In reply to stuart in mn:
You've been in MN too long. I go up there a few days every month and am continually amazed at how rusty some of the newish cars are.
In reply to stuart in mn:
You've been in MN too long. I go up there a few days every month and am continually amazed at how rusty some of the newish cars are.
killeen_john wrote: Also, I have the Speed3 rotors and brake calipers retrofitted onto my car and agree with rslifkin that 16's could be iffy. The OEM 17's fit fine but, I'd definitely test fit the 16's before buying if at all possible.
Have 16" wheels for snow tires on the Mazdaspeed3. Have decent clearance with my particular set of el-cheapo wheels.
In reply to killeen_john:
Thanks, on both points. GR2 or Gas-a-just line? $226 shipped from RockAuto for the GR-2's, that ain't bad at all if they have a good reputation.
KYB GR-2's or Excel-G as they are now referred to, are an excellent strut/shock for the price.
T.J. wrote: In reply to stuart in mn: You've been in MN too long. I go up there a few days every month and am continually amazed at how rusty some of the newish cars are.
Been here all my life. 
I guess the amount of rust on cars today is a relative thing. When I was a kid it wasn't uncommon to see cars totally rusted out and headed to the junkyard when they were only a couple years old. As an example, my sister and her husband had a '58 Ford, and by the time it was two or three years old the fenders were so rusty that the headlights were falling off the car.
On the other hand, today's cars (at least from the last decade or two) are generally in reasonable condition. There are exceptions - it seems like nearly every Honda is going to rust out right behind the rear wheels, and I don't think there are any Geo Storms left on the planet.
In reply to RedGT: The cupped tires may be caused by rear toe which is not completely adjustable in stock form. There are several adjustable links available. Was able to adjust rear camber and toe to reduce tire wear and cupping.
Its only doing it on one side of the car. Tires were rotated f-r and both lf and lr have the cupping. I have a good spare i can throw on the LF and see if the problem reappears or is coming from the rear. Seller took great care of the car and then let his wife drive it the last two years so he isnt sure when the wear cropped up.
My rear camber was close to negative 2 degrees and lr was toed out. Cupping on the inside. After going thru OEM tires, I had the problem w/summer and winter tires. Normal adjustment is a compromise between camber and toe. After installing adjustable links, was able to adjust to specs and no more cupping/noise. Wife is happy, I am happy.
In reply to outasite:
I would have thought one could just set toe to 0 and wherever camber ends up, who cares. I have several cars with 2 to 3 degrees of camber and as long as toe is OK, tire wear is fine as well. Wonder why that doesnt apply here. That sucks.
In reply to RedGT:
As an OCD mechanic and automotive instructor who taught alignment for 30+ years, I like to be able to adjust alignment angles as close to specs (stock or performance) as possible.
In reply to outasite:
Fair enough, I thought you were saying there was no possible setting to stop the cupping with stock adjustment.
RedGT wrote: It sounds like this one may need shocks but they have been on it for 150k miles. Picking it up this afternoon.
That is a mighty clean looking 3 you picked up. Hit it with a good anti-rust undercoating and do it every year.
In reply to RedGT:
The cupping is caused by the combination of camber and toe. Negative camber will cause wear on the inside edge of the tire and toe out will cause feathered wear across the face of the tire. Together you get a tire that attempts to scuff sideways and then snaps back creating cupping/noise/vibration. When domestic fwd cars were introduced to Merica without rear camber or toe adjustment and poor/nonexistent specification compliance at the factory, consumers complained about the cupping/noise/vibration of rear tires. Lots of $$$$$ was spent on shocks that were not the problem. Lived that nightmare with consumers that insisted they needed shocks/springs.
In reply to outasite:
To update this, I finally started playing around with the car because I have new tires ready to go on and obviously need to remedy the odd wear first. Rear toe is about 1/8" IN, or 0.30 degrees across the 24" I am measuring it. Looks like factory spec is 0.18 +/- 0.18 so while technically it is within spec it is way out at one end and I should fix it. Would prefer to have it at 0. Wonder if I can manage that at home without totally butchering the thrust angle? Joe's average alignment shop won't even change it since it is within spec now and I'm not paying good money for an alignment on this thing.
One rear shock is leaking fluid everywhere so that's not helping the tire wear either.
Found a pair of brand new front Koni STR.T's on local craigslist so I grabbed a set of rears as well. Evidently these things eat rear shock mounts and I really ought to spend that $50 while I am in there?
This doesn't warrant a whole build thread since it was a one day thrash on Saturday, have a few loose ends to tie up and then I don't wanna work on it any more for a long time.
$1067. Oof. Never add these things up.
I need to get the rear toe out of it, and I have a Miata-like shimmy in the front end from 55-65mph. It'll happen on throttle unless I really whack the throttle. Then it'll happen only on braking, until I really nail the brakes. Then it'll go back to doing it on throttle only. Repeat. NEVER when coasting. WTF? Something is movin' under there. It behaved like this both before and after the new struts/wheels/tires/rotors. No tie rod or wheel bearing play that I can discern. No pulsing brake pedal any more, steering wheel vibration only. Anyone have any ideas?
