94 Grand Am rumbling noise from right front

[hercmec1]

Getting a sort of rump, rump, rump noise all the time from the R/F axle/wheel bearing area. The noise is clearly audible when the car is run in gear on stands. It is worse in reverse with the wheels turned. I'm thinking CV joint, but the boots are intact. Do these go bad without the boots failing? The car has about 100K miles. The wheel bearing seems smooth with no slop in the hub.

[GTP Dad]

I would say your assesment is correct, the CV joint is probably going bad. And to answer your question the boots do not have to be bad for the joint to wear out. However, you may want to consider changing the bearing while you have it torn apart since it too could be going bad. Just because there is no slop in the bearing does not mean it is going bad too. And since you have the front end torn apart it is a good time to take care of it.