My regular mechanic told me my tie rod ends were bad and I should take it in under my extended warranty. I did so, and when I arrived at the dealer the guy told me, "We hear that all the time, but the tie rod ends never go bad on these cars. I don't know why all the oil change places tell people they have bad tie rod ends."
Well, the dealer looked at my car and decided that yes, my tie rod ends are bad. They replaced the entire steering rack. The guy said you can't get just a tie rod end, you have to replace the whole front end.
Is that true? I don't really care because I only paid my $100 deductible under my extended warranty, but that sounds extremely odd and dumb. If it's true, it must have been a German who made that decision.