Pretty sure this might be a front wheel bearing issue...

[TRM]

...but would benefit from any insight here.

2007 Aero with 114k miles. The fronts are still on original pads and rotors because a good 90% of the mileage so far is highway miles.

I started experiencing a whirring noise and vibration in the steering wheel about a week ago. It went from being very faint for the morning drive in of about 70 miles and by the time I returned home for the evening commute it was so evident I had the car flat-bedded to the dealer thinking to continue driving it would result in catastrophic loss. I've since put another 200 miles on it after visiting the dealer and the noise has grown along with the vibration getting more evident.

With increased speed the whirring (like rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) increases in noise and vibration, but very little in pitch. Noise and vibration level off at about 75mph, probably due to wind noise, engine noise, and road vibrations competing with the whirring.

To characterize the noise a little better it almost sounds like a small, gas powered weed whacker. But nowhere near as loud.

I took it to the dealer (flat bedded as noted above)...they stated it should get new pads and resurface the rotors. They rejected my idea that it is a wheel bearing.

What I've tried to date that leads me to believe it is indeed a wheel bearing:

1. Coasting, in gear or out of gear does not change the noise & vibration
2. Braking softly or harshly from high speeds also does not change the noise and vibration
3. I put the car up on jacks and ran up to 3rd gear and 40mph on the speedo and the noise behaved just like it does when driving and front suspension is under full load*
4. Lastly, after reading a few other threads on here, I took the car out for an aggressive drive where I got up to speed so the noise and vibration were strong and then sharply swerved left and right to see if the noise and vibration changed as each side of the car was loaded and unloaded. There is a slight change, perhaps increase, in the noise and vibration when turning right sharply...leading me to believe it might be the driver's side wheel. But it was a very slight difference.

Thoughts?

* I wasn't sure what I might learn by doing this and not sure if it proved anything other than regardless of suspension load the noise is unchanged. Please note this is really unsafe as well and I managed to throw a bunch of warning lights for the stability control and ABS.

[TRM]

Definitely a wheel bearing. Driver's side front as I suspected. Amazingly the shop didnt recommend changing pads or rotors. I must have broken some kind of record for longevity of fronts.

[Wynnston]

They probably checked but I had a very similar issue recently. For me, there was a rock jammed between the brake dust shield thing and the inner side of the rotor.