Thanks guys. I've escalated to the dealership manager, who is holding the party line - it is a non-covered part, and I agreed to the $150 diag charge if the part wasn't covered. I was sure that it was a bearing (and my ESP says it covers f/r bearings) because when I first heard the noise, I was out-of-town and passed by the local Ford dealer, who was nice enough to send a tech to test drive the car, and the guy said it was definitely a bearing.
What was worse, is that the car went into the shop on Friday, was taken apart and not reassembled for me, so I was stuck without a car for the weekend...no offer of a loaner or rental...and barely an apology from the dealer. The extended warranty is simply a ripoff. If Ford cannot help me out with this, they've lost me as a customer...and I've put almost 300,000 miles on Fords between this Contour and my old 89 Escort GT (215,000 miles before clutch #2 went and I had to say bye bye...)
