uneven tyre wear

[Bigdw]

The outer tread on both the front tyres of my E320CDi is wearing down quicker than the rest of the tyre, I assumed that this would be a matter of just getting the wheel alignment set, I took it in to a newly set independent merc specialist, to ask advice, I told them that it had just had new bottom ball joints fitted a few months before, he put the car on the ramps and on examination told me that the bushes on on the pivot side of both suspension arms had some wear in them, and that this tended to let the wheels pull in and would cause this wear, quoting me £350 to do both sides, but he also said that setting the wheel alignment might cure the problem,

Has anyone got any views on this, because I couldnt see the wear they were talking about,

 

[BenzComander]

The E class do tend to wear the outer edges of the front tyres, especially the nearside one from what I have been told.

Swap them over with the rears before they get too bad??