GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hello everyone! I'm a ticketed Partsman! I went to school to be a Mechanic but hated having black hands 7 days a week! I am liscensed by the province where I live and have been so for ten years! Everyday I see really poor advice and erroneous info here! People if you are not a mechanic or tech or partsguy, shut the hell up! There is plenty of misinformation floating around but if you are not an authority on the subject pipe down! Most people are ignorant of what is happening under the hood and should never attempt to do anything themselves! I had a guy today who was going to change his outer tie rod end but not get an alignment, sure changing the part is easy but to complete the job you must spend the money at a shop, if you don't you car is not safe AT ALL! Now I know that everyone is a mechanic and we all know what we are doing but get real, why guess when it is yours or some elses life. Align yourself with the best mechanic you can find, he/she will save you thousands of dollars in the long run! Any other partsmen out there feel free to speak out!!!Sorry guys had a crappy day at work I needed to vent on all the idiots out there. Being management, my owner frowns on me yelling at the customers!!!Everyone is a mechanic and they are all selling the car next week!

hope you feel better because i agree with you. i also went to school to be a mechanic and was certified by chrysler. I then went to work for G.M. building cars and trucks. I worked in the repair stalls for 10 + years. granted the bolts came loose on a new car alot easier than a used one. but remember it is hard to find a "good mechanic " in the automotive business, especially when the dealerships are charging so much for work done and the mechanic doesn't get the credit or the money he is worth. when you get your car fixed now adays you get to meet "chuck" your service representative not the actual repairman and you never get the same repairman every time at dealerships. so please feel free to reply to the tech questions and help out when its needed.and sometime someone on this site will be able to help you out with a problem your having. by the way ?:when I hear the people here changing rim (wheels to the politically correct) size from 16 to 17 inch what do they have to do to correct the speedometer. just wondering

quote:by the way ?:when I hear the people here changing rim (wheels to the politically correct) size from 16 to 17 inch what do they have to do to correct the speedometer. just wondering I had to bring my car into a certified shop to modify a the spedometer gear in the the transmission.But that was due more to the fact that the previous owner of the car put the wrong size tire on the wheel, and I got caught speeding.Getting the spedometer recalibrated was the only way to get out of a speeding ticket, which at the time I couldn't afford to have another on my record.

Thats a market that hasn't really caught up to the bigger tire/wheel trend! It's tough to get gears for big rims and with the new electronics some pick up the speed from a wheel sensor or a signal from the tranny; no more mechanicals just electrical! Got to pull out the scan tools!

I remember when the G.M. trucks went to electronic sensors and knew then things were changing. remember the old speedo cables, just stick a new gear on the end. and if you drove the car too much you just pulled a ferris bueller.

quote: Hello everyone! I'm a ticketed Partsman! I went to school to be a Mechanic but hated having black hands 7 days a week! I am liscensed by the province where I live and have been so for ten years! Everyday I see really poor advice and erroneous info here! People if you are not a mechanic or tech or partsguy, shut the hell up! There is plenty of misinformation floating around but if you are not an authority on the subject pipe down! Most people are ignorant of what is happening under the hood and should never attempt to do anything themselves! I had a guy today who was going to change his outer tie rod end but not get an alignment, sure changing the part is easy but to complete the job you must spend the money at a shop, if you don't you car is not safe AT ALL! Now I know that everyone is a mechanic and we all know what we are doing but get real, why guess when it is yours or some elses life. Align yourself with the best mechanic you can find, he/she will save you thousands of dollars in the long run! Any other partsmen out there feel free to speak out!!!Sorry guys had a crappy day at work I needed to vent on all the idiots out there. Being management, my owner frowns on me yelling at the customers!!!Everyone is a mechanic and they are all selling the car next week!Could you provide some examples of the really poor advice and erroneous info here that you are talking about? I for one have found some good stuff on this forum, without ever giving a thought to who it came from. I'm not trying to be a (removed), but if you see some bad or erroneous info, we'd all like to know about it. I know for a fact I've run into some incompetent pinheads at the dealerships and garages too. Not all of them mind you, but too many to instill blind confidence in the profession as a whole. Just like some of the meanest, ignorant, hypocritical, intolerant people I know are also the most religious, some of the people who should know the most about your car actually know VERY little, especially when it comes to the VIBE. If you see something stupid on this board, I would encourage you to point it out immediately to all of us, so we don't go do something we'll regret. Your knowledge is very valuable to us and with most people who specialize, you know much more than you think you do. Thanks.

I won't point fingers, not my style! I appreciate the support, I will speak up more often. I promise! I know that the people on these boards are pretty Vibe savvy but the mechanics and the real life physics are hard to explain without being long winded and generally boring! Thanks again for giving me a place to vent!!!

Vent away, my friend. This world needs more folks like you.

Hi Engine,I need your advice about installing a sway bar on a vibe... Is that really usefull? Is there any inconvenients or dangers to use this?

The only dangerous thing about it is thinking that you now own a race car! A sway bar will work with the springs to help control body roll, thats all it is designed to do. From the threads I have read people seem very happy with the mod on their Vibes/Matrix! I put bigger bars on my Bronco and it was like night and day, much flatter thru the turns but not as much suspension travel, thats the major down side to them! Good luck!

