need help to diagnose my 2007 fusion

[at8once]

2007 Ford Fusion 3.0L Awd, 118,000Kms

hoping someone here can help diagnose my car..need to travel tomorrow for a death in the family but also don't want to break down half way there.

About 4 months ago i got into a decent fender bender on my front right wheel/fender area.. it was repaired and since drove like nothing ever happened.

a few days days ago i was driving then out the blue had a strange grinding noise with somewhat of a strange whistle sound coming from that area.. it occurred while driving approx 60kmh(40mph) straight, not braking, turning or anything like that.

The car drives straight, doesn't wobble. just that noise.

After parking it then going back out it stopped. i wanted to try and recreate the noise... couldn't figure it out as the noise doesn't always occur. reoccurred slightly again yesterday while driving very slow. sometimes the grinding is not noticeable and its more of a dull whistle. for about 2 seconds when i applied the brakes at one point the grinding stopped.

took my wheel off and caliper... took a peak at my brakes and such. everything looked good, they were changed this past summer.

revved the engine, couldn't hear anything abnormal, checked oil and fluids everywhere.

checked battery terminals thinking maybe alternator was acting up..again seems ok.

I called the garage that fixed my car and they said that some of the areas components were replaced but they did not replace the wheel bearing. so i did the only thing i knew and was to jack up the car and try and wobble the tire for play. it was tight..plus it drives straight, no shaking or wobbling so "assuming" it wasn't that..

since the first time i heard the noise, i drove it approximately 25miles. did some hard turns, drove fast, slow. other then the noise it doesn't seem to affect the car.

My issue is if it is the wheel bearing, i don't want to be driving on a major hwy when my tire decides to fall off. The mechanic at the garage told me its possible the bearing is starting to fail... (i thought its either good or its not and theres no middle)

I was thinking of jacking the car up on all 4's, sticking it in drive and seeing if i can find the exact area the noise is coming from.. but again even that wouldn't necessarily tell me whats wrong as there would be no load on the tires.

any ideas of what i can do or advice?