Wanted to get some feedback on some alignment issues I had with my 93. In the last month or so I change out the lower control arms to the Mevotech brand. Mostly made the change as my ball joints were to the point of replacement. Before installing into the car I pressed out the rubber bushings and installed a set of the Power Flex purple bushings, as the rest of the car has these installed in the acceptable areas. I take the car in for alignment and they cannot get front caster or camber even close. Front Left best they can do is -1.2 camber, 4.4+ caster, Front Right -1.1 camber, 7.4+ caster. Surprisingly the car drives ok at 40 mph or less. Rear setting are good. So I'm thinking its the aftermarket LCA,? I doubt it's the Powerflex bushings as I've never heard of this issue with them. Only other variable is I had them install the lock washers for the camber bolts from Split Street. I don't see how those would cause any problems though. I'm thinking I may have to pony up for the stock LCA, which are stupid expensive now (800 at Atkins, cheaper elsewhere though). Any thoughts or feedback is appreciated before I drop over a grand on factory lower control arms !!

 

i'm not sure how you would install the bushings wrong, i think its round and not offset. if it was mine i would pull the front left and look for any installation problems and bent hardware. if its ok, then may compare the old arm and new arm?
if its still not that, then you're looking at the upper arm and its hardware, and maybe the spindle

 

Thanks for the feedback. It seems the only variable is the aftermarket LCA. Upper control arms are newer, no bent items I can find and previous alignment with stock LCA was good, done a few years ago though. Looks like new Mazda arms are going to be needed from what I'm thinking.

 

I replaced my lowers with the mevotech from rock auto and pushed new super pro bushings in along with doing the same with the new uppers.

I had no alignment issues. Perhaps they did not install the eccentrics correctly or something else is messed up. Could your subframe be bent? Did you ever have it aligned before this?

 

No previous alignment issues in the 20+ years I've had the car. No subframe or hardware issues there. Its the local Mazda dealer and have no issues with any other service from them with other vehicles. Maybe I just got a set that is out of spec? Hate to drop the money for factory LCA but seem to be at that point.

 

I'd take it to an independent shop for an alignment before dropping money on a full set of new OEM arms, I have a really hard time believing one set of a mass produced item is problematic.

 

Post some pictures of how your shop set the split street camber bolts.
I suspect they fucked up

 

Well a bit of disappointment. The dealer has removed the split street camber washer and new H style camber bolts I installed in the front. I'll have to find out where they are as they are not in the car. They did however use them in the rear. They look installed correctly. So since the rear alignment is gtg, it cant be the washers.

 

Sounds typical of general mechanics. They are dumb and lazy.
Find a shop that does performance alignments or a race shop that is willing to put the time into doing a proper alignment.

 

Hey Mike! For my race alignment, I use the Suspension Shop, Inc. at 6502 Grover Street in Omaha. Drew is the tech. and he is great at performing an alignment on my car.

James

 

I would check to make sure the subframe is not shifted. If it is that will cause the car to have odd alignment issue.

 

Just to update the thread, I did take it to a independent (who ironically is a LS performance shop) and they got everything squared away. As stated in the thread just basic laziness from the first shop. They had stripped the nubs off the cam plates as it was almost completely opposite offset from the fixed side. The independent also found my droop to be different from side to side and fixed that as well. They set it up as close as they could to the Pettit Racing street specs. Just the short drive home I could tell the difference. So Mevotech LCA are good to go and look forward to trying out the different alignment specs as it has always had the Mazda recommended specs.