The gentleman who did the repair originally intended to cut the damaged quarter panel from my car and replace it with a quarter panel from a donor car, but due to a miscommunication between us, he instead pulled the damaged metal back into position, covered it with mar-glass, then filler. It looks g...

I forgot to post how this turned out. I ended up doing a version of what pwyu1969 suggested, except I found a retired body shop guy through Craigslist who does bodywork out of his home garage and he did the whole repair. I told him my goal was to have the car look respectable, with a working rear do...

Thanks. Hammer isn't going to get that area of the wheel well moved. I gave that a shot yesterday. Only about 3" of space to swing the hammer, so only gentle tappig is possible. I am going to try a bottle jack - one end on the rear frame rail, the other end on the inside of the wheel well and s...

Our 2005 Vibe with 143,000 miles took a hit on the driver rear door/quarter panel. The accident was on 25 mph streets. The Vibe took the hit on the driver's side then spun around and hit the curb with the passenger side rear wheel. I had a mechanic take a look at it and he said the alignment is stil...

I put a set of Michelin X-Ice Xi3 tires on a 2005 FWD Vibe that was driven in northern Wisconsin. They worked out pretty well, and since they are only used part of the year, they are holding up well, as are the summer tires that are in storage in the winter. I guess that's one way of blunting the pa...

How vibration-free can a 1.8L get? I have changed plugs, cleaned MAP sensor, replaced air filter, PVC valve - and the motor mount. Like brandron49i7, I have reade the is a certain amount of vibration inherent in these engines. Mine is minimal, but it is noticeable. Just wonder what reasonable expect...

Thanks for the reply. With the one motor mount changed, the really noticeable vibration is gone. The new motor mount also eliminated a rattle that the car would make when the transmission was in drive or reverse, but not in neutral or park. I still notice a slight vibration when the car is idling at...

Here is a follow up: It turned out the left front and right rear wheels were out of balance. I was sure the problem had to be due to snow or ice because the tires were relatively new - they had been installed and balanced four months prior to when the vibration problem started. I am assuming the vib...

I took a look at the link you provided about "Shakes and Wobbles" and also looked at the rest of the "Tires 101" section of that website. There is a lot of good info on that site, thank you. The car still shakes at 60 MPH or higher. The wheels were rinsed out at a self service ca...

Well, no luck after clearing the wheels with the the self-serve car wash sprayer. The car still vibrates. Again, I am not on site, so hopefully they did a good job of clearing out the wheels as I directed. Time to find a tire shop to have the wheel balance checked. Thanks everyone.

Just to follow up on this thread: I ended up getting four 195/65R15 Michelin X-Ice Xi3 tires and put them on steel wheels. I got a chance to drive the Vibe in 10" of new snow last month, and was impressed with the traction and handling. I run Goodyear Assurance TripleTred All-Season tires year-...

Thanks everyone. I will advise them to start with the manual car wash, and if no luck, it will be time to have the wheel balance checked. The car has Michelin X-Ice Xi3 winter tires that were installed on steel rims with plastic wheel covers in November. The wheel covers could easily trap snow. And ...

I am trying to diagnos a shake at 60+ MPH in a 2005 Vibe Base. And I am trying to do this remotely, the car is 300 miles away. The car did not shake two weeks ago, now it does. It bas winter tires on steel wheels with clip on wheel covers. I was thinking just run the car through a car wash as that m...

I had the right motor mount replaced on a 2005 Vibe base, 1.8L with 115000 miles on it. The mount and belt tensioner were replaced to solve a rattle that was most noticeable when the vehicle was stationary. In neutral or park, there was no rattle. When the car was put in drive or reverse it would ra...

