MMR Camber Adjuster Snapped
 

So today I went to my first ever autocross event. I have just finished the car had an alignment done and a few other small things. The rear camber was only set to 1.0 degree.

Well I took my first run, when I park the car I noticed my rear passenger tire had probably 4+ degrees of camber. The location of the autocross was 3 hours away from where I lived so I had no choice but to limp it home. The car made it fine at 55mph, when I got home I look under and see this:

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...81_829x622.jpg
(Rear Tire with the crazy camber right after I parked at home)

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...82_829x622.jpg
(Look what snapped here!!)

Well, so far I have not been having fun with these MMR adjusters. They came with no instructions, the tech support was below average in my opinion (when I asked questions, I still was left with questions), they made rubbing noises due to the fact that they are "built" so that it will rub against your subframe alittle (the noise goes away after the aluminum on the upper blue block gets scrapped off enough so it doesn't rub on your subframe anymore) and now I find I snapped one in my first autocross!!! It hasn't even been over 2 months that I have had these.

I am really glad the car made 3 hour trip back with the control arm hanging like that I am guessing the Megan coilover in the rear was holding it up...

Anywho, I will be contacting MMR but most likely I don't think I will be using these MMR adjusters unless a something convincing happens.... I looked at the AWR ones and they look much better built in my opinion...

For the good news, I have to say all the work I put in over the winter in this car paid off. It handled so well and everyone was saying how impressed they were with my run and I had another buddy of mine saying how proud he felt to own a 7 after that run... It really sucks I did not get to do any other runs.... There was an FB there, but he was taking it easy on the course.... I will see if I can get a video up when I get that from my buddy...

arent you the one who was recommending the MMR camber adjusters in my thread?

i payed MMR for camber adjusters 30 days ago and have yet to see anything from them. they dont return calls, emails, or respond to paypal claim's.

MMR-Direct.com sucks!

I probably did recommend them and take it back now. From the get-go they were great to deal with. I am running their spherical bearings along with these two. The spherical bearings are great, no complaints. But it wasn't until I started to run the car after a week or two the I noticed the little problems I described above. I would email them asking them small questions (they got back to me within a day or two, I don't know why they haven't responded to you), but it took them a few back and forward emails to fully answer my original question. Another user here highly recommended them to me saying they never had issues with them and I know for a fact they hit the track with them.

When I was installing these on the car and adjusting the alignment they were great, once I ran them for a few days I began to notice little problems. I really can't believe it snapped like this. I have heard of this happening before but still shocked it happened out of all people, me...

If you can, try to get a refund since you don't seem happy, call paypal and email MMR asking for a refund. The AWR ones looked built to last, and I don't know about the mazdatrix ones, but I know there was a recent thread with an issue with those hitting the chassis during bumps...

Bottom of the page. The twin ones will never break. :)

http://www.mazdatrix.com/h6_86-92.htm

EDIT:
These are different than the ones I bought for my FC, and I dunno about the clearance on top...:scratch:
http://www.mazdatrix.com/pictures/h-...amblinks-1.jpg

i have allready started a claim with paypal to get a full refund.

mmr hasnt even responded to my claim on paypal.

what a shitty company to deal with.

i ordered the AWR rear adjusters earlier today.....i just need my money back from MMR now.

Yeah thats the issue I was talking about with the mazdatrix ones. They hit the chassis as you can see in the picture, it already dented it.

I think I will go with AWR too... Not happy anymore with MMR...

Good thing I still have the stock links, they will keep me rolling. Hopefully no damage was done on the trip back, I will have to inspect tomorrow when I cool off : )

Just though I would update, I looked closely at the AWR ones and the Mazdatrix ones. They look like the exact same product. The only different seems to be mazdatrix includes a grease zerk fitting (which is not that hard to add):

http://store.awrracing.com/product_i...18918_zoom.jpg
(AWR)

http://www.mazdatrix.com/pictures/h-susp/2camblinks.jpg
(MAZDATRIX)

I did not realize that. I had seen the AWR ones in the classifieds and for some reason they had looked different to me. Guess it doesn't matter which ones you pick. I will have to contact mazdatrix about the body hitting issue, but AWR has the more reasonable price.

It would seem from the pictures that it would hit the body only if you have the camber adjusters set to minimum negative camber. If you increase the negative camber it should retract the screw from hitting the body some...

Anyways, both of these seem to be way beefier than what I had...

a simple punch onto that part of the undercarriage would eliminate any clearance issues

there are far more complicated issues we deal with when modifying cars then a simple sheet metal adjustment

Really surprising that you could generate enough load to snap the MMR rod-end threads since you seem to be running street tires. Definitely looks like the AWR/Maztrx bolt diameter is bigger than the MMR's. Thanx for posting this info.

So today I raised and inspected the damage. Seems that at least the MMR spherical bearings held up really well and the strut, to hold that control arm in place while it flopped around on the drive home.

Once I had the vehicle raised, I can easily wiggle the whole control arm in the up and down direction since the camber link broke. Scary stuff, but at least the design mazda implemented will keep the wheel attached to the car by way of the strut and toe-bolt.

I removed the adjusters and replaced them with the stock links. Set the car on the ground and everything is solid again.

