GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

well, while I was taking my wife to a doctor's apointment yesterday I managed to have a little bo bo I was turned around looking out the back glass watching the other cars (i was at the end of the lot and had to back staight out) and someone decided to put a light poll (with the cement thing around the bottom) in the parking lot instead of in the grass beside the parking lot and well you can guess the rest. I went to the body shop when I got back in town and my estimate was just over 1300 I was about a 1/4 inch from busting my taillight, too. The back bumper alone is ~$425.I'm thinking of asking if I can just have the bumper painted black and getting the rest of the cladding painted to match later when I can afford it. I couldn't tell that the bumper was craked or damaged too badly just one bad case of light pole rash. I guess I'll get a smooth bumper like I wanted, just not the way I wanted to go about aquiring one I'll post some pics when I get them from my phone or something, so you can have a lesson on how not to exit a parking lot.

Bummer, that sucks!

That's unfortunate.

ouch that bites and hurts(the wallet) ! well hope it gets fixed soon. and yes wed love to see the pics so we can learn how not to exit our parking lots.

oh geez that's pricey. My Mom has managed to do that at least 3 times in her life. lol. She's not the greatest driver, but it's an easy mistake to make.

ouch sorry to hear about that. maybe we should install rubber cladding so its more like bumper cars i know id do it.

i feel your pain i wracked my vibe up last weekend. I posted a thread on it http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=24300. good luck hope you get it fixed soon

Ouch! That sucks! I hope you are able to get it fixed soon.

thanks guys. Now I just have to save up $250 to get started. .... gonna be a while

Oh no... sorry to hear of the ouch! Hope its fixed soon!!!

quick lil' update... it's still not fixed hopefully will be within the next few months. But here's the real reason I bring this thread back. I was strolling thru some posts in the exterior section & came across this one http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id ... oldmm803's mention of an aftermarket bumper made my gears start turning. My qoute has ~$420 for my new rear bumper. Obviously aftermarket is cheaper (even with shipping). Wich one do you guys think would go good with the stock cladding? I don't plan on getting anymore bodykit-like peices. The only problem with this is I would have to go ahead & get all the cladding painted but I might just be able to do that since I was only quoted $250 for the cladding (still not sure) I'd get it painted black, btw. Thanks for any advice/opinions

i am sorry to hear that! that's a big time bummer!

Good luck ANO hope they can actually get the RK sport one if not then all you have to choose from is the stock or Street Grafiti.

Would either of those AM bumpers hang lower than the stock side skirts?

probably not but im not to sure.

Hey I think I found the The official pick on ANO thread, yeah me!!

YES! jasons body kit sat lower then stock bumpers... maybe like 1.5" or less.You could use some fiberglass and bondo Maybe look on ebay.. i saw a silver one on ther for like 150 shipped or something

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »Hey I think I found the The official pick on ANO thread, yeah me!! ok you've had your fun now go away! j/kMrizzle, that's what I was afraid of. I don't like the front of that kit (It's not like I've got the money for it anyway) LOL, I wouldn't want to know what it would turn out like if I tried my hand at body work. I'm friends with the people at the body shop & one of the guys could probly modify that for me but I'd be scared of the $$$ involved Are you talking about a stock bumper or an aftermarket one on ebay?

Quote, originally posted by ANO_Vibe » ok you've had your fun now go away! j/k Awe, that's not very nice

stock bumper... on ebay. you should be able to find one

I'm going to have to shell out the money on the deductible anyway so what would it help to get a cheaper stock bumper? The only thing I can think of would be the total cost of repair would go down thus reducing what the ins company pays.this is my first time filing an insurance claim, btw.

when i wrecked my cavy... they had an adjuster come out, look at the broken rice (haha) and wrote me a check for the amount.In your case i dont know what would happen but if you get the check too then it would help pay for the deductible. you know?

I pay the deductible to the shop & then the ins co. pays the shop the rest.

woah... that sucks.what about the aftermarket bumper? how much is that?I guess ebay for a bumper then... dunno know how else to help ya man.

the psychovibe bumper is ~$270 I think (+ shipping probly)that would save around $80-100 depending on shipping but then factor in having to get the cladding painted to match...I'd still be paying more than my decutible. I don't know... whenever I get the money I'll just talk to the shop owner and see what he thinks. I probly will just go with a stock one since the AM one hangs lower. Thanks for trying to help

Quote, originally posted by ANO_Vibe »Thanks for trying to help Your welcome

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »Your welcome some help you are...

Har Har... I'll get some soon. Hopefully, I'll be getting it fixed late January.

