GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I feel like such a dumb @$$, it took a friend to notice that my tires looked low. Turns out that one tire was 6 psi under, another was 7 and yet another was 8, Here's the worst... my driver side rear tire had only 10 psi in it, that 22 below what it should be. Stupid Stupid . Luckily I don't think I have any nails or holes I've only had her for 5 months. I feel like such a bad owner. If anyone wants to kick me off the island, I'll understand.

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »If anyone wants to kick me off the island, I'll understand.Only for excessive use of emoticons...

Quote, originally posted by binary »Only for excessive use of emoticons... (removed)! your kicked off too! Whats worse is not caring.. my fiances sister doesnt care!

Checked things under the hood lately?

Quote, originally posted by djb383 »Checked things under the hood lately? Yes... that was why is was so mad, I keep up my car.

These cars are pretty light in weight, especially over the rear tires. Its easy to miss a low tire until it is almost flat since it only takes 10 or 12 psi to hold up a sidewall, and radials have all got that bulge at the pavement anyway. You would be happy with a digital led tire gauge, so when you think of odd things like "I wonder how much air is in may tires?" at 10:30pm, you can see what you are doing at the gas statioin air hose accurately!

I actually do have digital pressure gauge, how often should I check my tires?

At least once a month.

I had a flat front driver's side tire and never even knew it until I was driving and hit one of those plastic road line divider things and it felt like I hit a crater! Got to work and checked the pressure and found out it was completely empty! Ruined the tire too, but fortunately I had road hazard warranty and got it replaced for free!

Quote, originally posted by djb383 »At least once a month.I check mine every 500 miles... or about once a week, its the same. Rotation? Every three months (or 6000 miles...)

you need a set of these!! available here

Don't forget to check the pressure in the spare! So many people barely check the pressures in the tires on the road, but don't forget to check that spare - because it is at a higher psi, it has a greater tendency to leak. Also, make sure your tire gauge can read at least 65 psi...

same thing happened to me in my sable ls, except it was just one tire. sometimes you wont even notice it! but yea i was running on like 6 psi when its supposed to be 32. I check mine every oil change, but prolly should do it ever 500 miles or so :Soh and about the island thing, im surprised bluecrush hasnt kicked me off yet because i dont drink coffee, forget things and then ask him atleast twice the same question hhahhahah i wonder how crazy i drive him...

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »I feel like such a dumb @$$, it took a friend to notice that my tires looked low. Turns out that one tire was 6 psi under, another was 7 and yet another was 8, Here's the worst... my driver side rear tire had only 10 psi in it, that 22 below what it should be. Stupid Stupid . Luckily I don't think I have any nails or holes I've only had her for 5 months. I feel like such a bad owner. If anyone wants to kick me off the island, I'll understand.Well, to continue on with the nightmare, once again the diver's side rear tire is down to at the MOST 10 psi. But I can't find a nail or anything, I just went out to AutoZone and got a mini compressor, after I get back from classes tomorrow I'll have to take off the tire and soap 'er down to find the !@%* hole. She's losing about 4 psi/hour, it'll be flat by morning, and by the time I get back from class. This is not a good week for the Vibe:First: The low tires.Next: I heard some kind of noise coming from under the car going around 70 mph, I thought I was dragging some piece of the car, turns out it was a branch or stick thingy. When I stopped at a long red light I got out and removed it, the people behind me thought it was quite amusing.Then: Some piece of $&#* guy haling stuff didn't secure his load and now there are small white pieces of rock all over the front of the Vibe.And now: A flat tire again.-But I did get to have a little fun with a guy in a Matrix. (all the while having a flat, I didn't know then or I wouldn't have gone 90 mph.)

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 »you need a set of these!! available hereAwesome product; $15 each!

Quote, originally posted by zionzr2 »you need a set of these!! available here Okay, I found the 4 1/2 inch nail. And I found those caps at Discount Auto Parts, they are a little different and only $9.59.

ok, so on the 17 of Jan, I got nitrogen in my tires and today, the 26th, there is 24, 25, 11, and 9.5 psi in my tires... (removed)... anyone have any ideas why in less then 10 days I would lose that much psi?

