Has anybody else had to drive their Vibe in gravel?

[DarkSpork]

I got lost today in Manitoba, land up driving through 25 miles or so of gravel. Feels a lot less stable than a Hummvee in gravel. Does anybody know if driving in gravel for this distance can cause damage to the suspension on a Vibe GT?

[zionzr2]

I have driven my Vibe on Gravel Farm roads for a few miles on a trip once and it handled quite well.It shouldnt unless you are really abusing it down the road.But all Gravel roads are different!

[DarkSpork]

It was a pretty smooth road for being gravel, I was going about 60mph (95 kmph). No real ruts.

[kunkstyle]

Gravel won't wreck the suspension. I grew up on gravel roads and suspension was never an issue.The biggest problem is the rear bumper. I've seen new vehichles with rear bumpers just shredded from gravel. That's only on regular use though.

[Raven]

I drive gravel roads every day. Not a real problem except the lower cladding gets sandblasted. When I wash the car the lower portions are a dark shade of grey instead of Abyss.

[northvibe]

gravel is no issue for suspension...but in duluth here the roads look like the moon craters and even my new ms3 is having suspension issues because of ALL the pot holes... :SGravel could just get into the brakes/rims and paint chip...not a big deal i guess.

[Toasted7]

I drove my last Vibe on gravel quite a bit over a few years and it really tore up the lower cladding (it was two-tone, so it was replaced under a TSB)... lots of paint chips and it can muck up your rims fairly badly too.

[Sublimewind]

I live in a land of 60% dirt roads, yeah, the paint takes a beating, the whole car does, but that's how it is here... Almost any car will do it.. my older Subaru was on different shocks with all poly bushings in the suspension AND a beefy swaybar... It all really just made things more fun... Cars are a lot more "tossable" on the gravel.. My non-GT Vibe doesn't handle that well in the dirt, but I'm sure the GT with the IRS would do better... Mine feels top heavy and sloppy... But I still get some noce drifts with it.. The automatic doesn't help much for that ..

[Markmysite]

My lake house is on a gravel road and I haven't seen any issues yet ... other than all the lovely dust that collects on it sitting out front. I've learned it's not worth even washing it when I'm up here.

[DarkSpork]

My GT felt pretty sloppy at 60mph just like you say your base did. But then again I'm only use to driving SUVs in the stuff (for work). I wasn't necessarily trying to "have fun" in the gravel, just trying to get back to the states, but its good to know I caused no damage.