GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Just a dumb question...I have 10,000 miles on my 09 Vibe and I want to know if I can take it wherever I want for the oil change/tire rotation instead of going to the dealership. Seems like I certainly can, but I didn't really know for sure...

You can take it anywhere you want. make sure to save your receipts as proof of oil changes and tire rotations. If you do need warranty work down the road, you can prove proper maintenance.

Here is a link to a few links that are provided by Toyota. Just put in your information as a 2009 Toyota Matrix. It will give you service intervals and what is recommended to be done. http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=36280And yes, you can take your vehicle anywhere for service, all you need to do is keep close records/receipts of your service just in case something ever does happen and that you need covered under warranty, GM questions abuse and not properly servicing the vehicle. The one upswing of having work done at the dealer is that they document it electronically. Rotating Tires, a trusted shop can do it. Oil changes, yourself or a trusted shop can do it. Same goes for other maintenance items. Just depends on your level of knowledge and how comfortable you are working on vehicles.

Yes, you can have maintenance work done anywhere, or do it yourself as long as you keep reasonable records and receipts. Warranties can only be denied if it can be shown that the failure is a consequence of not following the required maintenance schedule.

Thanks everyone.I just don't like dealing with the service dept at my dealership - they never answer the phone, and are slower than crap.So I went to Walmart to have my oil changed and tires rotated - after waiting an hour and 20 minutes, they changed the oil, but couldn't rotate the tires because they couldn't adjust the TPMS and the torque. So I had to go to the dealer anyway, and it was actually quick, probably because some folks like me have the day off, but lots of others don't.

Yeah, dealerships can get a bit pricey but every now and then it's not to bad. As for Walmart not being able to rotate them because of the tpms sensors just seems like their being lazy. I've worked with tires for years and never had any problems with readjusting tpms settings

Well, the day after the dealership rotated and balanced my tires (for $39.99 - is that a decent price?), my car now veers to the left. It's most noticeable on the highway. I can't let go of the wheel for a second without the car veering to the left. It definitely wasn't that way before.It seems almost obvious that the two happenings are directly related, right? I'll be calling the dealership today. From what I've heard, this sort of a problem can prematurely wear out your tires.

sounds like they took the liberty of adjusting your alignment as a value-added service?

Possibly - they told me on the phone that they didn't think a tire rotation/balance would have any affect on the alignment, yet this problem was nonexistant before I took it in...kind of hard to refute.

I've notices on my '09 that it is sensitive to tire pressure differences. When I first got mine the rear end was all over the place. When I started checking things out turn out one tire was over inflated by about 5psi and was al over the place.As to Walmart not being able to rotate tire with TPMS. I can understand where they are coming from. I do some work on the side for the aftermarket industry. On certain makes and models of car the TPMS are programmed to one specific place on the car. The problem is that many car manufacture require the dealer to match the TPMS to the corner of the car they are installed to the receiver in the car. Most cars these days have assymetrical pressure in the front and rear tires.If the TPMS are programmed to be in a specific position on the car they can tell the car the front is over inflated and the rear is under inflated and trip a warning on the dash. With these cars if you want to rotate the tires you either have to have the dealer re match the TPMS so the receiver in the knows where they are or swap the tire on the wheels so you are rotate the tires but not the wheels. On certain high-end cars and SUV's the TPMS can cause the vehicle to go into a limp home mode until the error is corrected. I assume that Walmart just took the policy not to rotate tires with TPMS in general rather than just single out certain models of cars with on-board recalibration capabilities like the Vibe