Adjustable rear camber

[Straeliterun]

Alright....so I think I might of read every thread we have on here about lowering springs and neg camber on the rear wheels. What I can't seem to get a beat on is whether or not its absolutely necessary to pick up the adjustable rear camber plates.

Is it more of a car by car situation? Like some end up needing it and others don't?
I've also read theres a bolt you can loosen and turn to give you a little bit of play in the lower control arm to fix at least a little bit of the extra neg camber.

Some details:
Drop should be 2inches in the front and 1.5 in the back. its an 08 5door (i'm never carrying much more than myself and my bag for classes). Says their designed for oem or aftermarket struts/shocks. I know it should kill the stock ones a little faster than normal...I was just planning on running them till they were blown and replacing. Any other questions to form opinions I'm more than willing to answer.

 

[hat1018]

I have no practical experience on camber, but I have asked about adjusting the rear camber. There is no adjustment in stock form, only toe-in/out. As far as front camber goes there is some, but not sure how much.

 

[bbrich57]

I am on H&R springs, Koni Yellows and a RB's 27mm rear bar. Before that even on OE's I was burning through a set of rubber every <20k miles. (65k miles, 4 sets of tires.)

When I installed the springs I also installed the SPC's and had the rear end adjusted to +/-1* neg camber and 0" toe-in. These tires are lasting and wearing much better.
The shop I took the car to knew EXACTLY why I wanted those specs and said it was common place to see Mazda's, especially modern Mazda's, w/badly worn rear rubber.

In short, I would do it again in a heartbeat, even if I weren't lowered.

 

[Straeliterun]

Interesting you were going through tires that fast. I've got a set of khumo's with 25k that still have quite a bit of life left. I wonder if it was the change in toe or camber that made the big difference for you.

And virgin/bb i swear it was one of your old posts talking about adjusting the lower control arm bolt to help a little with camber on another mazda forum...if not someone has stolen your name and pic

 

[bbrich57]

WOW! You really went digging for that one. When was that post... '06?
Yup and I was mistaken back then. That bolt adjusts toe and I was getting bad wear on the BadYears even before I tried that adjustment.
As far as the wear is concerned, I believe it was mostly camber. 2-3/32nds difference between the inside and outside tread every 5k. Even w/regular 5k rotations I only got 17.5k out of the Kumho ASX's I had before they started looking pretty thin, but there was no cupping in any of the tires I had on the car. (BadYears, Falkens, Kumhos and Continentals.)

 

[Msugi07]

Be prepared to work getting that camber kit on if you get one. I had to drop my whole rear axle to get one on because of some restrictions on the passenger side. And from what I have read, I'm not the first. Worth it in the long. My tires are still kickin after sometime of not even a rotation

 

[bbrich57]

It's just 6 bolts, and yes to get the RS in its easiest to drop the rear cradle about an 1" or 2 for bolt clearance. In any case, it is tight in there, but we should be used to that now. Everything on these cars is tight.

 

[franky.c]

Im glad i read this. Its finally summer time in good ol' Wisconsin. so i will be buying some new rubber for my 18" wheels & then lowering the mazda. and of course getting an alignment..

does the condition of the shocks/ struts affect the tire wear??