New Member first pics of lowered Vibe

[mgwashburn]

Just getting started with the mods, so please be patient:before and after pics:This was three months ago when I purchased my used 2004 Satellite Colored Vibe: Latests pics taken yesterday (August 18 2007) Whomever first suggested I go with Gun-Metal colored rims, thank you. I think the color works fantastic on a satellite colored Vibe. I shudder to think what it would have looked like with "bling bling" chrome rims.thats it...how about I take some pics of her on the beach or something? Has anybody here done a contest for 'best location of shoot'?

[WaveAction]

very nice man, like the rims, they suit the car well

[ajflan]

Looks very good!

[ramenboy...]

suweet!!!!!my vibe looked exactly like yours when i first got it! complete with the yellow/orange sticker on the windshield! that was my first mod, removing it...nice job. beautiful rims!

[jwalcik]

Looks great, excellent rim choice!

[slvrvibes]

Very nice.

[damronjr]

Awesome!

[02csnow]

Very nice. I really like the last shot.

[AKLGT]

looking good

[808 Vibes]

Very nice!

[Sublimewind]

+100Lookin good...!!!!Gunmetal FTW..!!!

[ToolGuy]

Nice!

[Merzbow]

Gorgeous car! I like it.BTW, your last name is the same as mine. Do you own any Washburn guitars by chance?

[mgwashburn]

Nope...my brother owns some Washburn guitars and plays all the time, but I prefer other instruments. But yes, am truly a Washburn. You may want to check out your family history. If you can trace your bloodline back to the original Washburns, then you very likely may be eligible to join the Mayflower Society.My father put together a family history with about 100 pages of our bloodline that traces back to 900AD to some Viking Warrior that lived in Normandy ...its great to be retired...more time that you know what to do with.I can probably dig up a PDF version if you are interested.

[WaveAction]

900AD..thats insane..mine probably goes way way way back tooo..last name is Brown

[Merzbow]

Yeah that sounds wonderful. I wouldn't know where to start finding info. like that.BTW, that's a good idea starting a photo contest.

[Mathias]

The car does look nice.So do the roof rack.But I gotta ask.. if you're into kayaking, why oh why would you lower the car....? I like to canoe, and some of the places I go to I'm grateful for every quarter inch of ground clearance. So that's about the last thing I'd want to do to a functional car like the Vibe...-Mathias

[mgwashburn]

Good question, but I also have a good answer, I live in Florida and all the Kayaking I do is from the Keys up through southern Georgia. No Hills or roads here I need to worry about, except for maybe the occasional pot-hole.I do regret not thinking about it first though, I probably should have gone with the H-techs which only lower the car 1 inch instead of two since I am having problems with towing my Jet-Ski now.

[ZubenElGenubi]

Yeah, buddy!I remember suggesting gunmetals to you in your "Excited Vibe Newbie" thread...glad they turned out so well.I'd love to see your vehicle fully loaded...kayak...bikes...

[mgwashburn]

Cool, thanks for you suggestion, they look GREAT! I am going to try and load her up and driver her to the Beach on Saturday...hope you all don't mind if I take some picks of some hotties in bikinis while I am there...don't know if the moderators will let me post those here though .

[rebbierae]

The car looks GREAT! I too have a satellite two-tone and have been wanting new rims, but don't like the shiny bling bling chrome look. I never would have thought of gunmetal, but they look awesome! Now if I just had some cash...NICE car!

[kevera]

Man,you guys really don't look around here,been there done that. BTW,the vibe looks cool.

[carfieldteam]

Beautiful Car. Especially the yakima rack system. It's so COOL. Is that a 48" system or a 58" system?

[mgwashburn]

That is a really good question, there are several other posts here that vaguely talk about what to buy for the Vibe, but none were concise...so here it goes:(prices are rounded off and are online costs)Bike Rack for 1 1/4" receiver (using Hidden Hitch) Yakima Bighorn 4 - 1.25inch - $155Yakima Deadlock - $38 (lock system for bike rack, its very slick and I highly recommend it)Yakima 4 Pack SKS cores (locks for the roof rack towers) - $40Yakima q83 clips (these adapt the towers to the vibe body) - $27Yakima Q-Tower Half Set (two full height towers for the front of the car) - $70Yakima LowRider Half Set (two half height towers that attach to the rear existing roof-rack bars) - $70Yakima 48" Cross Bars (set of two) - $51Yakima 44 inch Fairing (at first I didn't want to pay for it, but it truly makes it look good) - $51Yakima HullRaiser Aero (for my sit-on-top river/fishing Kayak) - $117Yakima Landshark Saddles (for my Ocean fiberglass touring Kayak) - $68OK VERY important !!! The Yakima letters on the Fairing (the aero dynamic plastic windscreen on the front) is painted on. I was detailing my car and had the Rain-X out for the windows and used the same cloth that had rain-x on it to polish it up....BAD ... very BAD the white lettering started to run. Just be careful. I thing eventually I will remove the Yakima on the front and put my companies website address there instead.

[WaveAction]

i'd like to get a hidden trailer hitch..whats the best way to go? it'll be more for a small boat or even as you have, a bike rack, or even a small pop up trailer

[mgwashburn]

I ordered the hidden hitch, the install is extremely easy, but it helps to have a friend handy to hold it up (I almost got thunked in the head trying to hold the 40 point hitch while trying to start the bolts with my other hand.One BIG thing to think about, I have been able to tow a jet-ski and a somewhat large utility trailer with my vibe without a problem, but now that my vibe has been lowered, I am scared to death of either. I am worried about my back springs bottoming out. Definitely something to consider.

[Sublimewind]

You know what you might consider for your car...Airstruts for just the rear.... A simple airbag over a strut.. You could get a system with a tiny air compressor and not have an actual tank, cause i doub't you would care about making a lot of adjustments, and it could be used to raise the car to a "level" stance with everything on the car... You could reaserch this by searching for "air leveling systems" I know (have read) A LOT about air systems and air bags in general, it would do EXACTLY what you need... and you would have to worry at all when loaded...

[Moon_wagon]

"The car does look nice.So do the roof rack.But I gotta ask.. if you're into kayaking, why oh why would you lower the car....? I like to canoe, and some of the places I go to I'm grateful for every quarter inch of ground clearance. So that's about the last thing I'd want to do to a functional car like the Vibe...-Mathias"I thought the same thing as Mathias when I saw the rack and the lowered Vibe. I get your explanation but on my part I do need the clearance.Thanks for the full details on your rack system! Looking for one myself for my new Vibe.And like everybody here: nice rims!Great looking car

[MRCN RCE]

beautiful vibe. i like sublime's idea of airstruts, i agree that would help get rid of some of your worries.your rims look great... but your directional tire on the right (passenger) front side is backwards. you should get that corrected asap. having it the right way will help a lot. on the sidewall of directional tires, it will say "rotation" with an arrow showing the way it should spin. i haven't been posting regularly on here for a lil while, so welcome to the genvibe family

[mgwashburn]

I double checked, and the Kumho ASX tires seem to be bi-directional...can anybody verify this? I have had uni-directional tires before but these do not seem to have an arrow...

[MRCN RCE]

i didn't know you had the ecstas asx. i checked at tire rack, and you're good with those tires. just make sure it says "outside" on the sidewall and everything will be cool. my friend had some ecstas on his mustang a while back, i think it was the kh11, and one of em was mounted backwards

[mgwashburn]

Cool Thanks...I had a Mustang GT back in the day and I remember my GoodYear Gatorback tires were uni-directional...

[hskater26]

looks awesome!!!

[wyatt89]

nice looking vibe man!! i wish i had the money to drop mine