Raising the Clearance on a 2005 Vibe?

[vibedrive]

Hi All,
I just got back from my 3rd winter of driving throughout Mexico. We travel the coast and also up into the colonial mountain towns. I absolutely love my Vibe for this travel. It is the perfect size, and very nice mpgs.
Question: If you've every spent any time in Mexico you will know that in that country they have a LOT of speed bumps (topes) everywhere. I wish I could say that there is an industry standard, but unfortunately no two speed bumps are alike. On many of these my 2005 will high-center and scrape along the carriage. I try to hit them at an almost full stopped, and also I will sometimes cross at a 45 degree angle. Always a pain in the (removed) when you've got 800 more miles to cover today.
Is there a How-To on raising the clearance for the 2005 Vibe?
Related: When I'm scraping & grinding over the top of these speed bumps, what could I potentially be hurting?

Thanks for your help, Great forum!

[trb]

An easy way to raise it up a bit would be to buy some taller tires/wheels for your trip. Assuming you have the stock 16" wheels, going up from stock 205/55/16s to 205/65/16s will give you almost an inch more of clearance. 215/65/16 will give you over an inch of clearance. But you would have to realize your speedometer would be off by about 6-9%, or show you are traveling 4-5 MPH slower that you actually are. 60 on the speedo would actually be 65. You could also move up to 17" wheels and a 215/55/17 or 215/65/17 for about a 1" increase.

Anytime you are increasing tire size, you would have to make sure you are not rubbing the fenders too much. Occasional rubbing like when turning is not bad, but I would not want to be hitting the fender liners while driving regularly. Be aware most national or large tire places will not put oversized tires on your car. You may have to go to an independent place that would understand your situation.

This is a good place to get tire size estimates and compare them to your original tires: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalcold.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The parts that are probably rubbing are the body rocker panel side rails, parts of the unitbody or the exhaust system. Just look under the car and you should see the places it scraped. Unless you hit them hard, I doubt there would be much damage.

Good luck!

[vibedrive]

Wow, Thanks Thomas!
This sounds like an easy solution that would eliminate at least a large percentage of the offending speed bumps.

Wouldn't this also change my gas economy to the better?

[A Psycho Martyr]

yeah, the 20 inch wheels i ran for years and years really raised mine up quite a bit.

AT LEAST 2 inches higher

[vibedrive]

Wait a minute!!! The potential down-side of larger than OEM wheels is that if you ever load down your Vibe to its weight capacity, and beyond, won't the tires then be rubbing the wheelwells? I ask becuase my Vibe is over-loaded a lot during these 3'000 mile Mexico runs.

[A Psycho Martyr]

Mine rubbed regardless.lol....

wheel wells = destroyed

[trb]

Wait a minute!!! The potential down-side of larger than OEM wheels is that if you ever load down your Vibe to its weight capacity, and beyond, won't the tires then be rubbing the wheelwells? I ask becuase my Vibe is over-loaded a lot during these 3'000 mile Mexico runs.

Yes, that is a possibility and why I mentioned it. Does it bottom out on the suspension now? I wonder is there are any kind of airbags or other overload helpers that would help limit the bottoming out. But if you are only adding an inch, I don't think it would be too much.

[Derf]

I have wondered this exact same question, living in a rural area. Their are still several stone roads nearby (that get rutted), although I have not had an issue yet, an extra 1-2 inches of clearance would be a plus. Especially with the wide open areas that lead to drifting snow. I read all the time about lowering kits for the Vibe, but often wondered if they made a lift kit, springs, struts, etc. Although with those changes, I know it would also impact the ride of the car, which is really good for its short wheelbase.

[vibedrive]

Does it bottom out on the suspension now?

YES, Most assuridly it's bottomed out when I make my big drive to Mexico. 2 bikes on the trailer hitch, everything from the driver's seat back loaded to the ceiling. When I stick my hand into the space between tire and body, there seems to be about 1 inch or so. The car rides like a metal to metal feeling on these days. I only try and drive on the flat-out freeway toll roads with smooth pavement.
I need to find a solution such as changing the shocks to air assist, or springs, or what-ever (and possibly in addition to over-sized tires).
I've often thought of taking a little click counter (or iphone app) to count the number of speed bumps in my yearly travels in Mexico. It must be over 1000 per winter, and 1/4 of these are screwed up enough to high center on (when fully loaded).

[KITT222]

There's always this: http://matrixowners.com/index.php?/topi ... trix-lift/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[vibedrive]

There's always this: http://matrixowners.com/index.php?/topi ... trix-lift/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This would have been great 3 years ago when I worked in a welding shop... but I'm retired now and they've locked me out (gov't maintenance shop).

Might just break down and start looking for a vehicle purchase and trade-in the Vibe