GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hi, everybody! First off, I'd like to thank all of you for all of the great information on the forum; it really makes it easier for a quasi-skilled guy like me to keep my vehicle in top form. I've just purchased my second '03 GT; my first was sold to buy a truck and keep my boat running (which has to rank among the dumber financial decisions I've made) in 2009.

My new ride! I stole this photo from the ad, I'll put up more and better pics later from my own camera.

She's got 88,000 on her, one owner, kept in the 'burbs and obviously garaged and washed regularly. No rust, no dings, no curb rash (plenty of paint bubbling on the wheels, though!), and generally just as clean as can be. The interior looks new, but smells smoky, so that will get ripped out and power-washed, and Dynamat added, at some point.

I sell wine and spirits, and I put on about 22,000 work miles per year. I plan on running this car to 500,000, if I can. So I'll be doing a lot of work on the rubber underneath the car as well as to the suspension to set it up for a good long life. There is definitely some big time shudder under braking and a ton of steering play that needs to go away.

The brakes are garbage, in need of a total flush, overhaul, and upgrading. Been looking for stainless lines for this year, but haven't seen them around for the GT....

The tires are mismatched trash, sadly. The wheels on the car are destined for winter duty with Blizzaks mounted, so I'll be picking up a set of lightweight 17" wheels with summer tires for fun times on the byways of southern Wisconsin.

I'll be on my phone constantly, so I'll be adding a touchscreen with Bluetooth to keep me on the road handsfree. It's a Moon and Tunes car, so I like the idea of putting a compact amp in the factory location under the seat, with nice separates up front with a good 2 way speaker in the rear. I might even put in a small sub and relive my miscreant youth.....

I'll be around a lot, I'm sure, so I wanted to introduce myself, and both thank you all in advance for the help, and apologize for the stupid questions I'm bound to ask. Keep up the great work, y'all!

Welcome to GenVibe I get up your way at least once a year on Fish-Hatchery rd in Fitchburg. Got relatives there who work at UW. Nice Vibe and a great find! Keep us posted on all that you to to it and visit us often here! Again .............................. Welcome!

Welcome to the forum, Moustache03GT!

Hi Moustache03GT Welcome.

Madtown is awesome! Grew up in Oconomowoc and partied in Madison. Being a GT have you hit Lift yet? It's always good to clear the pipes from time to time.

Good Luck

Welcome to Genvibe and welcome back in a Vibe! Nice looking GT you have there.

Good luck with your plans. If you take care of it, you should be able to make your goals!

Welcome to GenVibe! That's an absolutely gorgeous looking Neptune GT you've got there ! I was just up in your neck of the woods last weekend (Waukesha). You should check out the WI GM-Tuners. Great group of car people.

As far as stainless steel brake lines go, it looks like Techna-Fit has ones that will fit your GT. If I'm not mistaken, #TOY-2200 should work.

Thanks everybody for the warm welcome! I hope at some point that I end up meeting some of you guys when you're around the Madison area....

Thanks for the tips on the SS brake lines; I can't believe I missed it when I was on the Monkey Wrench site.....

I got my brake and clutch hydraulics flushed this last Friday; the pedal feel was so soft, and the brakes had such little bite, that I thought there must have been some air in there. I'm totally sure that the PO had never changed or flushed the fluid....it was black. It certainly helped a bit with pedal feel, but the brakes just don't have any bite, so I'll be upgrading those straight off. I'm a bit torn between just doing good new pads and rotors with new SS lines, or whether or not to go whole hog and get BIG brakes. I would think I'll probably end up going with the former.....especially for the $$ involved.

I picked up a really cool set of wheels on Craigslist; Work Emotion CR 17x7.5 with ET48 offset. I'll be picking them up next week, and as soon as I get the hubcentric spacers and new lug nuts, they'll be mounted up, and you'll see some photos. They have 225/45/17's on them, which I think (after researching on here) will fit with no rubbing. They're forged, and SUPER light. I actually laughed when I picked one up. I can't wait to see what they do for the handling. They're bronze, so it's kinda Subie like, looks-wise, but I think they'll look really sweet, especially after I get the car lowered!

I have to say, I've been enjoying the hell out of the car, even in the less than perfect state it's in. I get into lift every time I drive it; I just can't help myself, especially on the highway. I'm really excited to get some of the little things done that will make the car feel more screwed down and planted. More updates to follow!

In case anyone was wondering about my handle....this is me!

I couldn't get a pic of the actual wheels I'm getting, so I pulled this photo off of a google search. I won't have the stickers around the rim and hub, though....I think they'll look pretty awesome!

Moustache03GT wrote:Thanks everybody for the warm welcome! I hope at some point that I end up meeting some of you guys when you're around the Madison area....

Thanks for the tips on the SS brake lines; I can't believe I missed it when I was on the Monkey Wrench site.....

I'm a bit torn between just doing good new pads and rotors with new SS lines, or whether or not to go whole hog and get BIG brakes. I would think I'll probably end up going with the former.....especially for the $$ involved.

I'm not too far south in Illinois and I do travel north to Wisconsin every now and again, so we could definitely end up meeting up some day.

You're very welcome! I'll be getting the Techna-Fit front and rear stainless steel lines for both our Vibes when I upgrade the brakes on them. They're the only company that makes stainless steel brake lines for the 2nd gen Vibes.

As far as upgrading the brakes go, have you considered compromising between regular pads and rotors and big brakes? I've been slowly collecting parts to upgrade the brakes on both our Vibes. I'll be doing PowerStop drilled and slotted front and rear rotors, PowerStop Z17 Evolution Plus ceramic front and rear pads and the Techna-Fit lines. So far I've scored everything brand new on eBay for super cheap. I'm confident this setup will perform much better than stock, but won't cost an arm and leg like big brakes. Just something for you to consider .