2 problems

[jonlax]

I just purchased a 1999 explorer sport from a New car dealership. It was a ford dealership too and passed all of their inspections that they do on all used cars they have. After about a week of driving (175 miles) I have noticed two things that I did not notice while test driving it. The first thing would be a constant thumping noise coming from the front of the truck from 20 MPH - 55 MPH then the noise is still present but faded away. I would think it is the tires but I have a suspicion of it being the front axles since I had problems on my old acura that sounded the same. I did some searches and others had the same noise and it was from the tires.

My next worry would be the brakes. Every time or almost every time with an exception of a few times at the end of the stop it would feel like the rear axle was rocking or had play in it. It would stop and have a clanking noise coming from the under carriage. When the truck would stop it would always move a little after the stop (less then an inch). This makes me mad that something with 80,000 on it would be feeling like **** while driving. This problem would get worse when I had people in the car. Everyone would feel it and would ask me if this truck was safe. PLEASE HELP!!!

Thanks, Jon

Edit: Also on cold mornings it will take about 9-12 seconds to start it up. is this normal or is it just me?