Fixing the alignment issue

[phunky.buddha]

Camber isn't what wears tires the most- it's excessive scrub from lots of toe. For the best wear (not necessarily the best handling) you want your toe to be a close to zero when the car is in motion. For front wheel drive cars, that usually means a bit of toe in on the rear (positive numbers) and a bit of toe out on the front (negative numbers). When in motion, you car has dynamic toe that's different from static (driven wheels want to pull forward and toe in, passive wheels want to drag backwards and toe out), so your static toe settings should be set up with that in mind- except you can't measure your toe change while in motion, so you have to make a best guess based on your experience with the car and the manufacturer recommended settings to get the balance you want. Those settings will make your tires wear the best, but will make the car feel like it's all over the road- so you'll probably want to do follow the factory recommended settings fairly closely and back off the toe as much as possible (as much as you think you can stand) in the rear.

Here are the factory specs:

Front camber = -1.7 to 0.3 degrees, median = -0.7 degrees (not adjustable from factory)
Front caster = 2.0 to 4.0 degrees, median = 3.0 degrees (not adjustable from factory)
Front toe = -0.09 to 0.28 degrees, median = 0.095 degrees

Rear camber = -0.3 to -2.3 degrees, median = -1.3 degrees (not adjustable from factory)
Rear toe = 0.00 to 0.23 degrees, median = 0.115 degrees

Right now I'm running:
Front camber = -1.4 degrees
Front caster = 3.4 degrees left, 2.9 degrees right (should make it pull right, not adjustable on my car)
Front toe = 0.00 degrees
Rear camber = -1.7 degrees
Rear toe = 0.02 degrees each side

The car is fairly neutral, but it wanders left/right depending on the road surface and tilt if I take my hand off the wheel. Car manufacturers don't want that because it's not considered to be safe to average Joe Schmoe, but it's perfect for me- the response is a lot quicker with an aggressive alignment! If you're worried about tire wear but you still want an easy handling car, you can probably get a little aggressive on the toe, but don't go down to zero like I did- maybe stay around the 0.05 area at most with a little less in front.

 

[tech_az]

Thanks for the info phunky! Much appreciated...I would rep you if this forum had a rep system

I thought this was a factory camber issue from this post:

...Of note, the Rear-Right camber is too negative (spec is -2.3 to -0.3), but it's not adjustable so..... The alignment place said they did another Mazda5 recently and the rear-right camber was out of spec like that too. Hopefully it's not gona be a problem. I wonder if it's possible to claim this as a manufacture problem and get it fixed from dealer under warranty, somehow?

So the rear camber can be adjusted to factory spec only with adjustable arms.

 

[phunky.buddha]

Thanks for the info phunky! Much appreciated...I would rep you if this forum had a rep system

I thought this was a factory camber issue from this post:
So the rear camber can be adjusted to factory spec only with adjustable arms.

Welcome! Don't worry about reps, no big deal.

And correct- the front AND rear camber is only adjustable with the addition of aftermarket components. There is a Mazdaspeed rear upper control arm that helps to correct excessive negative camber from lowering the car, but they're not adjustable- just a bit longer to push the camber more positive. If you use those and your camber ends up at a setting you don't like, you're still stuck. The only adjustment available from the factory is toe, just like almost every other car from the factory (except a few sports cars).