OK. I took a look at the front suspension today. I found that I could rock the right front wheel, just a slight bit, when pushing against the sidewall at the twelve-o-clock position while on the ground, and while grabing the wheel at the twelve and six-o-clock positions in the air.
I checked the wheel bearing for proper adjustment (it had never been touched in 190k mi) and it wasn't far enough off to make a real difference. So I suspect it must be the lower ball joint. Again, the strut mounts are new and tight.
I did go ahead and replace the idler arm bushings, since they had never been replaced and I already had them on hand (plus it's a cake job on these 2.3 litre cars
) That seemed to have tightend up the steering just a bit, but did not solve my original problem.
Can anyone tell me if it's possible to R&R the lower ball joints without removing the entire lower control arm? I'd like to advoid having to take her in for an alignment if possible.