You called that one right. It is a good thing there were multiple Vibes in the recycling yard. I did discover prying from the front and the back was the best way to go. Still had a little damage, but was able to minimize it. Those caps are so brittle they are easily broken. ,

I am planning on pulling the front plastic cap of the passenger side roof rack from a Vibe in an auto recycling yard. I need it to replace the missing one on my 2005 Vibe. Alldatadiy.com just says "Using a flat bladed tool, remove the luggage carrier side rail caps from the luggage carrier side...

Just wanted to update this thread. The Vibe is leak free. I had a couple of places look it over, and both places said the Vibe was sound, the body work should be fine, and that all that was needed was some seam sealer (that white "caulk" material that you see at the base of the trunk secti...

Bought a 2005 Vibe recently, and it came with this Kenwood KDC-108, which I swapped out for another stereo. This stereo comes already installed in the Vibe mounting bracket, and has the correct wiring harness and connector, so it will be a plug and play installation with a 2005 Vibe, and probably an...

joatmon is correct - I checked some vibes while pulling parts at a recycling yard. The drivers side rear has a plastic cover protecting some lines that are routed through the wheel well. It is not a wheel well liner. It looks like there is no splash shield or liner for the rear wheel wells.

I purchased a 2005 Vibe recently, and am wondering if the rear wheel wells have liners. I you have a Vibe from this year or generation, let me know if your rear wheel wells have liners - thanks. I checked the body manual that is online at https://www.genuinegmparts.com/for-professionals/collision-re...

I bought an Alliance Inspection Management inspection for several states away out-of-town Vibe that I was considering. Should have done that with this one, too. Figured that since I saw this car in person, an inspection was not as necessary. That was not a good move.

I bought a 2005 Vibe Base 1.8 last week with 110,000 miles. Drove it in the rain yesterday, and discovered both the left and right inner rear quarter panels, just below the two side storage compartments in the rear hatch area, were filled with water. Tested with a garden hose today and discovered wa...

Thanks zbyers. Maintenance records are nice to have. I did not get receipts with the car I purchased, just entries on the Carfax showing regular maintenance and what was done each time. As someone earlier in this thread mentioned, a high mileage vehicle could have racked up miles as a delivery or ri...

Wow, thanks for the Maintenance Index vibrologist - I discovered an issue with the hvac recirculation function yesterday, and the answer was in the Index. That will be a great resource. I guess that is one of the benefits of buying an older car, is that people have already diagnosed and figured out ...

hogdoctor - you have a good point, and I did consider a few newer Vibes in the 140 - 150 thousand mile range. The negative is the higher mileage, the positives are more safety features and four fewer winters with exposure to road salt. I live in the Midwest, where the roads are white with salt 4 to ...

Thanks everyone for the advice. The 2009 Vibe is no longer available, so that solves that dilemma. I went with the 2005 Vibe. It was a couple of hours from home, so having the mechanic who works on my vehicles do an inspection was not possible. I had to go with what I could see myself. The Carfax re...

I found a couple of articles where they lead me to believe this answer is what I suspected...there are a lot of variables at play so a definitive answer on any two cars is going to be difficult. But if any drivers of 2009 Vibes with high mileage want to comment, I would like to hear what you have to...

Would a 2009 Vibe, 1.8L, automatic transmission with 150,000 miles on it, Illinois car be pretty much used up? I have no maintenance records, but from appearances, lets assume the car received the minimum required maintenance, and does not have serious corrosion issues. Is the 150,000 mile mark the ...

Thanks zbyers and captianvibe for passing along your experiences with the Vibe in winter. If I purchase this car, I will get four Blizzak tires.

Thanks. The Vibe will be primarily used by a driver with three of years of driving experience, which includes winter driving. I was trying to find a Vibe with electronic stability control (esc) and the side curtain airbags. That is a hard combination to find. I stumbled across a 2005 Vibe that is ha...

I live in the Midwest US, and depending on the winter, can end up doing a lot of driving in snow. The roads I use are usually pretty quickly plowed and salted, but there are times where the secondary streets are snow covered while the plowing crews focus on the main routes. I am currently shopping f...