I'll be getting the car up on jackstands at a friend's house this weekend (all I have is a driveway, he's got a garage) to poke things and see what jiggles that ought not jiggle, what metal-metal contact is being made that shouldn't be, and so forth. I think I've got a great list of what to look for from you guys, and it sounds like there are probably some parts I should be replacing regardless of whether they're the source of the racket, like all of my balljointed steering rods, since I've got so much damned slack at the helm. I have a ball joint fork I accidentally stolebought from O'Reilly tool rental for just such an occasion (if you forget to return a rented tool for a long time, they'll just buy a new one and the rented tool becomes yours -- found that out the hard way).

We had rain this morning around here during commute time, which really highlighted my need for new tires . I've got tread, but they are ooooold and hard. Every corner was an opportunity for oversteer with just a bit extra throttle. Every pull away from a stop light was wheel spinning affair, and for a moment on an uphill I was afraid I wouldn't be able to move forward at until the upshift to second reduced torque and gave me a bit of traction.

I have been putting off new tires until I find the source of this racket, in case it's a devastatingly worn suspension bit that will ruin the new set of tires in a few thousand miles with uneven wear.