New Vibe owner has some questions.

[phatcat913]

First I'd like to say I love this website. I bought my vibe on March 7 and I love it. It's a 03' base model with moon & toons and I paid $13K for, was that a good deal? secondly I'm intrested to know if the former owner had any of the TSB/recall work done to and to find out where to find these bullitens in the future. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Mr. Poopypants]

Welcome! How many miles are on your vibe?I would contact your local Pontiac dealership, you may be able to find out where it was originally purchased if you look in the glove compartment for any documentation. They will probably be able to let you know what the service records are. And as far as TSBs go, just keep an eye out here, you will usually hear about them a little while after they are released.

[phatcat913]

24027

[Mr. Poopypants]

I would consider that a decent price.

[phatcat913]

I notice you mention painted calipers, did you paint them yourself? and if so what did you use?

[Mr. Poopypants]

I did paint them myself. I used the basic caliper paint you can pick up at any autoparts store for 15 bucks. It looks really nice. I may need to throw another coat of paint, there has been a TON of salt on the roads this year, I want to see how they held up.

[joatmon]

welcome to genvibe. Sorry I missed you when I was lutking in the chat room last night, you threw a *evil* and then logged out as I was trying to find which window I had the chat in. a dealer should be able to look up what dealer service has been done on it. There was only ever one recall on Vibes so far, and it was early, only affected the first month or two worth of production, so check the manufacture date on the sticker in the driver's door jamb, and if it's after march 2002 then yours wasn't affected. vibe recall thread

[JohnC]

Here is the National Highway Transportation Board web site, you can look it up there. There are a total of 44 TSB's, for 2003.http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/

[phatcat913]

thanks for the info!

[Merzbow]

Caliper paint is risky in Michigan. I painted mine last June and they looked beautiful. Winter came, still held up well, then as soon as January hit...BAM! The paint chipped off the front of the caliper leaving the ugly metal exposed. It ONLY chipped in the front on both sides so I tried to scrape the rest off with metal bristle brush and it would not even flake anymore...I gues I only have to paint the exposed areas when it gets above 50 degrees Less work but I'll have to deal with the ugliness for a while...I stsill have half a can of paint left to use.I think the road salt mixed with water/ice caused the paint to come off

[phatcat913]

Whats the difference between "short ram" induction and CAI?

[tnpartsguy]

Short Ram keeps the air filter up high near the battery, CAI puts the filter down low, near the ground to pick up colder air....and put it near water and rain...can you say HydroLock? Because thats what happens when the CAI sucks up a puddle.....

[phatcat913]

which offers better performance?

[tnpartsguy]

CAI usually gives more overall HP gains, because you get a colder, thus denser air charge. Short Ram gives very mild HP gains, and actually can lead to a HP loss during very hot weather, because it's sucking hot air out of the engine bay. Most people with a Short Ram build a baffle to try to avoid the hot air off the engine.

[Merzbow]

You scared him with the puddle sucking The only way to get water into your CAI filter is if you parked in a puddle that submerged the filter almost all the way and started revving the engine as discussed in a previous thread We had massive floods and I forged a channel going across a road that was up to my front bumper and had no problems. I drove with my door open so I could make sure it wasn't that deep.