My 2011 Outback has been getting a little loosey-goosey in the front end. I replaced the struts and that helped, but there's still some looseness. The sway bar end links don't look to be in great shape, so I'm going to replace those next. I was hoping to stiffen up the ride a little with a performance upgrade, but it's a family wagon so nothing radical or too expensive. I notice there is a big jump in price to get adjustable end links, but I think that's a little fancier than I need. Is there a happy medium, maybe some poly end links that are better than the OEM, but not as fancy as adjustable end links?

Secondly, when I have the front end up on jackstands, I don't have any way to recreate the road conditions that lead to the clunks and clanking that I hear when I go over bumps. If there's play in the tie rod ends or ball joints I can find that, but I don't know how to diagnose things like control arm bushings or sway bar mounts. If replacing the end links doesn't fix the looseness, how am I supposed to diagnose the remaining problems?

lower ball joints can be checked with it on the ground alot easier. u get a pry bar between the a arm near the ball joint and pry down on the a arm if theres play u should see it in the ball joint. as far as the rear a arm bushings im not sure a great way to check those ... could try kicking the tire twared the back and if it moves alot assume its bad? i replaced both my a arm bushings chasing a shake and it helped alot even thogh they looked fine. assuming the newer outbacks use the same setup as the 2001

The front sway bar bushings may be tired and causing some muffled clunky rattling. 
 

We had that on one of our old Foresters. A cheap and easy fix if you are lucky.