Hi folks, 2006 S60 2.5T, 161,000. I'm starting to see little tears on the outside edge of my front tires, similar to when my control arms needed replacing. I'm suspecting it's the tie rods, as those are the only original front end components remaining. Thoughts?

 

Get an alignment done. You also have ball joints too which are easiest to do when control arms are done. When they do an alignment, if it's a half decent place, they will tell you if the tie rods are no good and they cant properly align the wheels. Tire wear alone won't really signify a tie rod issue, you'd probably have some clunking too.

 

Come to think of it I do hear some clunking when I turn, and I had the ball joints replaced at the same time I had the control arms replaced.

 

Very possible to be the tie rods. My 2 cents is to do both inner and outer when replacing them (new boot too) and just measure prior to removal to get them somewhat close to where they were beforehand so you can get to an alignment shop safely. Also inspect the sway bar end links while you're checking it out. While they won't affect tire wear, they can also be clunking. (and they are pretty cheap and easy to replace)