Okay folks, got an issue I'm trying to diagnose.

I've been having some wheel noise creep up. Its been happening for a little while now but is getting a little worse. Its a high pitch squeely sorta noise that happens when the van is moving. When the brakes are applied the sound changes (its still the squeely sound just the timing changes).

I got out of the van last night and felt the front wheels, they were warmer than the rears but not like I couldn't put my hand on them. And I was driving in hiot weather, form Philly to Wilmington and back, maybe 75mi.

So, at first I suspected wheel bearings but everything I read mentioned that they usually make lower rumbly sorta sounds. Also the I found a receipt in the glove box that showed the wheel bearings were replaced and packed less than 20k ago. So I never thought they would be an issue.

Then I saw in the FSM in the brake section that if you hear squeely noises while driving you should check this "wear indicater" thingy on the rotor, if its making contact then replace the pads.

Now I thought the pads were okay, the previous owner mentioned they were probably 40% or so but I did drive cross country fully loaded and have done maybe 7k since then.

I'd like to diagnose this without incurring an expensive shop fee. I can do the brake pads myself and may even try to tackle wheel bearings too, but I don't want to go just changing stuff out if its not the problem!

How do I verify the issue? Any leads?

thanks!

mark in Philly