After fitting new control arms and ball joints, I realized that the passenger side play was still pretty bad. rocking the wheel forward and backward revealed detectable looseness. Under the car I can see the movement in the Tie Rod end.

Unfortunately, this is not all. I tried tilting the wheel up and down and felt a similar level of play. This sort of movement supposed to be diagnostic of a bad ball joint. Unfortunately that is not the case here. I have a brand new ball joint and can see that the play is at the axle/hub assembly.

It looks like my el cheapo aftermarket CV Axles (purchased last year from eBay) may not be a perfect fit. It's way too late to get my money back.

I can confirm that the tie rod end is worn, but now I'm realizing that the problems and excessive tire wear seem to have started when I replaced the passenger side axle.

Due to the ill-fitting replacement boot from FCP, I can't reinstall the old EMPI axle either, so it looks like I may need to order another new set of QUALITY replacement CV axles.

I've e-mailed RAxles and compared prices on EMPI axles from a variety of sources.