hey guys,
Last year i bought the mazdatrix rear camber adjuster(04-7421-0000), put it in, had it aligned and nothing else. Last week I take it off and both sides of the heim joints are seized up. One side I was able to free up, but the other side is completely locked.
They used an Aluminum Body with a Steel thread causing Galvanic corrosion inside of the threads where the two dissimilar metals touch. I live in Phoenix too so its never been in the rain and its as dry a climate as could be.

To sell it without anti-seize is just not thinking ahead.


so if you have one of these i would suggest taking it off and checking it out and putting some Anti-seize onto both threads.

For Mazdatrix (me the customer) 30 cents worth of anti-seize could have saved a $130 part. I'm hoping that they'll step up to the plate to give me a free/discounted one and start putting little things of anti-seize in the new ones they're selling to protect future owners.

 

Hmmm...interesting info.
I guess most of these things are adjusted and forgotten under there, so most would not notice a problem like yours.
I run a Ground Control unit, and it's basically the same thing - guess mine is no good too.


-Ted

 

Damn, that sucks. Was it $130 for the pair? or just one arm?

 

I bought one for mazdatrix for the rear. I wish I knew that before it was put on. thanx for the info.

 

good info.

 

Wow, you would think that mazdatrix thought of this. But I guess they slipped on this one. Maybe they usually put anti seize on them but you got one that didn't have any for some unknown reason.

Good catch though. Very good to know.

 

Weird, looks exactly like the piece that Ground Control sells for less than 100 shipped.......

 

I have a ground control unit as well, but the bottom bolt is missing altogether, it appears. I always wondered why I had crazy rear camber.

 

hmm? does anyone know if $130 for one arm or the pair???

 

Good catch on this problem, I'm going to check mine also.

 

its s single usint. It goes from the subframe directly up to the body of the car. so the $130 is for just one

 

It's $130 for one. But you only need one, for the camber adjusters that go on both sides it's much more $$$$.

 

the ball is suppose to spin freely? Mine isn't....

 

Wow, that's crazy.
Wasn't the rear subframe banging underneath on the chassis whenever you hit a bump?


-Ted

 

No, it's not supposed to do so.
If it spins freely by hand, it's no good, actually.
Brand new, the spherical bearing is supposed to be pretty tight.


-Ted

 

Yeah, definitely a good catch. Gotta check mine now. Thanks.

 

Well, the previous owner mentioned something about a bad diff mount and included new competition mounts. I never really noticed it, but my car was damn loud. I asked the guy that rebuilt the engine to install the comp mounts but he said the mounts were ok and didn't do it. I think that I have always had the camber problem, so I am wondering about the guy if he didn't notice this.
That said, the car handled amazingly well. Even in the wet you could get the tail out as far as you wanted and control it 100% of the time. I actually had to work very hard to make it fishtail at all.
While I'm at it, does anyone know of a part number (or where to find it) for that bolt? Is it just the stock bolt?
Edit: assuming its the stock bolt, and I'm looking at the right part, its 2.80 from mazdamotorsports. I'm gonna have to run down to the mazda dealership to get them to sort it out for me, cause the parts catalog is a giant clusterfuck of stuff.

 

Dang Its crazy to talk to some people and see how much this has actually happened to people other than me on both this forum and others.
I emailed Mazdatrix so hopefully this helps them out in the future.
It will be interesting to see what they say.

 

Geoff at Mazdatrix sent an email back to me saying that if i send my faulty piece back to Jay at Ground Control they will either try and fix it or replace it. Once again i'm happy that mazdatrix has shown me their great PR skills.

Jay @
Ground Control
3885 Dividend Dr
Shingle Springs CA 95682
530-677-8600 business
530-677-9090 fax

 

Would someone mind explaining what this camber adjuster does and how it works? Thank you,
~Jason

 

When you lower the car from new springs it throws off the camber which can't be adjusted with the fixed arm. You put this in instead and dial back in the camber as needed so your tires wear correctly. It can be lengthend or shortend by turning the unit one way or another as needed to make the adjustment. Look at the 1st pic in the thread and the other later on where it's hanging loose to see where it goes.