I noticed this a little bit ago. It's not too far back, but it is noticable if you look closely and it measures ~1 different then the driver's side. I know the previous owner did check a curb on the passenger side, but the car tracks straight, doesn't shimmy or pull.

Will leaving it as-is cause any problems even if the car is handling fine? I checked tire wear as well, and that tire looks to be wearing the same as the others.

If it is a big deal, what bent-*** portion of my front suspension am I going to have to replace (my guess was the A-arm got jacked, please prove me wrong there, lol)?

I was also wondering if this will keep an alignment shop from doing an alignment because they won't be able to adjust caster to compensate. I don't see why it would since as it is now it drives perfectly fine.

Thanks for any advice!

 

It's normal.


-Ted

 

what purpose does it serve if any?

 

Nothing really.
Mazda dialed in the suspension and handling with the tire positions.
Changing the tire positions will change the way the car handles.


-Ted

 

No joke? So having one wheel further towards the rear of the car then the other isn't a big deal then, eh? One less thing to do on my list I guess.

On a related note, how difficult are the ball joints to swap on on the fronts? I've done a few on myother vehicles, and the FC's actually look pretty easy. The once pinch bolt has to be pulled, and then the two on the a-arm, right?

 

Per suggestion from another kind source, I measured the distance between the center of the front and rear tires on both sides and came up with 96" on the driver's side, 95" on the passenger side.

 

Wait, wait, wait...I think I'm reading this wrong.
Are you talking about the wheelbase???
Front tire versus rear tire location?
If this is so, no, they should be identical left versus right!



-Ted

 

^ I think you read it as him just measuring off the fender, then he compared the wheel base.

Also, were you on level ground when measuring. If so, whip out the good ole' FSM and start measuring your chassis measuring points and figure out if it's tweaked anywhere and get the car on a lift to figure out if you have anything wrong visually.

 

The ground is pretty level, but I'll have to check next time I'm in a good parking lot. I am pulling the front wheels off tomarrow to check my ball bearings and steering end links, and I'll see if I can notice any bent components at that time. Last time I had the wheel off everything looked in place though, so I don't really know what's going on with the whole setup.

What component would usually cause the wheel base to be off, but still allow the toe-in and camber to be set in spec with the other side? I found an alignment paper in the glovebox after I purchased it dated a few weeks prior to my ownership, and all the adjustments looked normal to me. There was a note about not being able to adjust the caster any more, but I didn't notice the difference in the fender difference for a good couple of months.