Alignment- Dealer said that one tie rod is seized
 

How common is this problem? I went to the dealer to have an alignment done and they said that the left tie rod is seized. Is this something common or they are just trying to get more money from me (+$312 part and labor).
I went to have the alignment because the rears are worn out on the inner side to the strings (315s for 20k mi) and I am going to put new tires. The front tires look very good. Couldn't they just verify the front wheels alignment even with the tie rod seized? thanks in advance

Sure, they could verify the alignment, as long as you never turned the steering wheel. Get it changed, and ask them to save the part for you. If you don't trust them, find someone you do trust. Put another way, if you don't trust them to change a tie rod, why would you want them to set the alignment?

I did mine own tie rod for I think 80 bucks. It's a 30 minute job at the most. Look at Bavauto, Pelican Parts or ECS Tuning. It's two bolts that holds it together. Or pay $312.00

thanks guys. The tie rod had no play though and I think the front alignment was ok but I might be wrong. That's why I am asking your opinion. I do trust the dealer to do a good alignment and replacing the tie rod but I am not sure if I should trust the need for a new part. My experience with the bmw dealers wasn't that great. When I went a while back to get a diagnostic for a climate controller issue they gave me a a quote to replace all the heating and cooling system components including the auxiliary water pump. Thanks to this forum I learned that the auxiliary water pump failure is not a common problem on the x5 and I didn't change it. A similar one was when had a stuck caliper which made the car shaking when the the caliper was heating up they said that they have to replace all the front bushing. I fixed the shaking with $15 for a caliper repair kit. After this experience with two dealers I cannot trust their diagnostic anymore.

When a tie rod is seized on vehicles I have on the alignment rack all I usually need is a few shots of kroil and a big pipe wrench to break it free... But I'm also not in snow/road salts area so it may be much tougher up there from what I see.

I have had this issue too in the past - sometimes they can break them loose, sometimes they can't and have to replace them.

It's very common. Every spring i go for my alignment and each spring my tierods are seized and need heating up/extra labour for an alignment.

This spring i said screw it and i replaced the inner and outer tie rods on both sides, i will see how long they will last without seizing.

With our cdn winters its very hard to keep them workable!

I had this issue in the past . I have to removed the whole thing and cutted it in haft to save the boots...

OK. I got the car back with a $700 bill. Since they said that they couldn't finish the alignment because the seized tie rod and to do it myself would have taken probably another week or more I decided to let them replace it ($312). An Indy quoted me at $230 for it but they couldn't do it within the next week. They also charged me for a tie rod kit (boot and maybe something else) for $150 or so. With taxes and shop charges ended up at $680. I disputed the charges that I wasn't asked to agree on and I ended up paying $500 for the alignment and one tie rod replaced. The tie rod boots were in perfect shape before, I just assume they broke it when they replaced the tie rod. I guess this is my last trip to the dealer. Thank you all for your answers.

Here's the tech tip of the day for those of you that live in places with a real climate (vs. weather): When you get a new tie-rod, take it apart and put anti-sieze on the threads prior to installation. The next guy who has to deal with that part will thank you. Takes an extra 2 minutes per side and saves a ton of grief later.