Probably autocrossing it on Saturday. 
Subframe bushings?
Motor mounts?
Steering rack mount bushings?
Just throwing ideas out there...
These things are known to eat motor mounts but i didn't think theyd induce a vibration like that. Worth a look, thanks.
In reply to RedGT:
The engine, transaxle, axles are supported by engine mounts. If broken or worn, the axle angles will change and possibly cause the vibration. Also, as I said previously, rear toe can be corrected by purchasing adjustable links. I agree that the average alignment shop would probably give you a "green is good alignment" so with the links you/they can actually align it properly.
Rear adjustable parts are here, need to get around to installing them.
I went and beat the heck out of it on Sunday.
Still finished 4th in PAX and 14th overall out of 78. Fun little car.
After the beating, the 55-65mph front end vibration was notably worse......until 10 minutes into the highway drive afterward - now it is 100% gone. Kaput. Smooth as a baby's behind. Etc. Don't know. Don't care. Will deal with it if/when it comes back.
4th in PAX with that little done to it? Wow! Nice job. And with the 2.0-liter no less!
Are these one of the cars to have in STF? I've been thinking about one, or a Protege, for a while. It'd be nice to be able to autocross too.
In reply to CyberEric:
'One of', perhaps. They're not slow. If I didn't have an STS Miata on hand I would get real tires and run it. As my daughter gets to the point of coming with me to events, but not sitting through an hour and a half of droning Miata wind noise each way, I may run the 3 a bit more in 2017.
Top 10 STF cars not counting codrivers at nats last year:
So, yeah, it's certainly got potential.
Also 4th in pax was still 1.2 seconds behind first on a 75 second course. Not a lot of fully built cars were at this event.
I may have autocrossed it again. In the wet. This region says all open cars must run top-down and i didnt want to soak the miata nor cram 4 bald RE71 into the car for the rainy drive to and from.
It is a lot better in the wet, more fun for sure. Maybe just because it forced me not to overdrive. The rear will stick no matter what you do to it and after a few runs i could trust that and trail brake to the limit of front grip without even thinking about the rear stepping out, and carry some stupid silly speed through some elements like a relatively short spaced tightening slalom, torrential downpour, 61 mph. 
Finished 2nd in pax, a subaru got me by half a second.
So this thing is still ticking along, having done two TrackNightInAMerica events at Pocono as well (my first two track events ever) First one was only one session via the run/work program, second one yesterday was the whole 3 sessions. Tires get greasy after a while. Brakes and the rest of the car held up fine. Times are down to a best of 1:59.7 and a whole lot of 2:00.x's on the Pocono 2.6 mile big road course. By the 3rd session I learned to go out at the end of the line to have some room, catch the field and get a few point-by's and then roll down pit lane to open up a gap again. Because this poor thing just does not have the guts to get past a Miata on the straights, nevermind an S2000 or Mustang. People are generally good at giving point-by's but not so great at remembering to actually lift...and lift a LOT...because this poor thing just doesn't go any faster. So I'd get by one, maybe 2 cars on each straight and then have to putter around behind them in the infield.
Tires are doin' alright. They could be faster but they certainly handle the abuse and heat well. Forgot the pyrometer but they are coming off course hotter than I have ever had any autocross tire, by the "damn that REALLY hurts to touch" hand-o-meter.
Lap:
Yeah, 108.7 mph is all it's got, at least until I can get onto the straight carrying more speed. That turn (red '29' on the map, I really boogered it on this lap because the tires were greasy as hell) is intimidating and pushing wide would mean being in the wall so I am doing it at about 30-32 mph on a good lap. I could set it up better or have more balls and get through there at about 36 apparently, based on comparing data with friends.
Can this thread be moved to the 'build' forum? Because at this point I am shopping for used tires to take this further... I think 245 wide S2000 takeoffs will clear, barely. Or from a BRZ. Anyone got used RE71, RS3, Rival or especially Dunlop Z2 or Z2* lying around?
I was there last night at Pocono too, in the blue AMG Mercedes with the One Lap stickers still on it, in the advanced group. I was hitting 135-140 at the end of the straight, but I have 500hp. I'm also running the same tires, they have held up fine through all of One Lap and then last night as well, but they are certainly less durable than the 200TW tires. In the wet though...nothing can touch them.
For tire fitment, we also have an 07 hatch, and it has plenty of clearance on RX8 wheels (18x8) running 225/40/18, so I bet you could fit 245s with the right offsets.
Yeah, I was poking around under there last night and I think I need to keep exactly the offset I have now (NC Miata wheels) - I have just over half an inch to the strut in the front with the current 225s. I think the extra 10mm from a 245 would be fine as far as fender clearance as well. At worst I have to roll the front fenders a little. In the rear there's all the room in the world.
I never even saw your car :( I was running in Novice so I was coming off the track and going to their meetings while advanced ran, then watching friends in the Intermediate session. But if you got there after 2:45 I might have asked you to sign a waiver. 
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