Intro and any interest in Vibe "return to glory" updates?

[VibeNation2024]

Hi Gen Vibe forum! I'm a long time reader of the forum but new member and 1st time poster. I really appreciated all of the assistance, info, advice, etc over the years and thought "better late than never" and time to contribute! A little history...I purchased a brand new 2007 all silver Vibe(named Storm...think X-men) with the color matching lower trim and sun and sound package back in July 2007. I LOVE this car for all the reasons that everyone knows here (reliable, low cost of ownership, fuel efficient, versatile, easy to maintain, etc). It currently has almost 110,000 miles and still going strong with just routine maintenance. I have taken great care of it with maintenance, garage kept, wash/wax(Meguiars) etc. Recently I was rear ended while fully stopped at a stop sign which resulted in a dented hatch, cracked bumper cover, broken impact absorber, bent impact bar, broken splash shields, etc. I knew the insurance company was going to write it as a total loss and it drove prefectly fine so it would have been a shame to total for a careless distracted driver(they admitted they were texting). So the body shop and I worked to get bone yard parts, paintless dent repair, etc and keep it under 90% loss threshold! It is fully repaired and ready for another 100,000 miles!

Now to the return to glory part of the title subject. My son is going to get his license in a few months so what better car for him than a Pontiac Vibe! I scouted dealers, facebook, auto sites and landed upon a 2008 base Vibe with 68,000 miles! (And I confirmed the low mileage with carfax, service records, DMV and the gm dealership. Everything checks out with no discrepancies. So if they did somehow rollback and fudge the numbers...it is CIA hacker level and not worth it in my opinion bc the selling price was within reason and did not show signs of a car with higher mileage). Anyway, I purchased it since it is such low mileage buy the car does need some TLC. I already stated with changing the oil, air filter, cabin filter, air inlet recirc, belt, etc. Does anyone have interest in the maintenance and progress leading to a grand reveal? Let me know and I can post progess in a different thread!

[tpollauf]

Glad you finally joined us "officially". It's unfortunate that this forum lost so many many members to that other "drama enriched" F***book site to where it's not as active as it used to be. We need members like you to keep this site active and thriving well into the future. As a recent retiree, I now have the time to repair, modify, and share info with others out there. Thanks for steeping up to the plate and being a part of this great community

[VibeNation2024]

Appreciate the welcome and agree with you on this great community! But I can't bash on Fakebook too much since I found my "new" 2008 Vibe on marketplace!

Also, I know that I said I would create a new thread but figured I would just continue to use this to avoid rehashing the history. As the before, I attached a few pictures from the sales ad. (I named her Kentucky for where I purchased it!)

Here is the current list (upgrades, maintenance, repairs) with some notes if I already completed:

1. Change oil and filter - Completed with Vavoline syn blend and Fram XG filter
2. Replace air filter - Replaced with a Fram Ultra (Have a K&N in my other Vibe but will switch to that next time)
3. Replace cabin filter - Replaced with a Fram
4. Replace drive belt - Replaced with Contential Multi V (Used the same belt in my 2007 but it was an Elite. It looks like there was a rebranding or change in availability)
5. Replace Air Inlet recirculator due to the infamous clicking - Replaced with AcDelco part from Amazon (P/N: 88970277). I purchased the $50 part since I read reviews that the less expensive ones break after 6mo-1 year. As anyone who has replaced this part, it is not fun and I don't want to do it anytime soon!
6. Interior (vac, hazing on gauge cluster, shampoo, etc) and Exterior detail (paint cleaner, polish, wax, etc)
7. Fix TPMS (might be a bad sensor)
8. Rotate tires
9. Relace missing splash guard (Just ordered from CarParts.com)
10. Replace hatch glass lift arms (Ordered Strong Arm 4079 from Amazon)
11. Sand and paint steel wheels
12. Paint or replace hubcaps
13. Replace coolant (I know all of the history on this topic but since there is Toyota Pink coolant in there, I'm replacing with the same)
14. Replace brake fluid
15. Replace power steering fluid
16. Tint windows (This is a maybe depending on how it will look)

I know that not all of these will change the look of after pictures but it will ensure that everything is caught up on maintenance and functioning!

[VibeNation2024]

Well, I have been making a lot of progress with the list and completed 1-5, 9, 10 and 14. Here is a picture when I was replacing the air inlet recirculator and took off parts to get to it. The gauge cluster was to try to remove the haze. I also attached a picture to show the A/C and circulation working with no fault codes!

I'm going to shift to the interior/exterior detailing and fixing the wheels. More updates to come!

[VibeNation2024]

Posting another 2 week update and replaced a TPMS sensor in the LF wheel so that cleared the indicator light! While I was doing that I rotated the tire and put on rear mud flaps (Pontiac from Autozone). I also took the car to the Toyota dealership to flush and fill the coolant with Toyota Pink. (I know that I could have done this myself but wanted a full flush due to the age and also to have another mechanic do a multi point inspection just to ensure that I'm not overlooking anything. The mechanic even came out with the service manager to meet the owner who brought in a 2008 Vibe! He said he hasn't worked on a Vibe in about a year but said it was in really good shape! He also was glad that I was taking care of it...probably just a tactic so I keep bringing it in...but was good to hear that he recognized it!

Anyway, no pics this time and will be working on finishing up the cosmetic clean up. It will be a few weeks or more since I will be travelling for work but will post the final updates with pics as soon as I have it finished.