Front end suspension.....

Tie rod ends go bad because they develop play. They will eventually develop enough play that the alignment will not stay accurate. Tie rod ends are just ball joints. After years of friction they will loosen up. I doubt you will be able to tell if they are bad while still installed on the car.

About the wheel bearings. To check for bad wheel bearings vertical play should be considered but this can be cured by simply repacking them and adjusting the torque on them. They should spin smooth when installed and adjusted. You dont' want any gritty feeling. The only way to be sure is to take them out and inspect them.

IF the innner tie rod end has lots of play it would be hard to tell if the bearing also had play. Once you get the inner tie rod done you can recheck your bearings but i would just repack them any way.

the wobble check is an alright method but is not the greatest checking method because when you wobble it vertically you are testing the balljoint, wheel bearings, when you do it vertically you test wheels bears, tie rods, steering rack bushings, and control arm bushings and I think there are some things I'm leaving out but you can see why i couldn't tell you exactly what the problem is just by that test. you might have to take components off to test them if they are good or not.

The inner tie rods are the ones that usually go out. Mine have been replaced twice by the dealer, once under extended warranty (around 50,000 miles) and again under the lifetime service guarantee (around (130,000 or so). I replaced my rack since it was leaking bad last year, and the rebuilt $120 rack included new inner tie rods, so I'm on my third set. Mine were worn to the point of the rack clunking when the wheels were moved both times they were replaced. The dealer said that if they are not clunking, they would not replace them.

I went ahead and replaced everything in my front end at about 225,000 miles, and it is a lot tighter. It's amazing what you get used to over time. Although I didn't do the rack bushings since the replacements wouldn't fit, so I still need to do that.

Good luck!