Gave the car its second wax and sealant of the year. I only do this twice a year as my drying technique tops up the wax layers (spray wax onto a wet drying towel to dry the car, adds the protection afterwards).
Remember the issues I was (and still am) having with the handling and alignment? Well something's happening to the car which is usually bad news, but is great news for me as it pin points what it is.
Under acceleration, the car is turning slightly left, and under deceleration, the car returns to steer right. This pretty much confirms that it's the alignment, and not loose ball joints. If it was loose bushes, the car would turn either left or right under acceleration/deceleration. This is consistent, with the car turning more left the harder I accelerate. It's subtle, but it's there.
I'm going to take it back to the alignment centre as I'm hoping that the alignment bolts weren't tightened properly, and I'm going to tell them to really tighten them up.
After that, I'll change the knocking front drop links, and the car's back to perfect mechanical condition.