need help diagnosing tie rod damage on a 200SX

[nastys13]

I have a ’97 200SX that’s giving a lot of vibration in the steering wheel when I drive. I thought I needed to get an alignment so I took it to the Mexican tire shop down the street from my house. Well one of the shop guys told me that I needed to replace the tie rods because the toe on my wheels was very loose. He quoted me a price for doing the work as long as I supplied the parts, but when I got home I decided to look at it for my self. When I actually got a chance to look at the tie rods, I was left wondering how these could possibly be bad. They seem like such a small and insignificant part to be giving me so much tire movement. I started researching a bit and found out that there are inner and outer tie rods, so now I’m left wondering which ones need replacing. Does anybody here know how to check these things?

[spddemon]

Its all one piece, the tie rods connect your tires to the steering system. Tie rods control your cars "toe" which is the angle of your tires from front to back. If this is off it can cause abnormal tire wear and vibration.