Thudding/knocking noise drivers side front wheel, B5 Passat TDI?

[alpenweiss2]

Hello all.

I need your help. Living in rural France makes getting work done on our Passat more than a little challenging. There are few garages and virtually no decent ones. I am using a local community garage at which you can either work on your own vehicles or they have mechanics to do the work. I have found a French mechanic there who is really into VW's and Audis and seems to know his stuff.

Anyway the problem we have on our 1999 Passat is a knocking/thudding noise from the front drivers side wheel area. We had the wheel bearing replaced in April last year (at a different garage) and it was quiet for for a few months. However the noise has returned. We cannot go back to the old garage as we have moved away from that area and it is too far. Would a new bearing possibly fail so quickly?

Today I went to the community garage and they checked it over. The front drivers side wheel turns by hand but with some resistance/noise. They say it is about 2 -2.5 hours work to remove the hub and replace the bearing. I don't want to buy another bearing, pay for the work and for it not to be that?

Could it possibly be the driveshaft universal joint? The mechanic drove the car in circles on full lock in a carpark and there was no audible clicking from the joint? The garage doesn't seem to be 100% certain that it is the wheel bearing? They also checked the discs/pads and all seems okay?

The sound of thudding/knocking speeds up and slows down with the speed of the vehicle, which would indicate it's not a suspension part? Also the noise is very similar to when the bearing on the passenger side was faulty. Once replaced, that one was quiet. The same previous garage did the passenger side bearing too.

Just seems mad to me that a wheel bearing could fail in 8-9 months? Any thoughts?