Update * I couldn't stand to just sit here in front of the TV so I ran out to the garage and put the car on the lift (well - the back of the car anyway). I crawled under and turned the wheels by hand.

Everything turned clean and free. No sounds - no grinding - no sticky spots. Nothing.

So I put the car in neutral and spin the drive shaft - checking the carrier bearing. All good. The flex disk is starting to frey - good thing these are on thier way!

So I dropped the car and backed out of the garage. It sounded like the bumper was dragging behind the car. Literally! Awful sound.

I rolled up and down the drive way a couple of times. & drove down the street 1x just to see if it got better. It would come and go above 5 mph but it still was not a good sound.

So- back on the lift. Nothing - no sounds.

I climbed into the car & started it up. Put it in gear and spun it up to 50 mph. No bad sounds at all.

After all of this - I think its a wheel bearing on the rear drivers side. It seems to only have an angry fit under the weight of the car.

THoughts? Are these expensive and tough to change?