I agree, tie-rods would be my first guess.

On the other hand, pretty much everything you could see spread out in front of the car can somehow cause a lousy stearing.

But start with the tie-rods, they are the cheapest to replace.

BTW: My girlfriend asked her local Mercedes shop in Austria how much the wheel alignment on her W 116 would cost.

They replied: "Oh, these old cars! That would be, without seeing the car, about $ 200. Probably the tie-rods are shot at those car, this will end up at around $ 500".

Well, she told him her opinion about ripping people after we got the wheels aligned for $ 50 and after we replaced one tie-rod for $ 30.

It is such a disgrace how some of the workshops try to treat people.

Kind regards
Eberhard