Road feel and steering vagueness

My 1997 ford taurus v6 3 liter has 138000 miles on it. I have center vagueness on the steering and I can feel every single thing on the road. I took it to a place to do a diagnostic and they told me both front tie rod ends and one front sway bar had play, so would have to replace. I agree that those would fix my steering vagueness and the occasional skid, but they don't know what's causing the road feel.

Now, I don't want to go spend $400 on my car and have my problem still there. Any ideas? What would be causing the full road feel? What can I do to soften the ride?