My cavvy makes some noise in the front end that I can hear when I steer. Its not an awful lot of noise but it concerns me because I think it may be the ball joints. However, I had this problem last year and a grease job took it away. It returned again starting this winter and the last place I had the oil changed seemed somewhat shady. Could it be possible that they never greased the front end, or is it likely a ball joint problem that was masked by a good grease job?

It is possible that it's a bad ball joint or your shady mechanic didn't do a proper lube job. Since you said that the lube to the ball joints took the noise away then it came back, its not anything to do with the steering rack because if it was a lube job wouldn't heal that noise... so id check the ball joints to see if they are worn out or just haven't been lubed properly.

No that is not probably the noise I cavaliers r the worst with front end noise it could be the swaybar bushings strut mounts porewsteering lne intermediate shaft these are the few most problems that make noises in a cavalier