Subaru Repair: 2001 Forester Noise In Rear, rear wheel bearings, noisy car

Question
Hi Nathan,
I've got a 2001 Forester automatic, 95K miles. There is a woooo, woooo, woooo type noise coming from the rear of the car. It has drums brakes FWIW. The noise is definitely speed related and not the engine. I have poor hearing so cannot tell for sure what kind of noise it is. I'm suspecting some type of bearing noise, maybe rear diff noise? Pretty pronounced noise although there is no feelings of grinding or anything that drastic. I run the tires at the max pressure, 41 in the rear. Tires are good, new at 83000. What can I check? I know I can't run the car with just the rear wheels off the ground. I'm mechanically proficient but don't want to spend 7~800 replacing axles if it's something else. Is the reaf diff known to get noisy? Car does still drive fine. This is not my daily driver, it is my wife's car. She said the noise started about a couple of weeks ago. Guess she planned to tell me after it fell apart on the road :-)

Answer
Hey Richard, get you wife to drive and get in the back of the car while going down the road try to isolate the noise to one side.  I would suspect wheel bearings, and for some reason I have replaced more left rear wheel bearings on all Subaru's.  I have not heard much noise from differentials or axles, but i would not rule it out without a test drive. Wheel bearings are tough to do without a few special tools, hope I could help!