After a couple of months of a noticeable and increasing rumble/whine at varying speeds I decided to replace my front wheel bearings. Bought them from David Manners - OEM parts. They were on back order but arrived within a week. As it was a lovely day today I got up early(ish) and set to. First problem - didn't have a size 55 Torx driver so off to the local tool shop to get one. 2 of the bolts holding the hub to the vertical link are Torx and 2 are hex. head - why the difference, they were the same size thread and length? Second problem - the hub was seized into the vertical link. Extensive use of fox wedges and penetrant ensued plus a few hefty thumps on the hub and finally the hub came free. The vertical link bore was heavily corroded so this was cleaned out, the damage caused by the wedges fettled up, new hubs smeared with grease and in they went. Had a good look at the pads and discs and decided they were good for another 12k miles or so.

On start up I got a message "ABS Fault" which cleared after a minute - I guess because the callipers had been off and/or rotation sensors had been disconnected.

Went for a quick spin down the local dual carriageway and it was bliss. Sunny afternoon, no rumble or whine and I am a happy bunny again driving a peaceful, comfortable motor.

However, car has only done 57,000 miles so this was a job I had to do a lot earlier than I would have expected.