OK, got the front wheels up & attempted to shake them to check for bad bearings. Looks like the hubs are solid, ALTHOUGH when I attempted to rotate each front wheel (one front in the air & the other on the ground) I got some clicking sounds and feelings for the 5-10 degrees or so of rotation I could perform while the other wheel doesn't move. So I don't think its a bad bearing, so I am now officially stumped.
Timeline repeated for brevity:
1) Black Friday, November: new tires. Nothing but improvement, excepting for the continual swaybar knocking that I've had for quite some time.
2) January: new front brakes, end links and swaybar bushings. Almost immediately the RF bushing resumed knocking...but continued observation revealed that the knocking ONLY occurs when either accelerating or when on-throttle. Even so, the knocking only occurs over uneven surfaces as if it was the bad swaybar bushings, but those knock over ALL uneven surface conditions, including of-throttle and deceleration.
3) August: A new sound - the one that brought about this new thread. When departing, one backs the car out of the driveway and turns in the direction of travel and shifts into 1st gear. As the car begins moving in a forward direction, and while partially straightening out the wheel then continuing on with the wheel straight, there is a cyclical rubbing/grinding noise coming from the RF for the 1st several revolutions. Doesn't typically occur when the car has been successfully warmed up.
3) I immediately took the car to Discount Tire & they rotated/rebalanced the wheels. While the car was up, I put my hands on all the parts I replaced and all are solid, also the LCA and strut rubber all look really good and there was no leakage on the struts.
4) today I verified that I cannot rock either front wheel along the camber line, reducing the chance its a bearing.
THOUGHTS??????