l recently had a tie rod replaced on my 2001 subaru legacy. the mechanic noticed that the right front wheel was wobbling slightly on the lift, so they suggested replacing the tie rod and an alignment.
i went through with the whole thing feeling cheated (which is my luck). l told them l wanted to keep the old tie rod and the old one seems to be fine (not bent and swivels fine). would there be any other reason for having it replaced on the car. chalk it up to my ignorance, but live and learn, any help would be appreciated, thanks! :-)

possibile causes include wheel out of balance, improper alignment, worn linkage, bad ball joints. it would have to be looked at by a competent mechankic to get to the exact cause. l would get this done because you will not be albe to keep a set of tires on the front(uneven wear patterns)

tie rod doesnt have to be bent to be no good.

you cant really look at one and tell its bad with it being really bad and wore unless it on the car and it is one of the first things that go bad.. and not having it change beside tire wear. if it breaks when driving 70 on the highway you cant steer or turn so what you think someone tell you you have bad parts on the front end why drive it til it breaks and you wreak

well look at it and see if it is loose. you may not be able to tell by haveing it in your hand its possible that when you put pressure on it, it could be really wobbly. its probably a good thing you got it replaced as long as it was the cause for the wobble. in the long run it should save you money by keeping your tires wearing good.

Hope this helps ^^