Success! (tie rods part 2)
I had the inner & outer tie rods overnighted from Mazdacomp yesterday, and they showed up about 9 this morning. So instead of going to class I decided to put them in.
Turns out the driver's side inner tie rod was really bad - like, I could slightly wiggle the ball in the socket with my hand bad. :?
There wasn't any blatant play in either of the outer rods or the passenger side inner (not that I could tell, anyway), but I went ahead and replaced them all anyway. Topped it off with a visit to Peterson's for another alignment, and that seems to have solved the problem. :mrgreen:
Now I'm really ready for Saturday! :cheers: