I have a 1981 240 and it is tearing up the outside shoulders of the front tires. The car visibly has positive camber, and I hear you can get up to 1/2 degree negative if you file down the holes for the strut mounts ( i think)

I searched but couldn't find anything. could someone please point me in the right direction? I have basic home tools and want some negative camber!

-nick

On the strut tower sheet metal, the two forward holes are sloted, and the rear hole isn't. You would need to move the strut mount (pivot about the rear stud) til it was all the way in towards the engine. It's pretty easy to move the top mount, just loosen the nuts, pop the plastic cap off the strut mount, and use a drift to hammer against the strut nut to move the mount in.

At stock ride height, you can probably get up to -0.5° if things are straight. I've seen a car get -1.3° on one side and -0.6° on the other when both mounts were pushed all the way in. It can vary. When my car was lowered on Jamex springs, I got -0.7° and -0.8° with the mounts pushed in. With the car lowered a little more on coilovers, and with camber plates replacing the upper mount (basically the same as the strut mount, just designed to move in more for more neg. camber), I got -2.0° and -2.1°.

Check for excessive toe-in once you get the camber set.
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forums.turbobricks.com

I forgot to mention...you don't really need to slot the holes. On my 240, the strut mount was pressed against the metal lip of the large center opening in strut tower sheet metal. What will ultimately limit your negative camber is the diameter of the front springs. With camber plates, I could move the top mount in further, but then the spring hits the sheet metal. With the spring pushed against the body, it would bind up such that the steering will not want to straighten out after steering one way or the other. You won't have this problem with stock strut mounts.
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forums.turbobricks.com

1. Your car is spec'd with positive camber.
2. Negative camber isn't really needed on the street, I'm just guessing you aren't a racer...maybe you are. If so, this isn't really the best forum.

Have you measured the camber, toe, caster? Has your car been in accident? Are the strut towers rusted out?

Put down the file and take your car to an alignment shop.

Where's it set now? Nick, yours is a wild story, so convince us your toe in isn't extreme.