Strange noises.

1992 suzuki swift 1.3L SOHC GS 4 door, 3 speed automatic.
There are some rattling, slipping, and grating noises coming from the driveline/suspension/steering. Its very intermiddent and comes and goes. There are some consistencies however, like when it shows up as i'm sitting still at a light with my car in drive and the brakes applied;if I shift into neutral the noise stops or quiets considerably. The transmission doesnt shift poorly, and the fluid is good. There are also some other symptoms, like poor handling past 45mph on the freeway (its actually gotten quite scary!), And the front left tire is getting eaten up quite quickly, with scalloping marks on it.I will be getting 4 new tires and alignment soon, but like I said this noise comes and goes even when the vehicle is sitting at the light or when it is going down the road. Any help as to what sounds like may be the problem or where I should start looking would be super.