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- 2002 BJFW, 2007 BK3P, 1979 SA22C, 2005 BK3P
So I've had the H&R springs on my 5 for a while now and the drivability has gotten worse ever so slightly since then, being that I had not done an alignment. I got a set of the Hotchkis bars for a Mazda3/Mazdaspeed3 in stock and decided to fit them to the 5 to see how well it worked out.
Attached are pics of the sway bars installed as well as my before and after alignment specs. You can see that lowering the 5 without an alignment is obviously a poor choice, as it tends to be on most cars. To assist with the alignment I threw on a set of Mazdaspeed camber links designed for the 3/MS3.
The clearances are tight on these new bars. With car in the air and the suspension fully traveled downward, the bars have a razor blade worth of clearance between themselves and the crossmembers. The tech set the rear bar to the 'stiffest' setting on the sway link tabs. Once the car was on the ground and driving, the difference was noticable at low and high speed turns as well as lane changes. The car feels very solid and much improved. The alignment didn't hurt either
Attached are pics of the sway bars installed as well as my before and after alignment specs. You can see that lowering the 5 without an alignment is obviously a poor choice, as it tends to be on most cars. To assist with the alignment I threw on a set of Mazdaspeed camber links designed for the 3/MS3.
The clearances are tight on these new bars. With car in the air and the suspension fully traveled downward, the bars have a razor blade worth of clearance between themselves and the crossmembers. The tech set the rear bar to the 'stiffest' setting on the sway link tabs. Once the car was on the ground and driving, the difference was noticable at low and high speed turns as well as lane changes. The car feels very solid and much improved. The alignment didn't hurt either