What's a bad front wheel bearing sound like?

[sisyphus]

This is on my A4 Jetta, 260k+miles.
I was driving home the other day and noticed the tell-tale vibrations of a bad CV joint and found the inner one to be bad by crawling under the car and rocking the front wheel back and forth; I could feel a clicking noise coming from it. I just finished replacing it today; vibration is gone but there's still a loud noise coming from the same wheel.
Some of the racket pre-bad CV joint is still present, but I'm wondering if the bearing is bad. When I begin braking there's a noise that sounds like a propeller from under water, like a swishing noise. In turns at speed I hear a moaning, louder going around right-handers than left. I can't imagine the inner CV joint would have gone bad at the same time, but wheel bearings can sneak up on you.
Could I remove the wheel and check runout with a dial indicator? Or should I just pull the trigger on a front wheel bearing and plan on dealing with that next weekend?

 

[slamhouse]

A cv joint will either click or knock under acceleration or engine braking when loading the joint. A wheel bearing likes to sound like gravel in the bearing or a wheel speed dependant knocking under turning conditions when loading the bearing.

 

[sisyphus]

Huh. I'm stumped, then. I'm still leaning toward bearing. I might go back in there. AFAIK the bearings themselves are original. I bought the car with 100k miles on it.
OTOH, my LCA bushings are going. I wonder if that could be related.

 

[slamhouse]

Is it a wheel speed consistent noise?

 

[Tdijarhead]

Often the noise will change in intensity when you turn the steering wheel one way or another. If you have a manual transmission you can jack it up, put it in neutral and spin the tires, if it's bad you'll be able to hear it. You can also grab the tire at the 12 and 6 o'clock position and attempt to move it in and out, any slop is an indication of a bad bearing.

 

[Ol'Rattler]

Correct. While driving, the sound from a wheel bearing will change with slight movements of the wheel from center.

 

[sisyphus]

I wouldn't say wheel speed consistent because I only hear it at about 55-60. Louder at higher speeds. I also hear that noise when I start braking, that's louder than the other noises, more of a woo-ing noise. It's really weird.