are cracked.  Mechanic said replace them when tie rod ends are bad and need replaced.

So, (1) how do I know when the tie rod ends are bad, and (2) won't cracked boots contribute to them going bad sooner?  Can I replace the boots only?  There seems to be no problem with steering or suspension.  I had the thing aligned last time I bought tires (20K miles ago), and the tech did not mention any difficulty with the alignment.

I looked for tie rod end boots from a couple of vendors, but one had nothing relating to tie rods, and one had only a kit including the rest of the parts.

mcneely