GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I'm confuzzled with this one. Took the 2005 Vibe (with steelies) to a gent who was selling a set of 17" alloys with Kelly tires. This gent owns a 2008 Vibe. He stated purchasing the 17" alloys from a friend who owns a salvage yard, the 17" alloys came from a 2005 Vibe. His friend told him they would not fit his 2008.

Pulled my Vibe into his garage, pulled off the driver front steelie and put on one of the 17" alloys, it fit flush on the back side hub but the amount of stud beyond the alloy only was about 1/4". I thought the steelies, 16" alloys, and 17" alloys were all interchangable.

I left the 17" alloys and decided to investigate further. Does anyone know if the 17" alloys came with longer studs from the factory? Do I need longer studs to run the 17" alloys? If I were to get longer studs could I still run the steelies? I want to run winter tires on the steelies.

I thought all these wheels and tires were interchaneable on model years 2003-2008.

Thanks for any input.

It is not the studs, but the lug nuts. I'm assuming since you did not mention the lug nuts you tried to use the steel wheel lug nuts. The steel wheels use the tapered type of cone seat lug nuts to mount the wheels, while the alloy wheels use flat end mag style lug nuts which extend further along the studs to mount the wheels. I changed my son's car from steel wheels & hubcaps to the 17" alloy wheels a couple of years ago, and all I changed was the lug nuts. So if you get the proper flat lug nuts with the integral washers, you should be good to go.

Thank you for the information. I did forget to mention the lug nuts I tried. When I pulled my steelie and installed the 17" wheel I used lug nuts the gent purchased from an auto parts store for the alloy wheels. I did not know the lug type may have been wrong but was extremely concerned with the limited thread engagement due to the nominal stud protrusion past the wheel. I do recall the auto parts store lugs being tapered. I also tried the steelie lugs and they spun on about 4 turns, less than the others and clearly not enough engagement.

I phoned my mechanic on Monday morning and he gave me a couple dimensions to check on the wheels. I looked at the wheels on Tuesday and the dimensions (wheel hub thickness which he checked from another Vibe and lug bores and depth) he gave me matched up. So I purchased the 17" wheels, same ones as in your photo. This evening I gave them a good cleaning and inspection, checked the board, and see your response. Now I need to revisit the lug nuts and try the mag seat style. I went from expecting to get longer studs to simply buying lug nuts.

I can't recall the last time I changed a tire. We get a flat, we call AAA to change. We have a slow leaker, we take it to the shop to fix. I probably have the mag seat style nuts on the other car and didn't realize it.

Upgrading to Toyota stock alloys. When you purchased the lug nuts, was there a certain shank size you had to get. After reading replies to your post I see there are different shank sizes.


Thanks...

The set I bought was on ebay and was listed as Toyota mag lug nuts. Not sure what the shank length is, but they fit perfect.

I did buy a package of universal mag lug nuts at a local parts place, and the shank was too long. The lug nut bottomed out before the washer was tight against the wheel. I would just buy a 12x1.5 set for a Toyota online for about $20 or so.