GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

mikey00

It's hard to believe that GM doesn't care or know enough to fix the Vibe paint problem. I bought my 2005 black Vibe new in 2005. It quickly became obvious the paint was not very durable. I have small white scratches everywhere the car gets touched (door handles, gas door, hood,etc). I have 2 other b...

mikey00

Thanks guys. It's good to know that nothing is stripped on mine and it is working as designed. Actually, I guess it's a good idea. It keeps some tire guy with an impact wrench from stripping out your plastic lug nut.

mikey00

I noticed that when I tighten the plastic lug nuts that keep the hub cap on, they reach a certain point then release. Almost as if they were stripped. Nothing looks like it is stripped. I am wondering if they are designed to work that way so you can't over tighen them or if I have a real problem mos...

mikey00

I don't doubt that with extra care you may be able to avoid the scratches on a dark color Vibe. But what I am saying that a black Vibe subject to the same normal use as most other black cars does not hold up like the others. I make a habit of checking any late model black Vibes when I see them in a ...

mikey00

I also have a Abyss Vibe and the paint has small scratches all over it. Mainly in areas that get touched like door handles, gas filler door, hood, etc. The paint is soft on the Vibes and has been discussed on this forum many times in the past. My previous car was a black Olds Alero. It was used, dri...

mikey00

I recently picked up a G6 for $13,000 that had a sticker of $20,700. Has side air bags, traction comntrol, ABS. I had $3,700 in GM card points plus got $2000 GM rebate, plus $1000 conquest rebate, plus $1000 dealer discount.

mikey00

There will always be that one instance when ABS will not work as well as non-ABS. But the same logic can be applied to seat belts. Why use them if someone can tell you about that one instance when you would have been better off without them. I know I will never own another car without ABS.

mikey00

It can on a certain surface, but 99% of the time you will have shorter stopping distance plus better control during stops. You will be hard pressed to find anything negative from automotive experts on ABS, just lots of comments from those that don't have them thinking they don't need them. As far as...

mikey00

I am now on my 5th car with ABS. Before ABS came out I owned at least 10 non-ABS cars. I will never ever get another car without ABS. And for those who listed steering and StabilTrac (Vehicle Skid Control, VSC in the Toyota world) as being more important. One of the main purposes of ABS is so you do...

mikey00

Check Consumer Reports before you get the Caliber. It looks real nice but is not a very good car according to them.

mikey00

AWD on the Vibe and others with VC type setup don't always respond the way one would expect them to. I don't have AWD on my Vibe but I am on my 3rd Toyota with AWD. Before you go chasing down unnecessary repairs I would try to do a side by side comparision with another AWD Vibe. I bet when put into ...

mikey00

This really isn't as complicated as most are making it. Up until 2005 Vibes came with Toyota Long Life Red in them (same as all the Toyotas). Starting in 05 Vibes came with Toyota Super Long Life Pink (same as all the Toyotas). Most GM dealers don't stock the stuff so they use DexCool, which is oran...

mikey00

I am not sure what the deal is in Canada but in the US the AWD has less HP then the base (check the specs). This is due to the fact that the exhaust has to make a few extra bends around the AWD components and is more restrictive. The Vibe is kind of underpowered to begin with, so I didn't want to ta...

mikey00

I can understand the dealerâ€™s reluctance to do any thing other than charge you $90 without a CEL. I would start with your aftermarket add ons. It has to be one of them.

mikey00

I been on Toyota discussion boards for a while now mainly with my other vehicles. Toyota automatic transmissions are under discussion a lot and 2 important points are: never use anything but Toyota T-IV fluid and don't get a flush, just a drain and fill. Did you wonder why the guys who have Toyota T...

mikey00

I have a Valet 561R and it works great.

mikey00

Even if you can ship the car for free, it is not good economic sense to keep all of them. Sell either the Vibe or VW.

mikey00

I wish it did get a little warmer at idle. This is more for melting ice and snow and defrosting windows than comfort. It is kind of dissappointing when your windows are still iced up after an ice storm even if the car warmed up for 30 minutes. I plan to try one of those 12v 200 watt heaters this win...

mikey00

I have to agree with the recomendations for the Valet 561R. That's what I have in my Vibe and it works as described in all the posts above. I did all the research and was prepared to do the install myself. I went to Circuit City to pick up the RS and they had a sale $159 completely installed and had...

mikey00

I was at the Toyota dealer picking up some trans fluid to do a fluid change in my Lexus and decided to pick up a gallon of Toyota Long Life Red for the Lexus and a gallon of Super Long Life Pink for the Vibe. This was just to have some on hand in case I needed to add a little before the next change....

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE Â»Paint issues?If you don't know about the paint issues, do a search here. We discussed it many times in the past.The Vibe paint seems to scratch and chip more easily than other cars. I owned a black Olds Alero for 5 years before getting a black Vibe. The alero p...

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by Merzbow Â»The dealer is feeding you B/S. Like everyone said on here they are EXACTLY identical with the exception of the exterrior appearance. Same engine, trannys, drive train, interrior (minus the radio), brakes, suspension...Matrix has engine imobilizer, Vibe does not.

mikey00

The Vibe has the better styling but The Matrix will give you better resale value and the Matrix does not have the paint issues that the Vibe has.

mikey00

I do have one other thought. You could try your luck over at matrixowners.com. First do a search on gas mileage or mpg and see if you come up with anything. If not, try joining and posting you question.

mikey00

CEL is a Check Engine Light, which allows them to read a code with a code scanner which should point to the problem.As I said before I would not appraoch service people with data based on my last 1/2 tank of gas and how fast the guage is moving. If I were the service manager my response would be the...

