I've just ordered the Toyota star-shaped part on amayama, it'll take a few weeks to get here. Will keep you posted of what I do next ;-)

Hey everyone! The new part arrived yesterday and I did the install last night.

It's a bit of a PITA, especially on an EU market car (I'll explain on the main thread), but it seems to have cured my issue.

The old star wasn't particularly in bad shape, it had just started disaggregating, which seems to concur with Ultramaroon's idea that the problem was at an early stage.

https://i.ibb.co/d43n9ZB/IMG-0152.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Kw5yrJD/IMG-0154.jpg

You'll tell us if it was a miss, yeah? Hoping that nailed it.

Yeah, I was waiting for an opportunity to put some miles on the car before reporting back.

So far, it looks like the issue is indeed solved. I haven't heard the dreaded rattle in a while, despite driving several times over the nasty bit of road that used to trigger it.