Wheel Bearings Again

[husker boxster]

Ol Blue, my previous 01 Boxster S had a bad wheel bearing. The service tech asked me if I knew it was bad. I said no I wasn't aware of that. The car had approx 31K mi at the time (why would a wheel bearing go bad that soon?). It hadn't been making any "strange" sounds to me since I bought it (had 15K mi on it at purchase). Since Ol Blue was the only Box I ever drove, I didn't know that sound was unusual. Would I knowingly drive a car 16K mi with a bad bearing? No. But you probably aren't going to go up in a ball of flames if you don't fix it immediately.