We recommend getting a wheel alignment every other year.  Bad alignment will cause premature tire wear, and it's cheaper to do alignments than replacing tires!  Inspect tire wear religiously to see if you need and alignment; we normally do this when filling gas, as it's easy to do a quick walk around the vehicle to check the tires.  Abnormal wear on one side of the tire (inner or outer edge) is a sure sign the alignment is out of spec.

We recommend these alignment spec for your street FC...

Front toe:  1/16" total toe in
Front camber:  -1.0° (no more than -2.0°), per side
Front caster:  stock

Rear toe:  non-adjustable, but try to keep at "0" total toe
Rear camber:  -0.5° (no more than -1.0°), per side
Rear caster:  N/A

These alignment specs are within stock Mazda spec and will give you best wear with best control on street driving.  More aggressive alignment specs can be dialed in with sacrifices.  Front toe-out to 1/16" is better for quicker turning response (recommended for autocross alignments) but makes the vehicle twitchy at freeway speeds.  More negative camber (in front, up to -2.0°) can give you better cornering stability but can cause premature inner tire edge wear on the (front) tires.



Questions?  Comments?  Send mail to:  reted@fc3spro.com

03/14/2004