New Member with a few Q's!

[BurntStick77]

Hello Vibe owners! My mother bought her 2010 Vibe(base) brand new and loved it immediately. She would often tell me how much she enjoyed driving it and how efficient it was compared to her old mini-van. Unfortunately she succumbed to cancer last August 31. I inherited the Vibe with 27K miles and within days made it my primary vehicle due to the tie to my mother and how much I loved the feel and efficiency of the vehicle. I sold my Ford Excursion and have felt the immense savings both in gas and maintenance, not to mention my insurance premium dropped significantly! My wife and I have become HUGE Vibe fans and are thrilled with the car despite how we acquired it. I feel my mother's presence in the car and intend on driving it until the wheels fall off! That being said I have a couple questions...
1) Should I replace any factory installed parts to help prolong life?
2) Should I upgrade shocks or any other parts(ie. tires, larger brakes, etc..) if I intend on towing a small trailer?
3) Should I switch to synthetic motor oil?
4) What are some options for getting a little more HP out of my Vibe?
5) Are there any must-have Vibe accessories that I should consider?

Thank you very much in advance for any information! Have a nice day!

[OmniDimensional]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Welcome to the forum, you'll find people are very friendly and helpful here! As for must-do add ons for your vibe: I HIGHLY recommend a good CAI. I have a 2003 vibe and found that as soon as I installed my K&N CAI (not injen type, I live in a snowy area) I got better mileage (3mpg better in town), noticeable power increase and the vibe sounds AWESOME. For the price, I would do that install on any car I own in the future.

Also, I've run my vibe on 0W-30 Synthetic (Amsoil) from the beginning. I currently have 120k on the car and have done NOTHING to the engine/drivetrain. Re-did my brakes last winter but that's it.

That is really the extent of the mods I've performed. Since I've never towed anything I couldn't tell you what you might need there!

[Salsa Guy]

Welcome to Genvibe! Sorry to hear about you mom's passing.
These are tough little cars and are known to be very safe. I can't say much about 2nd Gen Vibe repairs and parts or Towing or options/upgrades.

Yes you should be able to switch to a Synthetic oil. Just go with a quality brand (Mobil 1, AMSoil...etc).
A Short Ram Intake (SRI) or Cold Air Intake (CAI) or even a K&N Drop-in will help with power and MPGs. SRI is easy to install and maintain but has heat soak issue in stop and go traffic when hot out. The CAI is hard to install/maintain and hydro-lock is a possibility.

Good luck

[zyzyix]

Hi and welcome to this nice group. Please accept my condolences for the loss of your mom.

[A Psycho Martyr]

Man it sucks to hear that.
We're glad to have ya here tho.
You got any pics of the ride yet?

[Kincaid]

I too am very sorry for your loss. It is heartening to hear that you feel close to your Mom while you drive the car. But very glad to welcome a new 2nd generation member!

I do not know about towing. I second the addition of the SRI. I'd like to get one myself. The only other thing for mpg that I can think of is the old trick of pumping up the air pressure in the tires to about 40 psi. Believe it or not this also takes some of the harshness out of the ride, I think because you are getting a bit more space between the ground and your rims. You could maybe add a better flowing exhaust system but 1) it isn't needed for sound if you have the SRI and 2) it is expensive and I doubt you'd ever recover on the investment.

Regarding the oil switch, I do not think it is needed - but if you really plan to drive it into the 200k mileage range, it is perhaps good insurance. I don't know but maybe having some extra slick oil in there will also help mpg.

As for accessories the only "must have" for me is the cargo net and a rubber trunk mat. I find them very handy to keep things in place. I bought some extra carabiner clips that I can use to secure small items inside the net's pouch to keep them from rolling or sliding around. The rubber mat (and actual GM part) helps keep things from sliding around because it is grippy.

The other things I've done to the car are really cosmetic - lowering springs for looks, a rear GT spoiler and a stainless exhaust tip. Uninstalled things I have are fog light bezels and mud flaps (for lack of the better term that I can't think of right now). I also had a MagnaFlow muffler installed (about $200) and that was a waste - I wanted it for the aural pleasure but it is barely different from stock. Wish I had put the money toward the SRI.

[star_deceiver]

1) Should I replace any factory installed parts to help prolong life?
2) Should I upgrade shocks or any other parts(ie. tires, larger brakes, etc..) if I intend on towing a small trailer?
3) Should I switch to synthetic motor oil?
4) What are some options for getting a little more HP out of my Vibe?
5) Are there any must-have Vibe accessories that I should consider?

