Droning noise & vibration after pothole

[ToyotaCarFan]

Hello,

I recently hit a pothole with my front wheel at about 30 mph. The tires had less than 8K miles on them (high-end Michelin Energy). When I got home, I saw the front tire's sidewall had a 1.5" diameter bulge, and the inner part of the rim was flattened slightly (i.e., no longer round). I had the tire replaced, and a 4-wheel alignment done. Afterwards, the car made a droning noise when going over 45 mph, and had a slight vibration in the steering wheel and floor. Thinking it was the bent rim, I replaced the affected wheel+tire assembly with one from another car (same size and tire type) that was undamaged. This reduced the vibrations slightly, but the droning noise remained. So, the wheel was not responsible for the droning noise problem. What could be the cause of this? The car is very new (07 Camry with 8K highway miles on it), so I assume that the other 3 wheels must be properly balanced.

I plan to take the car to the dealer this weekend, but would like to be armed with as much info as possible so I don't get ripped off with unnecessary repairs.

Thanks for any insight.

-Doug

[kyle@tirerack]

Difficult to say what problem may be if tires/wheels are all in good shape and replaced. Here is a chart we usually refer to folks with these issues that may be helpful.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=49