No matter what brand, our 850 constantly wears off the outside edge of tires within the first 10,000 miles or so. I just had another alignment and was wondering if I should treat it to new struts or other parts (bushings, etc.)

Would old struts, or other front end parts, cause the car to just wear off the outside edge of both front tires?
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1993 240 Classic; 1992 240; 1997 850 GLT

Maybe try a different alignment shop. They may not know what they're doing or are using wrong alignment info. Outer edge wear on both front tires is usually a sign of toein unless you spend alot of time going in circles. Or do you have a teenage driver that likes to take the 35 mph exit ramps doing 70? 10 k miles is usually close to a years driving for most folks. If you can see wear before that you should be taking it back to the alignment shop for a free followup. Most give some sort of warantee on their work. They should also be able to spot any suspension problems that could be contributing to your problem. Unless of course they're also trying to sell you extra tires. Also are you sure it's just on the outer edge? If it's both inner and outer you need more tire pressure.

I have had this problem too - and my conclusions so far are:

1) Have the front end components checked by a good shop that specializes in alignments rather than one that sends that kind of work out or only does it time to time.

2) A loose ball joint, bushing or tie rod end can definitely cause this (though normally only on the side that has the loose part). I would not expect struts to be at fault unless the damper or mount is actually broken, in which case the ride quality would be very bad.

3) Sometimes when looking at tire wear I have found that I actually drove many more miles on the tires than I had thought and the wear is not unreasonable.

4) The H or higher rated wear lots quicker than lower rated tires.

5) If various people drive your car one or more of them may be driving aggressively.

6) Rotate the tires every 5-6K miles. Even if the front end is aligned within factory tolerance there will be some uneven wear and you can distribute this between front and rear.

So, except for 1 and 2, it may not be abnormal.