1) Nothing outside normal maintenance.
2) How base is the Vibe? Which engine, transmission does it have?
3) Yes, although IMO it should have had synthetic from the start.
4) There are the K&N intakes. Keep all the unnecessary weight out of the car. Lighter rims and summer tires. Ditch the all seasons. And forget about fuel economy in the winter (assuming you live in a place that gets winter), steelies and studded snows all the way!
5) Besides rims, no... the best accessory I have is many many road trips and lots of pictures!

[tpollauf]

Welcome to GenVibe. I can relate to what you went through recently as I too lost my mother just two months ago. I pretty much agree with star_deceiver. Go ahead and "personalize" it but keep it looking professional. There's a lot you can do to these cars and they will reward you with a VERY LONG LIFETIME Visit often & post some pics soon

[vibenvy]

Welcome to GenVibe! Very sorry to hear of your mom's passing, but it's neat to hear that driving her Vibe makes you feel close to her.

As far as synthetic oil, I personally have used regular old Penzoil 5W-20 in both our 2009 Vibe GTs since new and haven't had any issues. I really don't see the point in using synthetic as we've had quite a few vehicles over the years that we have easily gotten 200,000+ miles out of using regular Penzoil. IMO, it really comes down to personal preference.

As others have said, my best recommendation for a little extra power is an intake. Whether your Vibe is a 1.8L or 2.4L, K&N makes intakes that will fit both engines. K&N's intakes fit great, increase power and gas mileage and give the engine a bit more aggressive tone. They can be had on eBay for under $250.00. I have had a K&N intake on my 2009 Vibe GT for almost 3 years now and I still love the sound it provides! I have seen a steady 1-2 mpg increase and it looks much better under the hood then the stock stuff.

As far as accessories go, we have the GM premium all weather front and rear floor mats (#19170829), 2 GM premium all weather cargo mats (#19170827) and the GM rear cargo security shade (#19171208) in each of our 2009 Vibe GTs. The floor mats have been discontinued, but contact GMPartsCenter.net, they should be able to get you a set no problem. I will never have carpeted floor mats again. It's so nice to be able to remove the mats and simply spray them off with the hose. Plus, they look nice because the front ones have the Vibe and arrowhead logos. I purchased a 2nd cargo mat for each Vibe earlier this year to protect the backs of the rear seats when they're folded down to haul things. Again, if something gets spilled on the cargo mats, it's nice to be able to remove them and simply spray them off. As kincaid said, it also keeps things from sliding around in the cargo area. Finally, the cargo security shade is nice because it hides stuff you may have in the cargo area. Both our Vibes have tinted windows, but I feel even safer having the extra protection of the cargo shades as well. Here is a link to all the available GM accessories for 2009-2010 Vibes. Anything you may decide to get, I recommend ordering from GMPartsCenter.net as they have free shipping and the best prices on everything GM. Click on my signature picture to visit my Garage and see pictures of all the GM accessories I have.

Last but not least, post pictures of your Vibe when you get a chance !

[BurntStick77]

Sorry it's been so long since I've been on here, but I want to thank all of you that have posted replies! I love the ideas and will certainly be taking many of them into consideration while making upgrades to my Vibe. I also appreciate the kind words regarding my mother's passing. Although it has been a difficult year I love the feeling of closeness to her I still have when driving her Vibe. I promise to post some pictures of the car soon! Thanks again!

[ParknVibe]

I do not know about towing. I second the addition of the SRI. I'd like to get one myself. The only other thing for mpg that I can think of is the old trick of pumping up the air pressure in the tires to about 40 psi. Believe it or not this also takes some of the harshness out of the ride, I think because you are getting a bit more space between the ground and your rims. You could maybe add a better flowing exhaust system but 1) it isn't needed for sound if you have the SRI and 2) it is expensive and I doubt you'd ever recover on the investment.

Since I now have my own air compresser to put air in my tires, I just went ahead to have all of the tires inflated to 40 PSI. A bit of history....When I had the 2009 Vibe new for a about three months, I found that the tires were inflated to 40 PSI and I wasn't really complaining about the harshness over rough roads and potholes. After my "shock" of the high tire pressure, I reduced it to the 32/32 psi as per the card. It was after doing that that I started to feel all the road harshness (using Goodyear RA OEM 17") tires. I since also adjusted the pressure to different rates and felt that 35f 33 rear was ok, still getting a harsh ride.

After taking a short ride around town, with 40 PSI pressure, I felt that the car floats over the rough road surfaces or road patches and cracks in the road. I feel that it is more smoother and even quieter then before.

While adding the air to one of the tires, I found that a circle crack is starting to form on the sidewall face. Now I'm thinking that with correct or lower pressure, the sidewalls are flexing to much over bumps and potholes and that flexing is causing the harshness. Now with a higher pressure and making a stiffer sidewall, the tire will not flex but bouce over the bump.

I'll let you know about how the car feels after a longer run of driving.