bored001

I want to lift my Torrent about 2 inches and can find nothing available. I don't mind modifying something off of say an Equinox or a Vue but I can't find anything to even point me in the right direction. Anyone have any ideas? I am going to put some slightly larger tires, a bull bar and nerf bars on it along with a Baja style roof rack basket for the spare. I live waaay out in the sticks and I recently took a job as an E&I Engineer at a biofuel plant that is surrounded by every deer in Indiana it seems and the damn plants' closest neighbor is Siberia. I need to be able to get out there in the winter. Short of buying something else this seems the best alternative.

All I did to get an inch lower was to change the tire size from factory to 225/60 R17's. The only difference I can notice is the speedo being about 2 MPH off. Here is a picture of mine.

not bad for an AWD SUV yes? Pontiac power

I was driving home today and hit my tire pressure check button (I thought) to see if I needed to adjust my air pressure due to the rapid temperature changes we have been having in Indiana (fall HAS arrived) and I found out that sometime recently I had flipped 200k miles on the trusty Torrent. Just for the sake of being thorough I checked my avg. MPG and to my surprise found out that I am still getting decent mileage. I think I have another 100K in this car easily. Still burns no oil, is as dry as a bone in the engine bay and everything still works.

While I could agree with the bra letting moisture in and causing some rust issues, I can't for the life of me see how it can rub anything. It took me 3 hours with a heat gun to stretch this thing out enough to install it. (At one point I thought I didn't have the right part!) I cant even make it move with a pressure wand at the car wash. I had to remove body fasteners and replace them with ones that came with the bra just to install it. This isn't your aftermarket LeBra kit held on with hooks and bungee cords. This is a GM factory part from a dealership. While I can see where a bra would rub the paint if it moved and do agree that if you never took the thing off it would cause problems down the road, I do take mine off a few times a year to clean that fuzzy white stuff on the back and wash and wax under it.

Well worth the money, Wick. There are a couple of things a buyer would need to be aware of however. 1) The head unit is metric, not quite double DIN so it will not perfectly fit an installation kit without modifying your kit and/or your dash for a decent install. 2) You had better know your cars electrical system pretty well especially if you have steering wheel controls. While this unit does support steering wheel controls it is up to you to figure out how to integrate them into the new head unit. The instructions on this were not clear or apparent. If you use Apple mobile devices, be prepared for occasional (very occasional) problems connecting Bluetooth. The rear view mirror has never successfully connected via Bluetooth to my ios device but has with my wifes android. The ipod control however does work well. 3) you will need to have on hand a variety of antenna adapters to go from your car to this head unit. It is not standard. I found a kit at wally world that had the stuff I needed to make an adapter. Another note on the antenna. If your car has a factory powered antenna (the preamp is built into it; check your service manual) DO NOT forget to supply SW12VDC from the head unit to the antenna or you won't pick up any but the strongest local stations. 4) The cooling fan MAY be too noisy for you under certain circumstances depending on your application. I can barely hear mine and am not that picky, but for some that might bother them. On the whole however it is a good unit for the money. Lots of features and everything does work as advertised. It has been in there now for a year and worked in all temperature conditions without a hitch. Sound quality is good even though the lineratiy of the volume control is a bit strange for me; at around 5 or so the volume goes up at a faster rate than it does from 0-5.

The stereo is this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Def-7-In-Dash-2-Din-Car-Stereo-DVD-Player-GPS-Navigation-3D-Bluetooth-CAM-/310416933533?pt=US_Video_In_Dash_Units_w_GPS&hash=item48464a829d and the mirror is this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-3-Inch-Bluetooth-Rearview-Mirror-GPS-Navigator-4GB-with-Wireless-Rear-Camera-/110849686153?pt=US_Rear_View_Monitors_Cams_Kits&hash=item19cf27fa89. The mirror is easy to install; the stereo was not so easy because I had to interface it with the CANBUS that the body control computer runs off of to keep the functionality of the original factory stereo. The only thing I couldn't keep was the sound that the blinkers make which used to be made by a flasher unit but now seem to be artificially made by the cars sound system just because I guess GM thought we still needed to hear it.

What exactly is the harm done by a bra?

If you can find one I recommend a factory bra. It would cover up the dings and scratches and isn't all that expensive, though a pain to install. I recently put one on my Torrent. There is a picture under "exterior mods"

This truck gets used for long highway trips at least twice a year and along with some trip friendly interior mods (see that section) I decided that some exterior mods for trip friendliness were in the offing. Added a factory bra and the factory cargo spreaders. Took me a while to find them new but they were worth it. I also painted the factory wheels to match the bottom trim color. I think it adds a decent look overall and gets rid of the annoying "grey" trim on most of the car. The "before" picture is in my garage. Total cost: around $500 US and a case of beer.

Finally got around to messing with the Torrent. First two things: make it more trip friendly! I take 2 long trips a year with my wife and 10 year old daughter so the first 2 things were a DVD/TV system and a GPS that didn't involve me hanging some box off the dash somewhere.

Nice one man!

Welcome!

Thanks mark and coupe.... yeah I got the "keep it clean" bug from my wife; that's her (get this) 1998 Mazda MPV behind mine with (drum roll) 446,700 miles on it! Damn thing won't die. She keeps it spotless 'cause I think it was the first new car she ever owned when I bought it for her. She keeps after me to wash mine weekly and if I don't she bugs me until I do or hides my beer. By the way.. anyone get a line on some springs that are about 2" lower than stock for this vehicle that would be awesome. I can't seem to find anything online and I don't have a place locally that can bend a set up for me. Still on the hunt for the "right" wheels for it and have been photoshopping paint schemes and can't really decide. If anyone has seen some really cool Torrents somewhere the link would be greatly appreciated.

I will keep the badges however after some thought I think I will take the offered advice and NOT paint them red. I will shoot some candy black on them to give them a "smoked out" look. The same with the chrome trim around the grille.