GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hello here's a little how-to on installing a TRD strut brace for 2009/10. Please keep in mind I'm not a professional mechanic or an auto mechanic. Doing this might not be for people who are concerned about warranty coverage because it might void your warranty. stuff needed: basic tools torque wrench First remove the wiper arm assemblies. I was able to just grab the small caps off by hand. Once the nuts are out you can use your palm and apply some pressure to the spring joint. It should nudge a bit and then you should be able to walk the wiper arms off using a pulling, tilting back and forth motion.Remove the cowl seal and snap-in retainers. Try pushing down on the center pin of the retainer with a pen or other tool that's small enough. I broke mine the first attempt at removing them. Hopefully some people out there might remove their snap-in retainers unscathed, the first time. pn# in picture in case peoples get broken like mine they can order new ones. Remove the air inlet cowling parts. Remove the left one first when looking from the front. They seemed to come loose easiest by pulling around the outer edge until it started to pop off. After those are removed be really careful not to touch the exposed edge of the windshield with any tools. disconnect the wiper motor linkage assembly's electrical connector and cut the tape with a sharp utensil. You can use black tape to reattach it latertake the two bolts off the wiper motor and linkage and then simply slide it in the direction of the yellow arrows to remove it like so.next remove the outer cowl top panel, its held in by 12 bolts. remove the nuts and remove old strut brace if equipped. I had to remove some spring support reinforcements. Don't use the supplied washers in the kit when putting the strut brace in because they're not needed for the vibe. test fit the new strut brace. mine fit pretty well but wouldn't lay completely flush without a little pressure from the nuts. No biggietorque the nuts to 37 ft-lbs with a torque wrench. what mine looked like after completely tightened.install the rest of your parts in reverse order and that's it!. Don't forget to retape the wiper motor wire to the plastic tab before putting the plastic cowling pieces back. The cable goes over the top of the strut brace. When putting the wiper blades back on use the small marks on the windshield to position them. The vibes marks are both near the middle bottom of the windshield. They can be sorta hard to see. Done!!

Thanks for the how to! I am still trying to decide whether I want to get one or not. I am torn since I already have a "strut brace" (or whatever you want to call it ), but man, that red sure would liven up the engine bay . Decisions decisions...

I replaced the OEM front strut brace on my 2009 Vibe GT with a TRD front strut brace today. The installation was alot easier than I thought it would be. It's tedious because of all the parts and bolts that have to be removed, but it's definitely not a hard installation. I didn't encounter any issues and the entire installation went really smoothly and only took about an hour from start to finish, including doing some cleaning under the cowl pieces before re-installing them. I also decided to removed the TRD badge as I'm not a fan of badges, logos, etc.







The TRD front strut brace not only looks much better than the goofy looking OEM one, but it weighs about half as much and since it's one piece as opposed to the three piece OEM one, it should provide much more ridgidity and thus better handling.

Wow.. the GT strut brace with built in damper actually looks pretty nice. I'm kind of confused why a solid metal brace would be better than that. It would certainly be cheaper, so one would think the more expensive OEM option would be better. It looks to me like the OEM would give you 90% of the rigidity while drastically reducing harshness via the damper. Am I missing something?

Rayven01 wrote:Wow.. the GT strut brace with built in damper actually looks pretty nice. I'm kind of confused why a solid metal brace would be better than that. It would certainly be cheaper, so one would think the more expensive OEM option would be better. It looks to me like the OEM would give you 90% of the rigidity while drastically reducing harshness via the damper. Am I missing something?

I am mainly basing my information from "suspension gurus" pertaining to the GM J-Body platform (Chevy Cavalier & Pontiac Sunfire). I used to own a couple Pontiac Sunfires and I had Vibrant front strut braces on them. The Vibrant front strut braces were three pieces just as the OEM Vibe one is. According to the "suspension gurus" on The J-Body Organization website, the OEM GM strut brace that was standard on Cavalier and Sunfire Convertibles was much better for actually improving handling because it was one solid piece just like the TRD brace, as opposed to the multiple piece aftermarket strut braces which would flex under hard cornering. A one piece solid strut brace is going to reduce flexing of the strut towers which is the purpose of having a strut brace in the first place.

Again, I am not claiming to be a suspension expert by any means. I am simply going by what I have read in the past about the same type of parts on a different vehicle. I do know for sure that the TRD brace is significantly lighter than the OEM brace and IMO it looks much better, so even if it doesn't really provide a noticeable change in handling, I am at least happy knowing I've gotten rid of the extra weight and I love the look of my "new" and much improved engine bay !

I drove the Vibe today and could immediately tell a difference in the handling. It feels much more "solid" and the body roll is greatly reduced when turning or going through a curve. Definitely a huge improvement in ridgidity over the OEM damper-style strut brace.

oh awesome! you got one! nice

yea, I remember noticing a big difference when I first installed mine..

Yep, I finally decided to get one because I was tired of looking at the goofy looking OEM one every time I opened the hood ! I am very happy with it looks-wise and handling-wise! Definitely glad I decided to get one!

The one for my mom's Vibe came this past Thursday and I installed it right away, so now her Vibe has improved handling and looks as well !