GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I have an '06 base-model Vibe. Besides the driver (most important), what sort of basic options are out there that would improve handling characteristics? Sway bars, strut tower braces, shocks/struts/springs, tires, bushings and the like? I'm not looking for radical 3-inch drops, huge amounts of negative camber or other 'show' mods, I'm talking about stuff that actually improves handling in a wide variety of conditions.

If you want great handling; upgrade your Trans Am. The Vibe,s tall body prevents any spectacular handling, although it is not too bad in stock form for a grocery gettter, car pool type vehicle. For just improving the handling I believe that replacing the front and rear sway bars would be the best bang for the buck. The other mods i.e. lowwer profile tires, suspension drop/stiff springs, etc all reduce ride comfort disproportionatly to the gains in handling. The sway bars would also help in cross wind situations. This is just my opinion... I prefer a purpose built vehicle, instead of trying to make one vehicle do everything good.I use a highly modified Jeep CJ7 for off road, a 350Z for "fun" driving and my Vibe for commuting/car pooling.

What you listed is what you would do I do disagree that the vibe is bad at handling because of its wagon/height. Look at Mav, he is Autox'in his vibe with rims and teins. You just need to stiffin the suspension up and make the body a little stiffer withthe sway and strut bars.Sway bars will improve handling, specially the rear one.Dropping it like 1.5 inches with the TRD or hotchkis springs help a lot too. Coil overs are the best if you can afford teins $1200 coil overs w/ adjustable height.Strut tower bar will help when takign corners, i really noticed it taking corners into my driveway after i installed it.The brakes are pretty good stock but you could get new slotted/drilled rotors on the front and new pads (performance/sport ones)Tires would help a lot too, the stock tires seem to suck bad..... specially the conti's..

You mean to tell me you have a 20th Anniversary Trans Am with the 3.8 Grand National motor? Ran against one in my old '77 Formula once and he nearly got me (stupid me took him on at a rolling start). His was pretty much stock compared to my built 400. I was impressed.

I've been a Pontiac nut ever since I bought a very used 1989 beat-up Grand Prix SE. Never looked back. I've owned a 1996 base GP, a beat-to-trash '87 Firebird, a fully-optioned 1988 Trans AM GTA, and I picked up the Turbo T/A a little over a year ago. I already installed a Spohn front-end rebuild kit onto the car, definitly firmed up steering response a bit. BF Goodrich T/A KDW's on the front, can't remember what I have on the back, but I want to stick some more KDW's on there as well. Once I actually start doing some basic bolt-ons (LS1 MAF, Translator, Alky, tune, AFPR, more boost), I'm sure I'll need the additional rear-wheel traction.The Turbo T/A is a very nice car, far more power and slightly better fuel economy then pretty much any of the V8's offerered for any third-gen, and boost is in a word, awesome. Lighter front weight, so it's a better handling car then pretty much any other third-gen out of the box save for third-gen Firehawks, and there aren't many of those around... It uses different heads then the regular T-Types/GN's and GNX's, due to engine bay space limitations. GNX-sized intercooler, but a non-ceramic turbo impeller. 16.5 pounds of boost stock, wastegate-controlled. Mid-13 second 1/4 mile times are average, but I don't have a track here any longer and I never botherd to run it when it was still up. I'm stock save for a GReddy turbo timer.Handling for it as of right now is far better then the Vibe (WS6 rocks, lower and wider stance, and comparatively meaty 245's help), as is throttle response and sheer raw power, but then again, I didn't buy the Vibe for performance - I bought it for my wife. Eventually, when we upgrade to a larger vehicle (SV6 perhaps), it will be my daily driver, so I'm getting a feel now for whatever modifications I'll end up doing when that times arrives. Naturally, I'd love to stick a "hair-drier" on it... Boost is more addictive then heroin.All-in-all, I like the Vibe for it's utility, ease of use, economy and even though it's the base model, it has enough guts to get out of it's own way. I'm still not used to a powerband that only kicks in at around 4000 RPM - I'm spoiled off of a car that has it's torque peak at a mere 2800. I wanted to get a stick-shift GT, but it wasn't going to be my car anyway.

I went and upgrade all of the suspension, with Hotchkis front and rear sway bars, and end link kits. Changed the springs to Tein S, and a Megan strut tower bar. I love the handling upgrade but the wife doesn't like the stiff ride, and the race suspension noise that comes with it. I had a 97 Camaro RS, and the handling in the Vibe is almost as good as the stock Camaro. The performance is very much missing though, but I love my little car.

Hey 96706! Welcome to the board and congrats on the Vibe! Please post pics of the Vibe AND the F-body

suspension mods:SPRINGS! 1.5-2.0" drop. TRD is what i had on mine. nice drop and great feel. Mav has S-techs and it's a harsher but still good feel and 2" drop.I also had a TRD strut tower bar and if i had the chance, would have installed sway bars. Mav now has the TRD STB and we installed a RSB in his vibe. handling is extremely better than stock!