Nothing visually for the wheel bearings. Usually, they will go noisy and give you a whine or a drone when driving down the road, and become worse/better depending what way you turn. Sometimes, the odd time, they will develop some play in them, but they would be noisy for sure if that was the case.
If you have some suspension/alignment issues, the first thing to look at is tire ware. Run the palm of your hand around the inner and outer edge of the tread, both in the direction of travel, and opposite direction of travel, feeling for feathering/abnormalities. Check the ware of the tread, and make sure it is wearing evenly, and not scrubbing the inner or outer edge of the tire off.
My green 2 door is out of line, its wearing the outer edge off the right front tire real bad.. which leads me to believe I have a camber issue. It is extreemly noticable when you look at the rear tire, then the front. A simple alignment check would prove that.
If you have a toe issue, you would notice a pull when driving down the road. You might also see some feathering across the whole width of the tread.
Just a recap, toe alignment is where the front of the tires point inward or outward.
Camber is where, if you were standing directly over the tire, the top of the tire leans inwards or outwards
Your worn tie rod ends would cause your toe alignment to fluctuate in and out, and would eventually, if left unattended, would cause some feathering of the tread.
You SHOULD get your alignment checked if you had to do any suspension work or replaced tie rod ends. The whole counting turns thing is just a "rough guess" kind of thing.
Jay