GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Son is trying to determine if Curt hitch is as 'hidden' as a Hidden hitch. He has an 05 Vibe. Any help with pictures of each? He likes the newer round tube Curt... but either Curt, round or square tube pics would be great.Did a search and only found 09 Vibe post about hitches.

Sorry can't help on 1st gen but if it's anything like my '09 Curt square tube it's completely 100% hidden,, I can you pics after the 24th once I get back home if you want to see....PS my Dad's '06 AWD Reese square tube is not as well hidden as mine...Good Luck.

go with the Hidden Hitch. I have one on both my Vibes. They install in seconds (as long as your 6 receiving holes are not full of dirt and grime making placing the bolts into them impossible. For a 3 minute job, it took me an hour to run a wire brush and WD-40 through the holes in my '03 to get them cleaned out.

Vibolista - I'm in the same boat as you were back in 2009. Looking to add a class I hitch to my '03 base Vibe, and trying to nail down a model that won't rattle against the exhaust, while being as invisible as possible aside from the receiver. After scouring the site, it seems most posts I've found relate to Gen 2 Vibes, rather than Gen 1. What hitch did you end up purchasing, and how did it fit?

A possible solution to exhaust rattle against a hitch (if you already have it) is putting wrap on it. The wrap might eventually wear away though.

https://www.amazon.com/DEI-010121-Black ... entries*=0

Oh, and one thing I find weird. Some of the hitches have only 2 mounting points on each side and some have three. Three is clearly better than 2. So why do some skip the third hole? Cost savings vs drilling 2 more holes?

Wouldn't it depend on the mounting design / location?

I'm guessing you can find better engineered 2 mounts vs 3 or something like that. Maybe something to do with the bolt pattern, etc.

MY exhaust did hit it. You'll have to probably get the exhaust modified, but mine isn't OEM.

lannvouivre wrote:
MY exhaust did hit it. You'll have to probably get the exhaust modified, but mine isn't OEM.

Yeah, that hitch slopes more than some, such as the Draw-Tite 24812:

https://www.amazon.com/Draw-Tite-24812- ... entries*=0

The Draw-Tite has 3 mounting points on each side, unlike the Curt. Seems to me, if you ever do any actual towing, not just hauling a bike carrier or something super light, then you would probably want 6 total, not 4. Maybe 4 is adequate for the load capacity of the car, but 6 still seems like a better idea since 6 holes exist and there are hitches available to use them all.

The muffler conflict might be due to GT models. There is a different Curt hitch that drops the cross bar further than the non-GT one.

Non-GT: https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/ ... 2003206640
GT: https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/ ... 2003201595

I have a Curt on my '07 and much prefer it over the Draw-Tite on my '03 GT. The Draw-Tite seems to hang lower (never have measured it) and is much more visible. The Curt does not rattle on my exhaust. My muffler heat shield rattles since it rusted through. I need to just pull it off. If need be, I can try to snag some pictures of both tomorrow afternoon. All in all, I feel the Curt is the better looking hitch. As for the 4 bolt vs. 6, I have no idea what my Draw-Tite is since I didn't put it on. Either way, I've drug the same load with both vehicles and didn't notice any difference.