[speedyspaghetti]

Hey everyone.

So I posted here a while back about some strange vibration and sloppy steering from my 02 986S (85k miles, bought it at 78k). Anyway, the consensus was get to an alignment shop and look at tie rods. I ended up bringing to a Porsche specialist here in the Bay Area. A week and probably too much money later he did a full diagnostic of the car down to every single last detail... I really just wanted to find out what was wrong with my suspension, but it is nice to kind of have a laundry list of things to address slowly.

What he noted (pertaining to suspension) was:
Tie rods (inner and outer) were shot
Rear trailing arms shot
Shocks shot (only passenger right is leaking, but he thinks they're all pretty beat - passenger front is missing bump stop)
Strut mounts are bad

So, I decided to tackle the work myself because I was sick of paying someone to not fix the problem - I had brought into my usual Porsche place, they said they couldn't feel anything and sent me on my way. I took it to another place, they recommended changing the tires and balancing them - which I did with Continental ExtremeContacts (PSI is 29 front, 36 rear) - didn't solve the problem, and then this last guy.

I bought OEM inner and outer tie rods and front swaybar endlinks and changed those out over the weekend. Yesterday, I took the car to a highly recommended alignment shop and got it all aligned.

The steering feels a bit tighter than before, but I can still feel vagueness or sloppiness in it. It's kind of hard to explain, but it feels like I turn the wheel off of center, and then a half second later the car responds. It kind of feels like its rolling over on itself / swaying, but if I take a turn sharply it feels fine, grips and makes the turn, it just doesn't feel stable/planted in a straight line.

I also still feel this frustrating and annoying vibration/rapid clunk through my steering wheel/front wheels.

I'm really not sure where to go from here. I have considered the engine mount being bad, but I don't know if that would really cause the problem. I know the struts/strut mounts are worn, but would it really cause a problem like this? Any support would be greatly greatly appreciated. Also, if there's anyone in the Bay Area with some experience who would be willing to go on a short drive with me and the car to see if they can feel it as well or shed more light on what it might be, I would be 100% down and willing to compensate with beer/food/money or whatever.

Thank you guys again.