I am having a problem with my alignment settings on my '02 lancer es 5-speed.

The only thing on the car that is not stock are some 17 x 7.5 inch Konig Wheels I put on a year and a half ago. I had a set of Kumho205/40-R17's on the car and they lasted about a year and they wore evenly. About a month and a half ago, I put a new set of kumho's on my car, except this time I decided to go up to a 215/40-r17. I had them mounted, balanced, and installed and the car aligned by a Firestone service place. About a month and half later, I notice that the outside edges of the front tires are both worn down completely. Obviously something was wrong so I took it to another Firestone place thinking they may have messed up the camber setting or something. I took it there and my toe settings were way out of whack, and the camber settings were a little beyond the limits on the spec sheet. They told me that my wheels somehow caused this (even though I had them for a year with no problems) and that my camber is completely not adjustable, basically telling me that I'm screwed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Why would my NON-ADJUSTABLE camber be out of whack in the first place?
Is there any way to adjust the camber without buying a kit?
What the hell caused all of these alignment problems- granted I've been known to drive aggressively, I haven't changed my driving styles in the month that I've had these "new" tires on.
*Note* I have NEVER messed with the suspension of my car at all.

I'm probably forgetting to mention something, but any advice would be appreciated.

Sorry bro- there's no way to adjust the camber on the lancer without mechanical aids (i.e. camber bolts or plates).

begin random thoughts....

That doesn't mean it can't get out of whack by raising or lowering the center of the hub. If you jack up your car you'll notice the hub center moves in relation to the car and the rotor starts to show positive and negative cambers... You only changed the diameter by like 4mm (just over 1/8") Look inside the wheel well- are you scraping one of the screws or something and not noticing it

You're not on aftermarket springs?

You're describing a toe and positive camber issue .... which can maybe come from the plus sizing like that.... but damn, that's pretty extreme for such a relatively small change.


We need pics, really. And I'd investigate some aftermarket springs and/or a camber adjust kit (there are folks on the boards selling them for pretty cheap). Certainly cheaper than replacing tires more than once a year.

Thanks

I don't have the spec sheet in front of me, but the camber was positive about 1-2 degrees in the front and back, and the toe was off by around the same (but the recommended toe settings were much smaller of a range, therefore it was a lot further out than it should have been).

I just have tough time believing that raising the car by only 4mm would throw the suspension's "harmony" off so much as to destroy a set of tires in a month.
BTW, no aftermarket springs, all stock.
Isn't it ironic that I left the suspension completely alone so I wouldn't have any problems with it....

I'll definately check to see if the screws are being scraped by the sidewall, I know it was a close call on clearance with the 205's and the 215's both.

Lowering the car to create negative camber sounds like a good idea in theory, but would that actually be a reasonable option? It just seems like it might contribute to the problem instead of solve it, but your very right that it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than a $400 set of tires every month or so....

I can try to get some pictures... but pictures of what specifically?

thanks again

Matt

Let's see the wear on the tires.
Lowering probably won't be an issue. I think it's been established that 17s are safe to drop on. I know some folks on 18's with ridiculous drops. And if you don't want to replace your springs, the camber bolts would just give you some play in the camber.
If your Firestone guys say they can't fix your toe problem they're effing retards. I can do that myself and I have no training whatsoever.

Ha, I can't vouch for the knowledge of the firestone guys, but they did fix the toe alignment a few days ago, but they are saying the camber being off is going to pull the toe out of spec again (I have no idea whether this is true or not). And we'll see what the specs are when I take it back sometime fairly soon to recheck the settings to see if there definately is a cause to these problems.

I just think that the camber being off on a car with no suspension mods whatsoever is odd. If I can figure out and fix the problem with certainty, that would be very nice. But, On the other hand, if I'm going to keep having do deal with suspension/alignment problems, it won't take too many headaches and $400 sets of tires to convince me to buy something else...

As for the tires, I'll try to get some pictures up soon if I can, but if it helps, the tread on the front tires (since been moved to the back to buy more time) is on a descending incline from the inside out, with the edges slick. The backs are somewhat inclined like the fronts, but not as severely as the fronts.

One thing a friend of mine (who is a mechanic for mainly porsches), said it could be caused by hitting one wheel on a curb, which may have knocked the alignment out on one wheel which could possibly throw off all the other wheels.
I did nail the back passenger tire pretty good cutting a turn too tight a little while back, could this be enough to cause all of this?

Yes, curbing can throw off your alignment.
The toe/camber adjustments on the rear end are a PITA, at best. I spent over an hour last night messing with the rear align and couldn't get both sides the same. Change camber too much, throws toe off. Change toe, changes camber. I'm going to do a complete teardown and see if that won't let me put stuff where I want it.