Front camber plates for the 3 installed, pics and how to inside...

[ag bullet]

Yep, that's right there is a front camber plate for the 3. A friend of mine helped me to find this company in Austrailia that makes them for the 3. The company's name is K-Mac. The were terribly slow to respond to my order (the whole process took just over 3 weeks with 3 day shipping!). They promise full range of camber and caster by simply adjusting a few screws. They also make a rear kit that I will not be installing since I already have the SPC camber arms in place.

Thier website and some information can be found here: http://www.k-mac.com/

I am dissapointed that mine are not indexed like the ones in the picture, but it may not be needed on the 3. Weather permitting these will be going in on Wednesday and an alignment the following week. Stay tuned!

 

[ag bullet]

Installation pics

jack the car up and remove the wheel.

Remove the clip that holds the brake line to the stut.

Remove the endlink nut from the strut (14mm)

Remove the 17mm bolt that holds the strut to the A-arm.

Remove the three 14mm bolts that hold the shock to the shock tower.

To ease the removal of the shock from the a-arm this trick found here in the forum from VanSin23 works like a charm. I used a small screwdriver inserted in the alignment slot for the shock where it sits in the a-arm. It will take a little force but push it in so that it intersects the hole left by the 17mm bolt you removed. Here is a shot of the screwdriver in place:

Now thread the 17mm bolt from the opposite side (remember you are threading it reversed) untill all of the threads are no longer in view. I coated mine with wd-40 to make things a little easier. The force against the screwdriver will spread the bottom where the shock is installed.

With one hand push down on the whole assembly while pulling up on the shock with the other hand. The entire shock/strut will lift right out.

Repeat process for opposite side.

Installation will be the opposite of removal. More pices later, off to the shop!

 

[ag bullet]

Installed

Installed pics follow:

After a quick run to my buddy's shop, this is what I came home with.

View of the top

From under the car looking up into the shock tower

Top of the shock tower. The bolts are shorter than the stock ones so I had to delete the gold plate that was sitting beneath the mounts for my strut brace.

 

[udontknowjack]

pretty expensive stuff....

 

[tsunami]

cool stuff and informative post interested to see reviews after alignment and exactly how far you are running away from stock? autoxer?

 

[dcomiskey]

Whoa. Will this fit the MS3??? We desperately need front camber adjustment kits.

 

[ag bullet]

It says all Mazda 3s. I do autocross and have the front maxed at -1 deg of camber right now. I am hoping to gain another degree of negative and run 2.5-3 degrees of negative in the back. I already have the SPC links in the back, so this should work fine for the front.

I admit for the price they seem a bit crude and the 10mm bolts coming up seem small by comparison. We will see how they hold up. I have my alignment scheduled for Wednesday of next week and will post my final settings then.

 

[udontknowjack]

It says all Mazda 3s. I do autocross and have the front maxed at -1 deg of camber right now. I am hoping to gain another degree of negative and run 2.5-3 degrees of negative in the back. I already have the SPC links in the back, so this should work fine for the front.

I admit for the price they seem a bit crude and the 10mm bolts coming up seem small by comparison. We will see how they hold up. I have my alignment scheduled for Wednesday of next week and will post my final settings then.

any update on how the alignment go??

 

[ag bullet]

any update on how the alignment go??

I gained an extra half degree in the front, so I am going to 180 the middle plate to force more negative camber. After that I should be able to dial in my desired -2 degrees or more in the front. It has been too freaking hot to do anything here, so this may be something I do within the coming month.

 

[udontknowjack]

oops

 

[udontknowjack]

I gained an extra half degree in the front, so I am going to 180 the middle plate to force more negative camber. After that I should be able to dial in my desired -2 degrees or more in the front. It has been too freaking hot to do anything here, so this may be something I do within the coming month.

did you do it urself or have a shop align for you.....is this something easy to switch back and for......autox setting and street setting.....im thinking about getting one set for my ms3.....- 2.5 will be great for the front

 

[ag bullet]

did you do it urself or have a shop align for you.....is this something easy to switch back and for......autox setting and street setting.....im thinking about getting one set for my ms3.....- 2.5 will be great for the front

I wish they were indexed like other plates and that is something that they are working on. I am sure you could make a couple of reference marks and acheive the same thing. I installed the plates my self and I am working with a local shop for the alignment. I will probably just "set it and forget it". I think that -2 for the front will be fine for me based on my other settings.

 

[ag bullet]

Just an update. It appears that I was the first to have these on a 3. K-mac has made some revisions and is sending me a new set. The improvements will be the following:

1. Reemoved an 1/8th of an inch from the spring perch. This will eliminate the ride height difference I experienced. I think this is also contributing to a lot of the front end noise I have. We will see what changes/goes away...

2. Added an indexed top plate. Granted most of us will have a strut bar covering it, but it will make "do it yourself" adjustments far easier.

3. They have also performed some other changes to increase the range available.

I should have these by the end of this week. I am not sure when I will have time to install them, but will post some comparison pics and some before and after as well.

 

[udontknowjack]

whats the lastest date?