wheel bearings? (W202)

[MarkC]

We recently bought a 98 C280 with 74K miles which my wife uses as a commuter car. I drove it for the first time since the purchase up to about 40mph (test drove it a couple of months back...The car has been used infrequently for a good 6 months as it sat at a used car lot) and noticed a rumbling/thumping noise/feeling from the front (mostly right side). Also at low speed, there is a feeling of something dragging (as in a brake) and teh steering is a bit heavy. My wife has probably put about 500 miles or so on it so far so the tires should not have any flat spots from sitting. Tire pressure set at factory settings and the tire condition is close to new. I suspect the wheel bearings, but haven't ruled out a bent wheel or damaged/out of balanced tire (later two perhaps are not so likely, as the tires probably have less than 5K miles on them).

Anyone have wheel bearings go bad at these miles? What's the best way to check the wheel bearings?

TIA MarkC