Last week I replaced both rear upper ball joints. The old ones were totally shot. Over the weekend I did four hours of highway driving in both light, and medium rain. Between the new ball joints and the new tires my car’s wet handling has greatly improved. My car used to move around the lane a bit, but it now it seems to be tracking very straight, with minimal steering effort needed. Most of the rear suspension noises are still present, the bushings seem to squeak a lot. There is one high pitched noise that I think is gone since the ball joints were replaced, but I usually only hear that one with the windows open and the radio off, which is something I haven’t been doing much lately.
The last several times I’ve gotten gas my car has averaged 34mpg. My car is so much cooler than most of the other cars on the road. ;-)