Picked up a '92 940 over a year ago with 87,000 original miles for $1,400. Quite a steal, I thought at the time. Mechanically, the engine is strong and the body/interior are in pretty decent shape. But it has this puzzling problem with the passenger side front wheel:

It's always had a lot of play going back and forth in line with the car, (ie when kicked or removing lugnuts), but not from side to side (ie steering). The car drives smooth, but has a tendency to drift to the right, especially when braking - steering wheel will jerk to the right when the brakes bite. Passenger side front rotor is more worn than the driver's side, which leads me to suspect a sticking caliper - but every time I've checked it out, it's been fine. A couple of months ago, I discovered that the inside edge of the tire in question was almost completely bald - which led to new ball joints and front struts, new front tires, balancing and an alignment. When I originally bought the car, I had the control arm bushings replaced on that side too, which was thought to be the source of the problem. Yet it still persists, and now I'm getting a healthy steering wheel shimmy upon initial braking, which points to (I think) to a warped rotor. The car recently passed inspection with flying colors, which makes things even more uncertain.

So now I'm really confused! I know this wheel shouldn't still be this sloppy, especially considering all the work that was just done on the car (and yes, I did check underneath to confirm that struts/ball joints were actually new!) Assuming I have a sometimes sticking caliper and warped rotor, which I can easily replace, does anyone know what else could cause this wheel to be so mushy? Are there other bushings which could cause this much play and be a potential safety issue - even though technically it just passed the New York safety inspection?

Sorry for the long post - pretty stumped at this point!