Good job. I haven't had to do it on either of mine, but I've been lucky so far. Just on my third door damper actuator :) Do you mean the door check? I refurbished mine and they seem to be doing a bit better. Bad design on those as well. Very wimpy. But you can refurbish them instead of buying new o...

Yes, this strip has a dedicated white LED chip and an RGB chip. Three chips of each per section. Each section runs on 12V (has a built in current limiting resistor in each section as well). By varying voltage to each lead (RGBW) the intensity of the corresponding color is controlled. I left blue and...

Here are more pictures.

Well, my '06 Matrix had the one light go intermittent in the heater control area. I took it all apart to get to the lamps. It was NOT easy! Wow! Toyota really made access to these stupid light very hard. I wanted the whole white box out of the car so I could more easily look at what's going on in th...

He loves Toyotas in general. Keeps mentioning his Celica from the 80's. He is usually correct!

I realize there is a Honda part that will work. Supposedly, it's a better made part and cost less. I have searched and found Honda P/N 72380-SNE-A01. I think it can be had for about $15 on some of the discount online Honda dealers. That is a very good deal and I would say that most people would opt ...

More pictures.

2006 Toyota Matrix here. Just bought it and realized the front door checks are practically useless. New ones are $40/piece or more. I decided to try and refurbish mine. Took them out of the doors (easy) and took them to my bench. Opened up the metal box. That took some rotary tool magic, it was not ...

Thank you, I really do enjoy it. Shocks seem 100% fine. The thing rides like new and handles with aplomb. Are shocks another GM/Toyota discrepancy? Or are they the same on both cars? The only thing I will need closer to winter is tires. The ones that are on it now are not long for this world and are...

As promised, here is a picture of my "new" 2006 Matrix. It has 107K miles and tinted windows. Automatic, FWD.

I will post some pictures. I am off to get the registration (Friday and the RMV! Wish me luck). I also carry a Fuelly tag in the signature for my Prius, thinking of doing that with the Matrix. I know it's not going to be close to Prius in fuel economy, but from what I understand the regular non-GT (...

Well, I've done it! I bought a car, finally. Not the NOS Vibe, however. The seller of the NOS Vibe is dealing with some title issues and in the meantime I was continuing my search. I came up on a 2006 Matrix Xr automatic with 107K miles in really good shape. Looks like the car spent most of its life...

The engine oils that are called "High Mileage" contain an additive that will expand rubber and make the seals seal better. However: once you have put that stuff into the engine you are pretty much bound to stay with it because if you revert to no-High Mileage stuff the additives that soak...

Thank you for the warnings about the low mile car. I understand and am duly concerned. The car did have all its fluids changed and a new battery and tires installed before being put on the market. My biggest concern is the AC and all the seals in the system. The oil seals in the engine should probab...

Literally, the car is toyota. you're making this out to be something it's not. if the vibes were so problematic, they wouldn't still be in existence and on the road. I read a few posts on here, I think, about the blower motor being junk compared to Matrix and AC compressor, I assume is not Denso. I...

Really the only differences between the Vibe and Matrix are the HVAC (different compressor and recirculation gear), radio (05+ only), and the body panels. By default, the Matrix is more reliable as they don't have the HVAC issues the Vibe does, nor do they have issues with the radio bulbs burning o...

I live in Western Massachusetts. I do not want AWD even though I am in New England. I do not think it's worth having an extra system that only comes in handy a handful of times a year. the rest of the year it just adds weight, complexity and other issues (like: must buy 4 tires when one is damaged) ...

I am a new member here and do not yet own a Vibe/Matrix. I am actively searching for one, however and may have found a very interesting Vibe candidate. If it works out (I should know in a week or so) I will definitely post about it as I think it is very interesting. A little background about myself ...