Not sure why this happens either V. When I bought my car I checked the psi just to be sure; they were all supposed to be right on. Then two weeks later I notice the front driver tire low. Went and bought a better guage and sure enough all were low and that front one at 15psi.I'm thinking those that get low slowly may have bad valve stems. Oh and always check them yourself; you can't really trust anyone else.

i tend to check my tire pressures each time i fill up..usually about a week and a half or so..should get into a routine instead of waiting til it's to late..with a tire at 10psi..and if u go around a corner a lil to hard..ur tire will pop off the rim...i've seen it happen to many times at my work(gm dealership)

"ok, so on the 17 of Jan, I got nitrogen in my tires and today, the 26th, there is 24, 25, 11, and 9.5 psi in my tires... (removed)... anyone have any ideas why in less then 10 days I would lose that much psi?"That sounds like way too quick a loss. Did you check them yourself with the same gauge back on the 17th? If not then I'd suspect that they weren't filled correctly to start. Do you have any neighbors or coworkers who either have a grudge against you or are prone to practical jokes?BTW, we did find that the tire monitoring system that comes with the ABS option can come in handy. When our daughter mentioned that the light came on I was at first suspicious that it was a false alarm since the system works by comparing rotation rates rather than actually measuring tire pressure. But when I checked the tires I found one of them to be down about 10 psi and a closer look at the tread revealed a nail head.America's Tire was nice enough to fix it free of charge even though the tire hadn't been purchased there (still on the original set).

Quote, originally posted by prathman »That sounds like way too quick a loss. Did you check them yourself with the same gauge back on the 17th? If not then I'd suspect that they weren't filled correctly to start. Do you have any neighbors or coworkers who either have a grudge against you or are prone to practical jokes?I didn't check them on the 17th, I got them refilled, and I'll check them tomorrow. My neighbors better hope I don't find out that they did it, that is if they did it. My dad was saying that it might of happened at my college.

Quote, originally posted by binary »I check mine every 500 miles... or about once a week, its the same. Rotation? Every three months (or 6000 miles...)I look at mine about once a week, take a gauge to them, well, sometimes.Rotation? What's that? I don't rotate mine anywhere near what is recommended. I wonder if thats why I only got 45,000 miles out of the stock continentals, 87K miles so far out of the bridgestones.

only 45,000 out of the contis, i replaced mine at 12K due to wanting somethin better and i would have been lucky to get another 8K out of them

Well, I have been around a long time. You would think that as old as I am that I check my tires on a regular basis to make sure that they are properly inflated, wrong. For some reason I just hate bending down and checking the pressure. So, Got a tire monitoring system for ten wheels. 6 on the motor home and 4 on the Vibe. When I am towing it I have constant knowledge of the air in the tires of all ten. When we are not towing the Vibe is parked beside the coach in the driveway. I am in the coach every 3 or 4 days for something. I hit the ignition and it will tell me when one of the tires might be low on the Vibe. Even, if the Vibe is gone. I like it. Cost me a few bux but it was worth it for me being as lazy as I seem to be. Can get one that only monitors the 4 wheels of the Vibe if someone wanted. Just a thought.

Quote, originally posted by VivaVibe »I'm thinking those that get low slowly may have bad valve stems. Oh and always check them yourself; you can't really trust anyone else.Well David, I think you were right, I checked my tires again today... they were all in the low to mid 20s. That’s only 4 days since I got them filled up. But on the up side, I think I found what is causing the problem, if I push down slightly on the valve stems air will leak out. I would bet the dealer that put the nitrogen in broke the seal or something like that, but I can’t prove it, so I’ll be paying of it.

New valve stems shouldn't be that expensive...I had my valve stems replaced, the tires reseated and ultimately had a warped rim that Pontiac refused to replace. There was no curb damage and I know I didn't curb it. The dealership basically accused me of having the rim cosmetically altered to hide curb damage and thus requiring them to honor it under warranty. Ultimately, I replaced them with my new Tenzo's...At the price they charge for new rims, it would be worth it to just go for aftermarket if you really want them...if it ends up being a rim problem.

I'm not worried about the dealership, my family is know VERY well there... my dad and brother are buy happy. We've gotten around 8 cars from them (including the Vibe), and the 9th is soon to come. So any problems like that will get fixed... BUT if I have to get aftermarket rims... Meh