GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

My company has a 2009 Vibe GT in our garage and we are taking it apart to do electrical validation work on it. The complete interior and front end are out or off the car.Things I have noticed are:Larger battery! It has a 2.4L so that makes sense.There is a GM upper strut tower bar that is self adjusting.The third brake light or center stop lamp is now full LED.The fog lamps are made of plastic now. So there goes any new fog lamp cover sales for me. Oh well it was fun while it lasted. Large Monsoon kicker in the hatch. The in cabin filter is still there but the door is not hinged with the tabs like we have. In fact the door comes completely off and then snaps back in place. Anyone have anything they want me to check out? I will be around it today only though.

A self adjusting tower bar???? Whatever for? Any chance you can get a look behind the radio area? I'm wondering if there is still room for aftermarket DIN soulitions..

That's cool. Where do you work?

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »A self adjusting tower bar???? Whatever for? Any chance you can get a look behind the radio area? I'm wondering if there is still room for aftermarket DIN solutions.. Yeah I dunno... I cannot take a pic of it but it is highly polished and has a boot on the left end thus I feel it must expand and contract as needed. I have never seen one like this before. For the dash, it looks tight for room but the IP is down to the metal frame and all the wires are hanging there so I cannot get a full idea of how much room there is left over.On a side note I did notice the moon roof has two switches and still that funky partial stop when closing! I hate that feature!

Quote, originally posted by NibCrom »That's cool. Where do you work?My company is called SPX Service Solutions and we do all the special tools for GM dealers as well as 70% of the GM service manuals for electrical and shematics. We have 4 offices in Michigan and today I am in our GM office. I mainly sit in the Chrysler office now though.

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »A self adjusting tower bar???? Whatever for? I just pulled back the rubber boot and the bar can slide back and forth...

No sliding sun visors on this one! (removed)!!!

Same wimpy Toyota horn!

How hard would it be to install the 2009 Steering wheelwith the buttons for the Stereo?I want an ipod plug for my 2005

Quote, originally posted by Dzone »How about the the front bumperI noticed it is made of aluminum when i was at the car show.you can see it from the front engine bay.Could we install the front bumper?I love the grill.Yes the front bumper is aluminum... Foam first than the aluminum, than the metal brackets for the aluminum. (well the fascia is the very first part )The front fascia is all one piece, grills, fogs, lower grills...

Ops i delited my previous post sorryI really like the 2003 grill and the 2009 grill so im looking for a way to install the more agresive look.hey let me know about your fog lamp covers i dont want to get a chip

Quote, originally posted by Dzone »How hard would it be to install the 2009 Steering wheelwith the buttons for the Stereo?I want an ipod plug for my 2005You mean to add it to a new Vibe that does not have them already? Then if so, then it does not look too hard as long as the steering wheel on a non-radio controlled car has the plastic knck out to remove and add the controls. I assume it would. This GT has the steering wheel controls.

Quote, originally posted by ToolGuy »I just pulled back the rubber boot and the bar can slide back and forth...So, what could it possibly be good for??? i'm not sure that needs an answer

The 03-06 Corolla XRS came with the dampner in the strut bar from the factory.It has no relevance to this though

Quote, originally posted by ToolGuy »Same wimpy Toyota horn! Oh....my....God....Becky! LOLThat will be my first mod. No "if's", "and's", or "but's"

Quote, originally posted by HawaiiPontiacLover »Oh....my....God....Becky! LOLThat will be my first mod. No "if's", "and's", or "but's"Yeah it was mine too on ours! It was out-a-there!If I ever get rid of the car I wil put it back in too for the next owner!

ToolGuy. Wondering if you have some ideas on the front strut tower thingy? I started a thread in handling/suspension asking about what it is. Best idea seems to be a steering damper of sorts. What do you think?

Did Pontiac/Toyota add more sound dampening to the car? One thing I noticed was the Styrofoam blocks added to the front fenders of the car.

Quote, originally posted by farles »ToolGuy. Wondering if you have some ideas on the front strut tower thingy? I started a thread in handling/suspension asking about what it is. Best idea seems to be a steering damper of sorts. What do you think?I will check your thread out...

Quote, originally posted by Jyik40 »Did Pontiac/Toyota add more sound dampening to the car? One thing I noticed was the Styrofoam blocks added to the front fenders of the car.It appeared not really... The under the hood insulator was still there so that was no deleted or at least on the GT it was still there. The rest of the carpet looked normal and I did not see anything that was glaring as to note more anywhere.

Is this the bar you're refering to?

Yes that is it!

I'm surprised none of you guys have seen one before.They are on all the XRS corollas and the trix guys swap them on,but the older ones have XRS on them.

Attached files

So what...EXACTLY...is it ???

Quote, originally posted by farles »So what...EXACTLY...is it ???A strut tower brace.MacPherson strut unibody cars have an inherent problem with chassis flex at the top of the strut towers. By bracing the two strut towers together, you can transmit the load of the flex during cornering to the brace and to the other strut tower. It results in less chassis flex, so more precise steering and reduced understeer. Some strut tower braces are rigid, some have articulation to allow movement in certain directions, but not others. This is probably why the Trix/XRS one has a damper in the middle, and bushings on either end. It allows for certain directions of movement, and softens movement in others instead of resisting it entirely.As for its effectiveness, it really depends on the car. If the chassis is already quite rigid, it's going to make little to no difference. If the chassis flexes heavily during cornering, it's going to make a reasonable difference. Chassis flex also depends heavily on vehicle load, so you may notice more of an effect from a strut tower brace if the vehicle is heavily laden. I don't have any first hand experience with one on a Vibe or Matrix, but on my Regal, they're a cheap way to try to cut down a little on the Buick land-yacht feel.