Thanks for the comments. I had a worsening vibration, which apparently coincided with the new rattle. It was indeed the accessory belt tensioner, so that was replaced as was the damper. However, I still have a vibration above 50-60. The tires have been balanced before with no change, so maybe the Continentals just suck THAT BAD. They are only 15k miles old and I hate to buy new ones right now though. As for the "looseness," the shop foreman seems to think it could be alignment. I don't feel the car pulling, but there is more play in the steering wheel than in other cars I have owned, and it may not be noticeable. In other cars I have owned when it WAS out of alignment, they did exhibit poorer handling characteristics, so hopefully this isn't a line of BS. The foreman also says if there was a steering problem, the rack would be leaking. As for the trans, he says they took a fluid sample last time prior to changing it, and there was no metal in the trans and the fluid was totally clean. Interestingly, he also says the only failure point is the conductor plate, which has been replaced, and that "you can pour motor oil in these transmissions and you can't kill them. lol. FYI, the #1 indie shop in town said they have had fewer problems with the 722.6 than they expected. Both sources agree that the 4cyl cars almost never cause enough stress to kill these transmissions, as it is designed for everything up to the V12. My optimism like to say at 75k, if it was defective, it would have been dead years ago. Either way, the indie will be getting my car at 90k for service, at which time I'll have them comb over it for anything they recommend MBUSA replace.