outer tie rods are very common to go on our cars, I had a ton of play in mine at 45k miles.
to check them yourself jack the front of the car off the ground and have somebody shake the wheel side to side while holding in the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock position. you can feel and watch to see if the movement is in the outer tie rod end where it connects to the knucle or in the inner tie rod ( the rod the extends from the rack to the outer tie rods
