Hey everyone
Just picked up a super clean 09 Vibe GT from a local dealership. 83K miles, dark grey metallic and 5 speed. All I've had a chance to do is tint the windows, but many things in the works to get it a little more custom from the other millions of Vibes that I'm now noticing all over my area. Anyway, I'm located about 2 hours west of Seattle out on the Olympic Peninsula, I'll get some more pictures when the weather clears up, but these are a few that I was able to take the other day.
Newb to the Vibe/Matrix gang
-
clintorious
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:22 pm
Newb to the Vibe/Matrix gang
- Attachments
-
- Screenshot_2014-03-14-23-11-07.jpg (195.35 KiB) Viewed 1505 times
-
- Screenshot_2014-03-14-23-02-20.jpg (194.94 KiB) Viewed 1505 times
-
- Screenshot_2014-03-14-22-59-24.jpg (186.87 KiB) Viewed 1505 times
-
clintorious
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:22 pm
Re: Newb to the Vibe/Matrix gang
Sorry about the format of the pictures...I'll have to figure out why they showed up so HUGE. lol...
-
tpollauf
- Posts: 4138
- Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:37 am
- Location: Toledo/Oregon, Port Clinton Ohio
- Contact:
Re: Newb to the Vibe/Matrix gang
Welcome to GenVibe 
NICE 2nd gen Vibe GT! I got relatives in the Kennewick/Pasco area and Spokane, but never made it out that way to visit them yet (someday though!). Beautiful country setting out there and the Vibe looks good with the mountain setting! The mods are endless so keep us informed of any/all work done to your new ride! Again .................... WELCOME 
NICE 2nd gen Vibe GT! I got relatives in the Kennewick/Pasco area and Spokane, but never made it out that way to visit them yet (someday though!). Beautiful country setting out there and the Vibe looks good with the mountain setting! The mods are endless so keep us informed of any/all work done to your new ride! Again .................... WELCOME 2009 Vibe GT (manual), 2009 G8Gt, 2009 Vibe GT (auto)
2014 Silverado, 2004 Vibe GT
"everything is modifiable"
Re: Newb to the Vibe/Matrix gang
Welcome to GenVibe! As tpollauf said, that's a beautiful 2nd gen Vibe GT you've got there! Thanks for posting pictures right away !
You said your Vibe is a 5-speed, auto or manual? What % did you have the windows tinted? What are you plans for future modifications?
!You said your Vibe is a 5-speed, auto or manual? What % did you have the windows tinted? What are you plans for future modifications?
-
clintorious
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:22 pm
Re: Newb to the Vibe/Matrix gang
vibenvy wrote:Welcome to GenVibe! As tpollauf said, that's a beautiful 2nd gen Vibe GT you've got there! Thanks for posting pictures right away
You said your Vibe is a 5-speed, auto or manual? What % did you have the windows tinted? What are you plans for future modifications?
Thanks for the welcome! The Vibe is a 5 speed manual (wouldn't have it any other way), 20% tint all around, love not having front window laws in Washington. Well, we do, but as long as you keep it 20%, they don't mess with you. Future mods include a new Front/Rear strut bar, HID for the low beams. Contemplating putting in yellow HID for the fogs or just going with some headlight armor. I'm also going to see about modding the factory sub to make it a 10" and a small amp to wire inside the cavity back there. It's a family vehicle, first and foremost, so I can't go too crazy, but I want to replace all exterior lights with LED, and possibly the dash cluster with LED. Would love to get a nice short ram intake as well, but I don't want a nasty loud exhaust or anything, so I might leave it alone. I own a vinyl plotter and have a little side business whipping up decals, so I will maybe do a few things, but nothing too crazy to start. I may order some white carbon fiber wrap from my distributor and do the hood/spoiler. Maybe black carbon fiber, haven't decided yet. If it looks good, I may do the lower half of the car in a different color, but again, I have the wifey to deal with, and she's not always ok with having that kind of thing on the car....Anyway, that's the plan so far. I did manage to get my Beltronics RX55 radar detector hard wired in this last weekend, and it's sitting in between the bulge of the cluster and the air vent on the drivers side (I like to keep it on the dash and be a little more incognito about it)...
That's it so far!
Re: Newb to the Vibe/Matrix gang
Having any tint on the front windows used to be illegal here in Illinois, but a few years ago they changed it so you can have 35% on the front windows. The windows on both our Vibes are tinted 35% all around. The windows on mine (the silver one in my signature picture below) were tinted before the law changed and I never got bothered. I have actually never been pulled over for anything in the Vibe 
.
I don't know of any direct-fit aftermarket rear strut bars, but TRD makes one that will fit the GT. I installed the TRD front strut brace on both our Vibes last summer. The difference it provides is well worth the cost. It is about half the weight of the stock one, it looks way better than the stock one and it is one solid piece so you can actually feel it holding the front end together much better when turning, etc.
