td>   <td colspan="3" style="">
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">left camber</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">-0.97</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">1</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">right camber</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">-0.97</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">1</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td colspan="2" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">cross   camber</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">1.5</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">left caster</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">2.02</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">1</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">right caster</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">2.02</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">1</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td colspan="2" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">cross   caster</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">1.5</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">total toe</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">0.2</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">0.4</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td colspan="4" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">Rear:</td>   <td colspan="3" style="">
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">camber</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">-0.8</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">1</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td colspan="2" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">cross   camber</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">1.5</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">total toe</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">0.2</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">0.4</td>   <td>
</td>  </tr>  <tr style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">   <td colspan="2" style="height: 12.75pt;" height="17">thrust   angle</td>   <td x:num="" align="right">0.8</td>   <td>
</td></tr></tbody> </table>

are the specs as I know them

 

[nezumi]

camber can be adjusted with camber bolts (crashbolts) i adjust the camber of my brother car which is a neon, it is the say way that it is adjusted. (shrug)(shrug)

 

[tarmac and beer]

are those alignment specs in inches?

from what i understand with fwd cars, front toe out for better turn-in and rear toe in to help add a bit of oversteer.

front toe in and/or rear toe out increases stability, ie more understeer.

 

[nezumi]

also have a a slightly negative camber in the front wheels will make u have better lanches and crates more oversteer. but the rear camber must be close to zero for more oversteer.

 

[apexlater]

In any car.
Front Toe-out = better turn in, less straighline stability.

Rear Toe-out = more oversteer.

Protege's do not come from the factory with hexcentric or "crash" bolts....you can get them aftermarket and use them, but otherwise there is not adjusting camber in our cars out of the box....Thanks Mazda.

 

[nezumi]

In any car.
Front Toe-out = better turn in, less straighline stability.

Rear Toe-out = more oversteer.

Protege's do not come from the factory with hexcentric or "crash" bolts....you can get them aftermarket and use them, but otherwise there is not adjusting camber in our cars out of the box....Thanks Mazda.

i meant after market one, they are not bad they are adujustable up to 2 degrees. id reather mess with camber than toe in and out

 

[apexlater]

Messing with camber WILL effect your toe. Since our tie-rods that control toe are behind the wheel hub you will get toe in with neg. camber and toe out with positive camber as you move it from where it is now.

The only thing you can mess with is toe without effecting any other alignment parameter.

 

[macklum]

I am running 0 toe and -1 degree camber on my LX with 205/40/17's . I did have to get camber bolts to do this .

 

[AznXstazy]

u could always go back to stock settings if u brin it to like sears or somethin they can just adjust it for stock settings, and if u ask nicely they might just put some negitives in there-_-. i think to the toe is wat gives u the better cornering

 

[Kooldino]

I am running 0 toe and -1 degree camber on my LX with 205/40/17's . I did have to get camber bolts to do this .

Where did you get camber bolts?

 

[apexlater]

Toe-out will give you better turn-in. Negative camber will give you better cornering traction as the tire will contact flatter to the road under load.

I think you can get the Eibach camber bolts from Tirerack.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

Where did you get camber bolts?

Werd..front and rear of the LX? if so..will it work on the p5?

Anyways.heres a good article on alignments

http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm

 

[centsless]

very informative sire..

thanks so much.

Werd..front and rear of the LX? if so..will it work on the p5?

Anyways.heres a good article on alignments

http://www.familycar.com/alignment.htm

 

[centsless]

s***, i hit the 100th post..!!!
woo hoo.!!!

-sorry, instantaneous pleasure

 

[nezumi]

also if you lower your car i would recomend a camber bolts to fix the rear cambers. a slight negative in the front is ok, but zero out the rear.