Well tonight after work I was under my 99 XJR with a whole laundry list in front of me. I decided to start at the front and while I was waiting for the oil to drain started looking at the suspension. I have shocks and upper bushing plates ready to go but figured I'd look everything else over. I found a lower sway bar bushing that's completely gone so both links will go on the list but then I noticed my outer tie rod boot was toast. Moving on to the lower ball joint that was in the same sad state.
I'll need to get the front end up with weight off the wheel to see if I have any play but I was wondering if this is something that might just need a new boot or if a torn or worn boot really means I need to replace the joints. Does anyone sell the boots? Where would you go for tie rod ends and ball joints if the whole part needs to be replaced?
I've read the posts about grinding the upper lip off the ball joint and using a press to remove and replace so I'm not looking forward to that job but I don't even want to know what a shop would get.

 

I remember seeing a guy selling kits that included boots on E-Bay a while back, sorry no recall on the seller's name.

Godspeed

 

If your over 10 yrs old, I'd replace as much as I could afford. Tie rod ends are fairly cheap, as are the sway bar bushings, both are easy to replace. I'd replace the tie rods for 2 reasons, you state torn boots, that means exposure and accelerated deterioration...the 2nd reason is they are not greasable and with exposure what little was there is now gone.