Wheel Bearing

What is the check for a bad wheel bearing?? I've heard of lifting the car and rocking the wheel top to bottom - movement indicates bearing issues. I had a garage tell me the bearings on my 2000 GA were bad. I can hear a bit of grinding when spinning the wheel but there is no rocking.

Just take the car down the road with a passenger, and have the passenger move around in the car while driving, listening at each corner. If one of your bearings is bad or dimpled, you should hear a rumble / roar pulsating at certain speeds. By listening around, they should be able to tell which corner it's coming from.

ya we can hear a bit of a growl but it still bugs me that there's no wobble.

No it would only wobble if it were REALLY bad. The rumbling is caused by the sleeves of the bearing being slightly dimpled from a shock or whatever it was that caused it to go bad. It is only noticeable when the wheel is spinning fast enough to generate the right vibration / frequency to cause the rumbling. If it were actually bad enough that you could wobble the wheel or something to that extent, it would be so bad that after you started moving the wheel would seize up.