Rear control arms mazda 3

[kbull38]

So I was driving to go get my daughter in Wyoming and came along some road construction. It was an 8 mile stretch that had been milled and was in alright condition. Near the end of the 8 miles there was a bridge that had not been milled and there was a sign right before the bridge that said bump. Little did I know that the bump was actually a 2 inch "curb" that was sheer, no smoothing, no gradual tapering to the unmilled surface, so when I hit it at 55 MPH (down from 75) my head hit the roof and I thought I actually caught some air. The bang made from hitting the "curb" scared the shit out of me, I immediately pulled over and look under the car for any leaking fluid or any other damage. I could not see anything leeking and the car drove fine the rest of the 300 mile trip, no pulling, no leeking fluid, nothing.

Well a week later when i pulled in my garage and went to get the trash can, I noticed that the rear tires of the car were leaning in towards the top and the car was riding on the inside edge of the tire. I took the car to a good chassis shop in the area to have the alignment checked and was told, after they had checked the suspension components and told me there was no damage, that mazda 3's (shop mentioned '06-'09 years) were notorious for having a negative camber problem after the suspension components had began to settle. I immediately went home and looked at my '04 mazda 3 and noticed the it was doing the same thing, just not as pronounced as the 2010.

My question is: Has anyone else run into this problem with there 3? The shop can fix the problem by changing the upper comtrol arms (with longer arms), but it is a 750 dollar fix, including alignment. I only have 2400 miles on the car and do not want to have uneven tire wear on the rear because of this problem. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Colombia28]

My old 3 (an '06) and my MS3 (an '08) both have negative camber in the rear. The very thing you are explaining. It is not a bad thing by any means, in fact it provides you with more grip in the rear. The amount of negative camber from the factory seems negligible when it comes to tire wear. Over the years i have never noticed any extreme variations in tread wear as a result. I wouldn't call it a problem, as it's a factory set up. Just be worried if you tires ever start pointing the other way.. lol.

[erod550]

A bit of negative camber is actually a good thing if you drive aggressively at all, especially in corners. When you turn hard, the tire leans to the outside a little and when you start with negative camber, it actually stands the tire up vertically and keeps the tire patch flat. If you didn't have that negative camber to start with, when you cornered hard the tire would actually lean on the outside edge of the tire and the inside edge would lift up a little bit and you'd have less tire on the ground.

Slight negative camber won't really affect tire wear when driving straight and actually reduces tire wear if you drive hard now and then since those hard cornering times are harder on the tires than just driving normally in a straight line.

[CheyMS3]

my old 3 had a TON of negative chamber in the rear after putting on eibach springs. it doesn't hurt anything...just makes the tires wear a little uneven..and improves cornering ability. to combat the uneven tire wear, just rotate your tires a little sooner than normal.

[dommo_g]

It's a warranty issue. Take it to the dealer, and they'll check to make sure it's out of spec, then make the necessary repairs. Was common on earlier models, this is the first I've heard of it on the 10s.

[AIM WO4]

You can also promote even wear by taking corners a bit faster...

my old 3 had a TON of negative chamber in the rear after putting on eibach springs. it doesn't hurt anything...just makes the tires wear a little uneven..and improves cornering ability. to combat the uneven tire wear, just rotate your tires a little sooner than normal.

[bellalyssa]

You can also promote even wear by taking corners a bit faster...

I like this idea!

[CheyMS3]

You can also promote even wear by taking corners a bit faster...

lawlz...yah, good point

[Colombia28]

You can also promote even wear by taking corners a bit faster...

^This!^ Haha.