My 'creaking', 'clunking' noise has gotten worse in the past year. I'm glad I found this post. For piece of mind, I paid Pep Boys $20 to lift it up and give their 2 cents on the issue. They've done other routine work for me at a decent price (blake fluid, oil, tire change, etc.) and their hours of operation (7 days) work better than some indy mechanics.

They found that the front left sway bar link needs replaced, but they also said my control arm ball joint has some play that is causing the noise I'm hearing.

Their price quote:
Control Arm: $137
Labor for Control Arm: $156
Sway Bar Link: $135
Labor for Sway Bar: $94
Alignment: $90

I'm going to start with ordering the sway bar links for $50 from any number of parts suppliers that i've found (I believe this to be part number 31356859651, right?). This looks like a fairly easy DIY. If there is still noise, then maybe the control arm ball joint is also causing an issue and I'll revisit this. Is there a good DIY on that replacement? And is an alignment necessary after doing that?

Also, can someone elaborate if the star socket I need is female T-40 (as pictured in this DIY)? When I search T-40 star socket, I'm only seeing male. Anyone have a link to the right one to use? I have an E-18 socket I used for other previous work, but that's too big.

It also appears I need a second wrench for this job (I only have one).