Well, I went to the mechanic today to have them check the car out, and it turned out my rack and pinion was leaking. They replaced rack and pinion but couldnt do the alignment b/c im driving on a spare (tire i need are not in stock anywhere). It was way out of my budget to replace the axels, plus they are not making much noise yet, so i think that can wait. the boots actually were not ripped, so i think the axels might last a bit more. everything else was inspected and is seemingly ok. when i finally get my tire and go for alignment, ill see what happens

by the way, what exactly is the steering knuckle, where is it located?