Q: My steering system is making noises, I don't know what the problem is

I when to a mechanic to get a wheel alignment done and he told me I needed tie rods. So he did them just a couple of weeks ago $550. , and yesterday I heard a loud clunking on the drivers side wheel. I felt like something was broken on the wheel. My mechanic looked at the car and couldn't tell me what the problem was, but fixed it, But said that the problem would come back as the car was old and the whole steering system needed to be replaced. Which would cost another $400 o $500 for parts, I think he pulling the wool over my eyes, or maybe they broke something trying to fix the car and now blaming it on the age of the car.

My car has 18500 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.