Inner tire wear

i have a 1999 pontiac grand prix V-6 3.8L with 172,092 miles on it and aslo have 20"wheels on it i recently notice on the tires that the inner tire was getting worn pretty bad so i took it to get align for the first time in 2yrs but the mechanic told me that i needed to replace the outer tie rod ends and that would fix the problem is that true? also my car makes a cracking noise everytime i come to a stop the noise will happen at accelaration and some times when im turning,the meachanic also told me that it was the hub berings accembly that i needed it is that true