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by djb383 Â»The Prestone bottle says 5 yrs/150,000 miles just like DexCool. Does the Toyota coolant last even longer?It's the same. Although Toyota recommends the first change at 100K and 150K there after in their maintenance schedules. Toyota made a lot of noise about high ...

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by djb383 Â»Most coolants now mix with, and are compatible with, all colors and all brands. I'm not a big fan of Dexcool, so I replaced the coolant in both of our '05 Vibes with Prestone green. You can't possibly remove all traces of the previous coolant, that's why the new ...

mikey00

Here is a link that works. Interesting, this antenna has an amplifier built in to make up for the lost reception due to the shorter length. I have a shorty from ebay (without amp) that works ok, but I must admit it is not as good as the stock one.http://www.parts4euro.com/cgi-...ory=0

mikey00

Here is what I would do if it were my car. First get some good accurate measurements over a few full tanks. No dealer will take you seriously when you base your gas mileage on less than a one tank and looking at the gauge. Maybe even pick up a scangauge. (www.scangauge.com) I realize you may already...

mikey00

The TPM on the Vibe works by checking for a difference in tire rotations. If all 4 tires loose the same amount of pressure there is no difference.

mikey00

The 17" are 3/10" wider than the 16". I can't imagine that there would be much difference in snow assuming both are good rated all season or winter tires. If you are more of a "practical" guy trade out the 17" for some 16". You will save some money on tires over th...

mikey00

If you need to turn off the parking lights, pull the fuse. You can then re-insert the fuse and they will stay off until turned on again. Then you need to repeat the process to turn them off again.The above link provided by CAN-AWD-VIBE will give you an idea where the module is located. There is a st...

mikey00

Was this problem caused when the remote start was installed? A remote starter usually flashes the parking lights when it is activated. This requires attaching a wire to the lights. The Vibe requires a negative pulse on this connection. Most remote starters by default provide a positive pulse. Read y...

mikey00

215 50 r17's are also the size listed in the 05 Vibe brochure I have. If I put that size into a tire calculator and compare it to the stock size (205 55 R16), the 17" tires have a circumference of 80 while the 16" tires have a circumference of 78.2. The 17" tires will show a speedomet...

mikey00

Yes, you are correct. I just wasn't thinking along those lines when I posted my reply. I am not sure if this is how they do it on the Vibe but as long as you use a 16" or 17" tire size so that the circumference remains the same the speedo is not affected. There are online tire calculators ...

mikey00

I thought I was on to something here because I didn't think 17" wheels were on option on the 05 base. I have an 05 base myself and still have a brochure. I just checked it and 17" actually were an option on the base.As long as your odometer is checking out accurate, my theory is blown away...

mikey00

Your mileage problem is being caused by the 17" wheel/tire tire situation. You have 17" wheels on a base with a speedo calibrated for 16". You never mentioned the tire size but I bet they are oversized which is adding to the problem. 1oldbanjo posted a simple test for checking the odo...

mikey00

The Vibe has a great heater as long as the car is driven. But remember, if the outside temp is 30 degrees and the car is started and just sits idleing with the heat on full blast for 30 minutes, the temp guage will barely budge and the heater will blow semi-warm air. Everything is working fine, the ...

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by Johnny5 Â»What if you just looked into getting a good set of snow tires instead of all the systems. It would probably do you better in the snow with a set of skinnier tires that were specifically built for snow and/or a set just for the summer.It may be cheaper than buyin...

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic Â»Did I read somewhere that you can't disable the stability control with Toyota's system? You can only toggle the "traction control" part of it? That sounds strange, so basically you're stuck with an "artificial" driving experience as ever...

mikey00

I have no reference to post. My info comes from actually owning the car, not from reading online references as yours does. I first owned a 2000RX with traction control and no VSC and my current 01 RX has VSC without traction control. I did not go to the Edmunds reference you posted but I have no rea...

mikey00

Lets see, "Talking about "StabiliTrak" inherently references GM's stability control implementation and no-one else's." You do realize your Vibe has Toyota Vehicle Skid Control (VSC) not actually StabilTrak.Also my RX is a 2001 with VSC and no traction control. I previously had a ...

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by GMJAP Â»Obviously, you're not bothering to read my posts. It would help the discussion if you actually read them.Finally, once again, there are not any GM vehicles with StabiliTrak but without Traction Control.See the following article, from which I have posted a section:...

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by GMJAP Â»You've just made my point. You can't have Stabilitrak on a vehicle without having Traction Control. It is NOT a separate system. It just has more features than basic Traction Control, and allows you to turn off certain features because you may not want them operat...

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by jake75 Â»So - you are saying that Stabiltrax includes traction control. Yes it does.I have been using StabilTrac for years now on my Lexus (actually called VSC on Toyota products) and will never own another car without it. I had to have it on the Vibe and did a lot of sea...

mikey00

Quote, originally posted by GMJAP Â»Stabilitrak is traction control. It is basically an intelligent traction control that will do you much better in winter driving conditions than just basic traction control.Stabilitrak regulates the brakes to keep the vehicle moving along the driver's "intende...

mikey00

Did your Vibe come new with the 17" wheels? If not, are we possibly looking at a speedometer error rather than an actual mileage problem?

mikey00

I finally got a chance to take it in. The dealer fixed the cladding on the warranty, no problem.

mikey00

No, I meant GM. The main topic was GM's return to RWD. It then went on to talk about the RWD Impala and a new RWD Malibu. After that it went on about Pontiac and the end of the G6 and Vibe. As I said I only had a chance to skim the article in the doctors waiting room. It was August 2006 Motor Trend....

mikey00

I was in the Doctor's waiting room yesterday and got to quickly skim an article in the August 2006 issue of Motor Trend. It was about GM's future stragety and it's return to rear wheel drive. The article mentioned that the G6 was over at the end of it's model run and also that it was over for the Vi...

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