Wonder which is worse....what was your symptoms on wheel bearing failure?

symptoms started as shuddering during hard braking, i thought gravel got trapped between the brake pads.

3 days later, it got worse, and there's a metal squealing sound coming from the wheel area whenever i brake. again, i thought something got trapped in the brakes and was rubbing against the brake disc. jacked up front wheel and try to move the wheel from side to side, there's no play at all, so i thought it wasn't bearings then.

on the final day, squealing sound started even without applying brakes about 2-3km before i reached office, and i limped the bike home that way before i took out the front wheel at home.

the bearing's internal metal cage was completely chewed up on the left side, and there still wasn't any play when i  try to move the wheel from side to side. it's only evident when the wheel is out and i checked it with my finger.

total distance travelled from tyre-change to bearing replacement: about 200km+

I've always done my pinchbolts up "guddentight".
No point in being anal about them as the ONLY job they do is prevent the axle from coming undone.
All the structural loading is through the axle itself.

If you'd forgotten to tighten the axle then you'd know about it as the wheel would be moving slightly left and right and it would feel like you were riding during an earthquake.