It's not twist you're worried about. It's lateral slop that makes things loose in the steering system. To find this slop, I generally have somebody sit in the vehicle and gently rock the steering wheel back and forth while somebody else looks at all the steering joints to see if one side of the joint moves before the other (if the pitman arm moves before the drag link begins to move, for example). With a good tie rod end, they will both begin to move at exactly the same time.
Of course, with power steering, the vehicle should be idling and the wheels chocked so you don't get yourself killed.
Having said all that, by your description of the symptoms, it sounds more like warped brake rotors, not bad tie rod ends.