Correct me I am wrong, but if you change wheel and tire size on your vehicle, you don't always have to recalibrate. For example, what I mean is that if you go from a 175/70/13 to a 195/50/15 the wheel and tire heigth should be the same. For the Vibe: 205/55/16 to215/45/17 or 225/35/18. Of course I could be dead wrong on this though. I was told a long time ago that you add 10 subtract 10 for every inch increase in the wheel.Please chime in at any time Shadow Realm

quote: I won't point fingers, not my style! I appreciate the support, I will speak up more often. I promise! I'm not an expert on anything, and I admit that freely. If you see bad information, please highlight it right away. Some people here are really good about not letting the bad advice go un-challenged. I've been "corrected" here a number of times, and while it's never fun to be wrong, it's better to at least know what's right. You said "Everyday I see really poor advice and erroneous info here! " You make it sound like the whole site is crap. It's irresponsible to make such a blanket claim and not back it up. You need to point this stuff out as it happens, and point fingers. Some of us who aren't automotive gods may see something here and knowing that there are such folks as members, if it doesn't get challenged, then we're more likley to believe it. If the site really is full of "poor advice and erroneous info", then I guess I don't need to look here anymore.As far as professional mechanics go, I know there are good and reputable ones out there, I just haven't ever found one. The last dealer mechanic I went to for a CEL light on another car gave me an estimate of $500 to replace an EGR valve. I checked it out again and found a loose vacuum line causing the problem This has been typical of the professionals I have run in to, so although I know that there are some jobs I can't handle, for others I'm one of those dangerous amateurs who is more likely to do it myself.

Dude, I noticed you live in a town called CHILLiwack. Get it? CHILL OUT!We are on here to help each other. What you're complaining about is not unlike going to a service station and getting bad advice. It happens. It's a part of life.No one on here is obligated to listen to anyone else's advice. And I don't know of a person on here who has given advice on a subject without having done or experienced that particular issue themselves. I.E. -- I asked for help installing a CAI, and everyone who answered me HAD DONE THE INSTALL THEMSELVES!!!Other people ask for help changing oil. Those of us who have done it offer our advice.No one here is maliciously giving bad advice. And if they are, the moderators and administrators will address the issue. And in the few occasions were someone gives advice, and is later proven wrong, we make it known that some bad info got out accidentally, everyone gets over it, and we move on. It's not the end of the world by any extent!There is NOTHING wrong with people doing their own repairs and modifications. It's their right to do it.Being a mechanic though, maybe you're scared people will fix things themselves and you'll lose your job? quote:to complete the job you must spend the money at a shop, if you don't you car is not safe AT ALL! Oh, and EVERY mechanic does the job PERFECTLY and EVERY repair done by a mechanic is SAFE?I feel my point is made. I shall shut up now.

quote:by the way ?:when I hear the people here changing rim (wheels to the politically correct) size from 16 to 17 inch what do they have to do to correct the speedometer. just wondering You don't have to do anything as long as the diameter of the wheel/tire combination doesn't change. If you gain an inch by using larger wheels, you should choose a tire profile that yields an inch less than the stock 16-inch tires. That is the usual stylistic aim of going with larger wheels anyway... more prominent wheels with a lower profile tire. When you change the diameter, that changes the number of rotations per mile of the wheel/tire assembly, which throws the speedometer off.

Hello everyone,I'm not even close to being worthy enough to post advice on this network but it is always nice to read other's opinions, trials and tribulations as it pertains to something I own as well. I would hope that people wouldn't take what one person says and run with it. No matter what is read here, everyone should still seek out final input from someone they know and trust locally. Well, for items needing more advanced input.I've asked advice on several issues and the responses really did give me a lot of food for thought though my decisions will still be based on personal research and local professional help. As far as tires I've been looking at... Logic tells me to find something the same diameter, if I want to upsize in any way or I will be changing the actual speed readings and such on the speedometer. That sounds logical to me but not everyone would even consider this. Many think an 18" is wider in diameter than a 17", it's not particularly so. Also read where someone said an inch wider means 10mph difference on the speedometer. I would have to assume that it's not even close to that PLUS, an inch wider than a standard 15" wheel has a greater circumference increase than adding an inch to a 17" wheel so that statement can't be accurate. I'm eventually upsizing my tire width from a 215 to a 235 but lowering the profile from a 50 to a 45 which basically puts me at the same tire diameter within .1 inch (25.5 vs 25.4). I've also compared revolutions per mile and they're very close to being the same (820 vs 823) I know I won't have a major problem with this because I've asked here and asked at my tire dealer when changing over tires on an older vehicle. I ask questions, forums are good for question asking but nothing should be taking for gospel because, for the most part, everyone has differing opinions. Everyone keep giving the great advice you all seem to do but everyone just remember that some things are best left to a mechanic and some things may need additional adjustments to work right. I would hope anyone with such a valuable object like a car would logically know this... But I guess I know better... especially when I continually see people using the "TURN LANE" as a "MERGE LANE", which it's not!!! heheheWell, hope someone read this to the end...Dave

quote:hope you feel better because i agree with you. i also went to by the way ?:when I hear the people here changing rim (wheels to the politically correct) size from 16 to 17 inch what do they have to do to correct the speedometer. just wondering if you change the wheel from 16 to 17" and you spend some time picking tires you can get a wheel/tire combination that gives you the same overall radius as the original or close to it...... this is done by getting a tire with a different height sidewall....

thanks everyone, I think I understand now layman terms less tire more wheel