My tires are all worn thru the steel belts on the tread nearest the axel. The rears are the worst but they are all trashed. My question is: will a 4 wheel aligment solve this or are some other suspentions parts failing as well?

Take it to a reputable alignment shop and let them put it on the rack to see what is going on. They may come back and make some recommendations on suspension parts to be changed prior to being able to do an alignment (this will be based on mileage/age of the vehicle). The key thing is to find a reputable alignment shop that is familiar with these suspensions. You may be able to find a recommendation in the "good shop" forum.

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Jim

camber.

Check ride height..your springs may be getting tired.....when they do, you run out of camber adjustment..

You wouldn't happen to be riding on Michelins would you?

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1995 black pearl/black Mercedes-Benz E420 :

most common is that the front upper control arms are bad.
if you rotate tires then this will make all four look like there is a problem all around.

Thanks guys,
These were Conti's with about 10k on them and had not been rotated. The outer tread looked almost new but the axle side was good for maybe another 100 miles. The ride hight looks fine but the springs are orig with 205,000 on them.

I have to agree with wagger that this is more of a camber issue if all your suspension components are intact. 10K on tires is not such a long tire life. My set of tires are already past that and they still look like new I just have them balanced every six months and have the camber checked and corrected the same time. The rear camber however cannot be adjusted and rear tire wear on the inside of the tires usually indicates that your ride height is lower than it should be due to some worn components.

They must be way off.
How does it drive?
Could also have a bad 'toe out' condition, though it is strange to have this sort of problem at both ends at the same time...

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1986 300E 5-Speed 240k mi.