Alignment issue? CV Joint?

[Rob Beatty]

Ok I am stumped.  Here is the problem.  Had new snow tires put on my 95 A6Q
sedan and while they were doing that, they were suppose to do a 4 wheel
alignment.  After new tires were put on, I discovered that at highway speeds
(55mph or higher) that when I turn the wheel to the left for a sweeping
turn, I get a tremendous shudder/vibration.  It literally feels like the
wheel is going to shoot off the car.  If I straighten the wheel the shudder
goes away.  Completely.  For sweeping turns to the right, no
shudder/vibration at all.  It also feels like it's the right hand front
wheel that's shuddering, but obviously I can't be completely certain of
that.

 

Further complicating matters when I brought it back to the tire place
(actually a different one, it's a chain store and this one was near work),
they said I had worn out inner tie rod ends.  They also asked if I had
gotten any paperwork when I had 1st picked the car up.  I had, but I had
never looked at it and the guy didn't say anything to me when they handed me
the keys.  I was in a hurry and didn't get around to looking at it.  So I
look at it and it says tie rod adjustments frozen, and that the outer tie
rod ends are worn out and should be replaced.

 

So I have a couple of questions.

 

1.	The inner "end" isn't really a joint, its just a rubber bushing so
what the hell was the 1st guy talking about?  Did he just confuse inner with
outer?
2.	I just jacked the car up and rocked the right front wheel back and
forth and there is a decent amount of play in that tie rod end.  Could that
be my culprit?
3.	If it is the tie rod end, why isn't it a problem at lower speeds and
why only when turning to the left?
4.	Is it worth trying to unfreeze the adjustments with a couple of days
worth of penetrating oil or should I just bite the bullet and buy whole new
rods?
5.	If its not the tie rod end, could it be my CV joint on that side
being really bad?

 

Thanks!

 

Rob