I went to have my car aligned this morning (after replacing springs, rear lower control arms, and sway-bar end-links) and discovered I need a new right outer tie rod. The shop, who knows Minis, said they've never seen a failure - especially at just 80,000 km. He showed it to me, and there's at least a half inch of play where it meets the steering knuckle (I think it's the steering knuckle...), and probably two inches of wobble at the tire, which I somehow had not noticed.

Luckily it's not too expensive - C$220 including parts, labour, and the alignment I originally went in for. Anyone else had issues with these? I've had an OEM replacement ordered, but is there a performance part I should be considering?