I did a quick repair of my scratched rear left side cladding last month.IF your cladding is only scratched , and there are no real dents, you can acutally sand the deep scratches out , so long as they are not deep to the point of being completely through.I had backed up my car and while doing so, rubbed the bumpers side against a stucco wall.I have a random orbital sander , first loaded it with 100 grit, carefully sanded just to the point that the deeper scratches were relatively smooth.Then switched to 220 grit, followed by 320/400 grit then 600 grit. All of the sanding is feathered so the edges blend in very well.Final results?Very smooth... in your case, it is highly paintable, and should pose no problem for primer and paint.IF you have grey cladding and a different color car, you will want the grey cladding to be as close to the original sheen as possible.In my case, I quit at the 600 grit point and there is a slight shading difference for one reason.That is that the undamaged cladding is slightly textured (look very closely) and in fact is super smooth with texture. PERHAPS, if I had taken a very fine Liquid polish, such as Mequiars Diamond finish polish(I think thats the one) this may be what it takes to get the finish absolutely perfect, or as close as possible.I have used some 303 protectant and as is, (without liquid polishing) only looks distinguishable to me.Good luck with the body work, let us know if they ended up repairing the bumper and all the details.

thanks for the info but mine is a little more than scratched

Well... it won't suck to be my much longer My vibe is going in the shop on Monday! I'm finnaly getting that stupid dent fixed. I'm also getting something a little extra done while it's there. Instead of getting a new bumper (my "accident" only scuffed the it) I'm going to get them to paint my cladding black. So I have a good project for this weekend involving taking all the peices off (except the rear).I'll be sure to post pics of the finished product

Remember to get clips for them,10 on each piece of cladding.Most will break when you take them off.I am in the process of replacing the passenger quarter and lower rear door cladding,and also had to buy new seals or weather stripping.PITA.

ok, thanksI remember reading about those little buggers I'm guessing the clips are cheap, right?

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »

I'm lazy, OK!? I'll see if I can get some this weekend... geez

The clips are $3 each and part #94848834 and I think you need 10 for each piece of cladding.But the door moldings have a stick on seal that might not be re-useable.

thanks kev, I'll try to be careful with them. $3 a pop could add up fast I finnaly took some dang pics so V would hush!

OUCH.....That definetly hurt.... Back in August i was at a clients house and they have their trees in the weirdest of places and it was raining. I went to back out and do a 3 point turn and one of the trees were right next to the driveway. I ended up hitting the right front fender, however it seemed to only scratch the cladding more than anything. The crappy part is though mine is monotone so i have to possibly re-paint it....

sorry to hear that silver If it's a small scratch see if getting it buffed would help.good news guys!I got the cladding off without breaking any clips It's been in the shop since Monday. I've got my grilles ready to paint (black) today.I need ideas for what to do with the 3 lower grilles tho. I'll probly just paint them black like the upper grille but I kinda wanted some contrast since my cladding will be black....any ideas?

good job on not breaking any clips, you better post pics once its done

will do I have a few pics of the cladding/front bumper removal (not enough for a full-blown HOW-TO) but I'll post them within the next few days.

i painted my lower pieces black.... ER! they are a dullish black, so i painted them gloss black, much better.i wanted to cut the two corners so it had air going to the intake

I thought of finding some paint similar to Moonstone for the bottom but I'm not sure if that would look right

*just noticed your banner.... haha*the pieces are to small to have anything else then black or silver (if you like it)The grill looks 100X better then stock once painted a gloss black

ok it's official....THE CLIPS SUCK!!!! I just called the body shop for an update. Everything dentwise is fixed but well over half of the clips stayed on the car when I pulled the cladding off. I thought they would be able to get them out no problem... apparantly I was wrong... They're giving me a good deal allready since I try and help them with compter stuff but I just hope this doesn't snowball

I told you.The are a PITA.I just finished fixing my back quarter and lower rear door.The real pain was I screwed up on the lower door cladding cuz it didn't have double sided tape and had to rip it off and buy 10 more clips.So a total of 30 clips for 2 molding,grrrrrrrrrrr.

I think some should be able to go on the insurance b/c they would've had to take that piece off anyway for the repair

[QUOTE=ANO_Vibe]I think some should be able to go on the insurance b/c they would've had to take that piece off anyway for the repair[/QUOTEIs the insurance covering the cost of the damage,if they are,get the insurance to pay for the clips.

yeah that's what I meant Insurance should pay for anything involving the rear end. (i.e. black paint, prep work, some clips)