We have DDM Tuning 35w 4300k HID bulbs in the low beams (#9006)of both our Vibes. Again, something I highly recommend. Just make sure you aim the headlights down a bit after installing the bulbs. As far HIDs in the fog lights go, I have not had much success. They flicker when turned on for some reason. I am considering ordering wiring harnesses, but don't know whether I want to spend any more money. For the time being, both Vibes have Nokya hyper yellow Stage 1 bulbs (#9145 / H10) in the fog lights which provide a nice yellow color when lit. I actually installed Headlight Armor yellow fog light overlays earlier this year, but ended up removing them after a while because I got tired of the look of them. Very high quality product though if you decide to go with overlays.
Both our Vibes also have v-LEDs 5000k LED bulbs in the license plate lights (#194), reverse lights (#921) and all interior lights (if you have a sunroof, the map lights are #194 and the center and rear overhead lights are #DE3175 / 31mm). They are super bright and very high quality.
As far as intakes go, I highly recommend the K&N Typhoon. Many owners here have it and both our Vibes have it as well. Not a single problem with it over the almost 5 years it's been installed on my Vibe. Our setups are finished off with AEM Brute Force Dryflow air filters (#21-203BF) and AEM air filter wraps (#1-4000) [to help keep dirt, bugs, etc. out of the filter]. This intake provides a nice engine sound when accelerating without being too loud and obnoxious like an aftermarket exhaust can be. I have no desire to get an exhaust on either Vibe because this intake provides a great sound while not being too loud.
Check out our Garage threads (linked in my signature below) to see pictures of all the above parts installed. Let me know if you have any questions or anything. I look forward to seeing more progress from you and your Vibe!
.I don't know of any direct-fit aftermarket rear strut bars, but TRD makes one that will fit the GT. I installed the TRD front strut brace on both our Vibes last summer. The difference it provides is well worth the cost. It is about half the weight of the stock one, it looks way better than the stock one and it is one solid piece so you can actually feel it holding the front end together much better when turning, etc.
We have DDM Tuning 35w 4300k HID bulbs in the low beams (#9006)of both our Vibes. Again, something I highly recommend. Just make sure you aim the headlights down a bit after installing the bulbs. As far HIDs in the fog lights go, I have not had much success. They flicker when turned on for some reason. I am considering ordering wiring harnesses, but don't know whether I want to spend any more money. For the time being, both Vibes have Nokya hyper yellow Stage 1 bulbs (#9145 / H10) in the fog lights which provide a nice yellow color when lit. I actually installed Headlight Armor yellow fog light overlays earlier this year, but ended up removing them after a while because I got tired of the look of them. Very high quality product though if you decide to go with overlays.
Both our Vibes also have v-LEDs 5000k LED bulbs in the license plate lights (#194), reverse lights (#921) and all interior lights (if you have a sunroof, the map lights are #194 and the center and rear overhead lights are #DE3175 / 31mm). They are super bright and very high quality.
As far as intakes go, I highly recommend the K&N Typhoon. Many owners here have it and both our Vibes have it as well. Not a single problem with it over the almost 5 years it's been installed on my Vibe. Our setups are finished off with AEM Brute Force Dryflow air filters (#21-203BF) and AEM air filter wraps (#1-4000) [to help keep dirt, bugs, etc. out of the filter]. This intake provides a nice engine sound when accelerating without being too loud and obnoxious like an aftermarket exhaust can be. I have no desire to get an exhaust on either Vibe because this intake provides a great sound while not being too loud.
Check out our Garage threads (linked in my signature below) to see pictures of all the above parts installed. Let me know if you have any questions or anything. I look forward to seeing more progress from you and your Vibe
!Re: Newb to the Vibe/Matrix gang
Good looking car - so it came debadged? Cool!
Would love to see some decals - can't imagine white carbon fiber would look good but I've never seen it before. I once posted some poorly photoshopped ideas for black out treatments of the hood, roof and rear hatch. Still would like to do that some day but I'm 51 years old and don't want to be too boy-racer.
Would love to see some decals - can't imagine white carbon fiber would look good but I've never seen it before. I once posted some poorly photoshopped ideas for black out treatments of the hood, roof and rear hatch. Still would like to do that some day but I'm 51 years old and don't want to be too boy-racer.
1997 Civic EX sedan w/auto trans2001 Accord EX sedan w/5-spd manual2009 Vibe 2.4L w/5-spd manual, sunroof, monsoon, GT spoiler, Magnaflow muffler and rolled SS tip, lowered on H-Tech springs, window tint, debadged (save the red arrow!).