So you believe the spindles are bent? That would take some doing. Anyone been pulling wheelies with that car?
A bent spindle definitely does create issues as it offsets the rotor between the caliper halves so there isn't room on one side for a full thickness brake pad. A worn set of pads will usually work for awhile if the spindle isn't too badly bent. If someone crammed new pads in there somehow I'm surprised you even made it a couple blocks.
The upper ball joint does look like GM. Looks like the GM one in my ERA that either uses a Chevrolet spindle or spindle built around GM specs (I forget which).
