Personally I'd do the whole thing if I were you, if it was the outer I'd just that. Either way it will have to be aligned.

 

I'd replace both sides, whole assemblies, and the boots also...

 

Agree with doing both sides. Why get it aligned twice? I'd use whole assembly to start with all new threads. 600+ miles. Yikes. How are the brake lines?

 

The inner tie rods are not sold separately (outers are), so not sure you even have a choice! Inners don***8217;t really go bad unless they get pitted badly when a boot fails and is not repaired. Others have the ball joint that weaken over time.

 

Change them all and buy new rubber boots, as you dont want to do same work twice.

 

excellent advice all thanks as always. Will see if my local shop has boots. I think right side is done already. so will do entire left side and boot. Today is last warm day for a week here in southeast pa better get cracking!!! no garage but i do have garage canopy so at least i stay dry. cold, but dry.

 

FYI the new style boots are 2-piece, with a rubber collar piece that fits around the tie rod shaft and a separate bellows, the idea being that if needed, you could replace the boots without separating the tie rod halves.

 

The whole tie rod. Always.

 

Thanks i guess i'm doin inner and outer together.

 

690K miles on an E46?

You are the champ!!!

 

Cracking Noise when accelerating

Hello Guys.. Anyone who experienced hearing cracking/rattling noise when accelerating from low speed. The location seems to be in the middle of the car. Anyway, my ride is e46 320i M-Sports (2001) with 66Kmiles.
Likewise, after staring the engine, I can hear a roaring sound (rough) that will last for 10minutes right after the engine gets hot..

 

Hello Guys.. Anyone who experienced hearing cracking/rattling noise when accelerating from low speed. The location seems to be in the middle of the car. Anyway, my ride is e46 320i M-Sports (2001) with 66Kmiles.
Likewise, after staring the engine, I can hear a roaring sound (rough) that will last for 10minutes right after the engine gets hot..

You should start your own thread.

The roaring could be your fan coming on. Are you warming up the car while idling? If so, it has to come on to cool your engine.

If it's roaring while you're driving, then it sounds like you need to do some cooling system work (if I'm right and it's the fan you're hearing).

 

I disagree. The outers are where the real problem lies most of the time. If your bellows are in good condition I see no reason to replace the inners.

 

I always replace the part that's bad, and leave the rest.

BUT

I do my own work, and enjoy it. Including alignment.
So if the outer dies in another 25k,
it's no biggie to do that next.

I find that the BMW outer tie rod ends last approximately forever.
The inners maybe 150k.

t
pays a LOT of attention to which brands he buys these days...

 

thanks. I bought meyle i love all their suspension parts especially meyle HD. and i sub out with the M3 part when i can. the ride is stiffer but i get more miles out of the parts.

 

just to follow up here i replaced entire tie rod assembly. Not too bad i been wrenchin 30 years so it should be . for sure get alignment right away my front tires were facing opposite ways, not by alot, no vibrations while driving but it was still bad. goin around corners at plus 25mph felt like i was "losing it" pretty bad.