Hmmm ... just went out to check. I do in fact have about 1/32" of vertical play that I had never noticed before (even on our crappy roads - maybe the rest of the car rattles enough to cover it up) but that I will probably always notice from now on. Thanks a lot pal!!!
Well, that answers the question what type of bearing / bushing is in there. Now I've got to disassemble the thing - as if my high quality german-engineered WunderAuto didn't have enough repair needs ...