My old beatup rotary started giving me symptoms similar to bad ball joints, I went to inspect them and they seem fine. However, I found this...not sure what this suspension part is called but when I move my passenger wheel it makes noise. Just looking for some insight on how bad of a concern this is.

I'm planning on rebuilding my entire suspension in the near future, just trying to decide if I can still drive car safely before than.

 

Idler Arm

The bushings in the part attached to the car go bad over time, a lot of the time due to the proximity to the exhaust. You can replace them easily or get an arm made by Moog that has ball joints on both ends. In the mean time drive carefully as if you had worn out joints.

 

+1 on the Moog idler arm. I replaced all my steering linkages with Moog parts (with the exception of the Pitman arm), and the steering has much improved over stock.

 

Yep, go for t he moog arm, rockauto has it. Way better and you will never have this issue again.

 

Much thanks to everyone.