[jpstewart]

Can I get some input from some of you who know car stuff?

Short version:
How likely is it to damage a wheel bearing while doing an alignment?

Long version:
Nearly three years ago I had new tires put on my car, and had the (reputable) tire shop do an alignment at the same time.  On the way home from the tire shop, I immediately noticed the car was a lot noisier than before.  My first thought was "they broke something".  But I couldn't readily identify the new sound, so I talked myself into believing it must be tire noise and lived with it.

Recently the car got even noisier, to the point that it was impossible to carry on a conversation at highway speed.  Even driving around town the noise was unpleasant, to say the least.  And it was causing things to rattle rather loudly.  It was quite obviously coming from the right front wheel.  I speculated that it was a wheel bearing and made an appointment to have it repaired at a trusted mechanic.  (Not at the tire shop from before.)  I didn't tell them what I thought it was, just that an odd sound was coming from the right front wheel.  They, too, speculated over the phone that it was a wheel bearing and later confirmed that by taking it for a test drive themselves.  They replaced the bearing at a ridiculously expensive price.

I got the car back from them, and lo and behold the supposed "tire noise" I've had since October of 2018 was gone, too!  Not just the recent extra-loud worn out bearing sound, but the constant drone was gone.  So, obviously, the bearing has been bad since the tire change/alignment.  It was never tire noise.

I suppose it is entirely possible that it is just a coincidence that the bearing failed on the exact day the tire shop worked on it.  But I'm skeptical, to say the least.  I doubt that mounting the new tires would damage a bearing since most of the work is done with the wheel off the car.  But I don't know what's involved in aligning the wheels.  So, in your opinion(s), how likely is it to damage a bearing while doing the alignment?  Or is it totally impossible to do that kind of damage during the procedure?

It doesn't really matter.  After all this time, no matter how likely it may have been, it would be impossible to prove the tire shop was at fault.  But I may want to avoid that tire shop in the future.