I took some pictures so you guys can see the damage. This first one clearly shows how the threaded part of the camber adjuster failed in sheer:

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...88_799x599.jpg
*threads on hemi-joint is covered by a spacer I left on it just now
(the force sheered the threads cleanly across, it was set to 1.0 degree of camber so not much thread was exposed, but it still failed.)

This next one shows the "rubbing issue" that these camber adjusters have. Once the aluminum on the block gets eated up by your subframe, the noise will go away. From an engineering stand-point, this could be easily remedied if they had studied the design better:

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...85_799x599.jpg

The survivor, notice how this side rubbed too:

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/...89_799x599.jpg

Hope this helps anyone determine what camber adjusters to go with.

Makes sence why the mmr are way cheaper... Thanks for posting, was about to place an order.

For the record, I have the MMR adjusters and they do not rub the subframe at all, and I have had no issues with them. I have driven the car VERY hard with NT05 tires in over 10 track events this year with no issues yet to speak of.

If your adjusters were grinding on the subframe mount something was wrong and you were putting extra side load on the adjuster. Both AWR and MMR adjusters should be very good at taking loads vertically, but are not designed to take loads horizontally.

People have also bent and or broken the Mazdatrix/AWR adjusters (they are the same part). Be aware that the Mazdatrix/AWR pieces need to be lubed and will wear out and need to be rebuilt over time. The MMR pieces do not need to be lubed and should not wear out.

https://www.rx7club.com/race-car-tech-103/mmr-vs-awr-adj-fc-rear-camber-link-comparison-907872/

This will answer some questions.

Maybe?

I've snapped the center bolt before on the AWR adjusters before.

My subframe is straight, I just had it down the whole winter to clean off and install new bushings. The fact that they rub really stumped me. I am not sure if it matters where the included spacers should be set, I showed them pictures through an email and said it is normal for them to rub and was told to "apply grease" to kill the noise. There was no indication I was doing anything wrong, and I was concerned about the rubbing noise I was experiencing.

I am going to contact MMR and see if they are willing to sort this out. The fact that their support was below average in my opinion and lack of instructions, even when I asked them for clarification really doesn't sit well with me now. If they can tell me why these adjusters I just installed failed like this within a month and can convince me to keep running these I may consider it. By comparison, even the factory links are beefier than these things, that should tell you something and it should be something a company who is engineering a product should have taken consideration in (notice how the AWR ones match the factory diameter for the rod, even look slightly bigger). The main reason I got the MMR ones what the ability to not have to maintain these like the AWR adjusters and I had heard good things about them and their other products seemed solid. I will keep you guys updated.

Hmmm... thats a pretty thick bolt. What where you doing when it failed? How much camber were you running? What did you do about it?

"Your experiences may vary."

I BFH clearanced the sheetmetal for my Mazdatrix adjusters. Small price to pay for a wide range of adjustment. I grease them every time I do a fluids change, haven't had any problems yet.

I've got a pair of AWRs if you're interested, brand new in the box

It looks to me like the spacers were installed on the wrong side of the bolt where the adjuster meets the subframe. If that was the case, there would be a side load on the adjuster and I'm not surprised it failed.

I sent them (MMR) an e-mail when I got my adjusters to see what side they were supposed to go on. Can't find it now, but I haven't had any issues with their adjusters on my car yet.

JV

I also noticed you have an older generation of mmr rear camber adjuster. They have a new version that looks like the awr adjusters.

Just daily driving the car, however, I was using it to add camber instead of take away camber since I was running Turbo II springs. It could've also been due to the polyurethane bushings as well, resisting the twisting of the arm.

lubing the adjuster once in a while is really the deal breaker?
If given the choice of a component with no grease fitting versus one with I would rather have a fitting

Just finished talking to Ross from MMR over the phone.

He is handling the situation well. He told me he can either replace the current link I have or I can return them, but before I do that I should double check all my links on the car. The only thing we both can see at the moment causing the links to break like this is the stock toe link since all my other bushings are straight. I had checked those two when I did my rebuild, but I will double check just to make sure.

I suggested the idea of a bigger rod than what he currently has. He said he can go to a bigger rod if that will solve the problem, but he has looked at those before and the load that those can handle is actually lower than what the current ones I have are rated for (due to the material used). I told him I will double check my links on the car when I get some time and will take him up on the offer.

I don't mean to knock MMR and encourage people to stop buying from them. They have great products besides the problem I had with these.

I will keep you guys updated as to what happens. I really appreciate the fact he will consider making the thicker rod adjusters. Another thing he said about them is that like others have posted, the AWR adjusters have snapped before from what he knows.

still no contact with Ross from MMR, but it is funny that 3 days after opening a paypal claim, he manages to ship my parts out, 30 days after placing the order....what a great way to run a business.

MMR isn't the quickest of businesses out there.

I ordered delrin diff, rear subframe, engine + trans mounts from them, along with the rear camber adjusters you have. Mine were orange though.

It was frustrating at how long my order took. Especially considering all the mounts can be easily made with delrin stock + a lathe in a short amount of time.

My adjusters don't make any noise at all. I think you didn't put a spacer in there correctly or you put the block piece in backwards. I'll take pics of mine next time I have the car up. Which should be soonish.

My first thought exactly, but after speaking to Ross, it seems I had everything right. Spacer on block facing the inside of car. Not sure what it could of been... Going to be checking for play in suspension soon to make sure I didn't miss anything.