Noisy ... wheel bearings?

[David Conner]

Fred,
I have a problem that seems like it could be wheel bearing noise, on an 89
100 fwd w/130k miles on it.
The reason I'm writing to you is because I think you wrote of curing a
problem like this by tightening the axle bolts/nuts beyond the factory spec. 

A little background ... I rebuilt the front end of this car, so everything
was apart .... replaced subframe bushings, struts, control arm bushings,
new CV boots, etc., but not wheel bearings.  Axle nuts were torqued to spec
of about 200 ft lbs.

Afterward I was hearing noise that seemed like it was from the left
(driver) side front wheel.  It wasn't real bad, but annoying mostly on
gradual curves to the right, especially like a freeway exit.  The noise is
a low pitched grinding sort of sound that varies with the speed of wheel
rotation I checked everyhting out and decided it was the wheel bearing.
Replaced the wheel bearing (SKF) myself and ruined it so then I really had
noise.  Very carefully replaced the wheel bearing a second time (SKF), and
I'm pretty sure I did it right, but the original noise was still there.
This all started last year so I've had lots of time to rule out various
possibilities. 

 I'm sure it's not tires because I've had three different sets of
wheels/tires on the car and the noise remains with all of them. 

I thought it might be related to the brakes... I had all four rotors turned
and the noise remained.  

Several weeks ago I replaced the front rotors with new ATE, new pads, and
took apart the front calipers, cleaned and replaced the seals, lubed guide
pins, etc.  At first the noise was gone and I thought "Aha!  It was a
damaged (bent?) brake rotor!", but within a week or so the noise crept back
to it's old level.  Then over the next few weeks it got worse, got louder
and began to emanate from both sides.  

Today I began anew to search for an answer.  First I inspected everything
on the front suspension and wheels ... everything looks OK, no abnormal
play anywhere.  Then I remembered someone (Fred Munro?) on the Q-list once
wrote their wheel bearings were noisy unless they tightened the axle bolts
way beyond the factory spec.  So I started playing with the two foot
breaker bar.  The fwd cars use axle nuts instead of the bolts found on many
of the Q's.  Torque spec on the nut is 207 ft lbs.  I tightened both sides
to about 300 ft lbs and the right side noise went away, and the left side
noise decreased.  I tightened the left side further, to about 350 - 400.
Maybe the noise decreased slightly, but it's still there.  Bottom line is
it looks like I got rid of most of the noise with the increased torque, but
not all of it.  I still get a little left side noise on right turns.
So now what? 
I'm considering replacing the wheel bearing a third time.
I wonder if the axle nut can be so tight it would damage something?
The right side wheel bearing is still the original, btw.

Does anybody know how I can get rid of this noise? 
 It's my wife's car and she expects it to be perfect. Any help will be
appreciated.
Dave C.