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First, don't trust what places like Midas or PepBoys have to say. Find yourself a place that specializes in Volvos and develop a relationship with the owner. Also, get the Bentley shop guide so you can at least double check these diagnoses, if not do them yourself. I figure if I can do it, prety much anyone can.
Second, get some good parts sources. I use the chain stores for little things like lightbulbs and electrical connectors, and for things I need in a hurry, especially if they carry decent name brands, but be very careful of what brant of parts you're getting from places like Advance and NAPA. You'll want to ride on those balljoints for several years to come, so they better be good ones.
That said, an '89 is old enough to need tierods, but 116,000 miles, IMO, is a little on the early side, unless it was driven hard. So it's altogether possible. Actually, you're going through much the same experience I did recently. I did my ball joints (Moog from FCP), and went in to a shop I trust to do the alignment, only to be told they wouldn't do it because I needed inner and outer tierods and a wheel bearing adjustment (is that done by a chiropractor?).
I'd be surprised at the inner tierods needing to be done, but not the outers, unless the outer tierods have been previously replaced. Definitely, do the boots. For only eight bucks a pair, you might as well. The sticker you looked at should be conclusive for type, but you can also see that, on the Camgear rack, the boot has a hole only as large as the tierod itself. The ZF rack has a hole in the end about the size of a quarter.
I can't see why bad tierods would eat up your new balljoints. In fact, they don't even need to come off to do the work. But bad tierods and/or misalignment will chew through tire tread life at an alarming rate, so get it done soon. And definitely check those front suspension bushings. Pops and clunks could be due to those, too. If you really want to stay out of the front suspension for a while, and you don't mind paying for it, you might as well get it done.
By the way, I like the quad round headlights. I'm hoping to something similar.
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'90 240DL Wagon 'Lola' -- '72 1800ES 'Galadriel'
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