GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I have noticed several spots on my vibe (at 12,000 mile) where the paint has been chipped or scratched. I have never seen a car so prone to chips and scratches before. It seams that I just touch it, and the paint gets scratched. The paint around my door handles for instance, already have some chips down to the metal. Not to mention the thickness of paint I can visibly see at these spots is far thinner than expected. This is my biggest complaint with my vibe.

mines the same way, just passed 2000 miles and i have a chip on my hood to the metal and a few deep scratches by the handle. kinda sucks i know.

Yep, it seems that the paint used for the Vibe and the Matrix must suck. I have almost 4,000 miles on my Matrix and I have atleast half a dozen places where the paint has chipped - just bare metal.There is a post on matrixowners.com with a lot of people on there expressing their dislike of the paint.-Slink

Its good to know I'm not the only one dealing with this. Waxing and Polish doesn't seem to help much either. My car has had a good coat of wax on all year, and it doesn't help the problem. But at least my scratches are shiny...

Same here. There's a lot of paint chips on the bumper and the hood.

Yeah...Me too, I have three slight chips in the front end near the grill! I work at a grocery store and have a ding on the bottom of my passenger door (no paint missing) and two small scratches on my back hatch (no dent though) from carts!......Has anyone repaired dents, scratches, ect.? Any suggestions?

I noticed the same thing last week when I was washing my car. There are chips all over my hood. I called the dealer but I still haven't heard a reply from them yet.

I told my dealer about excessive paint chips a few months ago and they said there was nothing they could do for me. now at 10,000 miles it horrible.What color are your cars?mines Bright Red and I've talked to a few people in the buisness and they all said red is supposed to be one the strong paint options becasue of the iron use to turn the dye red. but still tons of chips.

I have the neptune, and the chips are totaly obvious. It worries me because my car is so new, what's it going to look like in another year. I don't want to drive down the street with a polk a dot blue and silver car. That's not why I bought my car

I don't have any paint chips in my hood as of yet and I have around 3400 miles on mine. I have noticed a few rock dents in the front bumper but they just kind of wrinkled the paint, no chips.Are any of you driving on the highway a lot? I have taken a few 120 mile trips on the highway, but I don't travel on them too much. If I were to travel the highway a lot, I would definately invest in the hood deflector from GM. It seems like it would help.

I've driven to Texas and Indy. I'm on the freeway quite frequently. I currenty have 13,377 miles on the car so I've done my fair share of driving. I remember my dads grand am though it was a 93 and the paint just peeled off of it....I hope these chips don't lead to that

I have seen Grand Am's like that before as well. I hope this doesn't happen to the Vibe. Like I said, if you do a lot of highway driving, consider getting that hood deflector. There may even be an aftermarket company that match paints them like the ones I have seen on trucks.

I have an Abyss and the front end is a mess already with 11,000 miles. In another year I can only imagine how bad this will look. Hopefully there will be some sort of recall or something to reimburse painting the front ends.

I ordered a Wolf Series II car bra this morning from http://www.car-truck-accessories.com Including shipping it was only 76.58 Not a bad deal. Its better quality then LeBra so I'm not going to complain about that. BTW My front end was starting to look horrible that why I ordered it.

quote:Don't count on it my friend!I don't want to be negative, but I think like Salsa. GM won't give us a recall or any cash back for this. They will put the fault on your driving habbits.

That's what they told me when I took it to my dealership awhile back. They would even tough up the chipped paint.

quote:I have the neptune, and the chips are totaly obvious. It worries me because my car is so new, what's it going to look like in another year. I don't want to drive down the street with a polk a dot blue and silver car. That's not why I bought my carRight there with you. Mines Neptune, and it already has rust where the chips are down to the metal. When your car is new and is already rusting, you get slightly pissed off. Ya know!?

start taking pictures of the chips and the odo. now so you have documentation later. so in a year from now when it looks worse we have proof that its been bad sense the start. I have already taken my into the dealership even though they say there is nothing they can do for me, they at least have me on record complaining about it.

"I ordered a Wolf Series II car bra this morning from http://www.car-truck-accessories.com Including shipping it was only 76.58 Not a bad deal." I am very anti car bra, let us know how it looks though I went to the web site where you got it and didn't see a picture. I didn't buy my car to cover it up, but it does need protection I just don't want to end up looking like I'm driving around with gramma panties on my car .

Paint chips suck!!!! I have them on the roof, hood, and even a new one on the hatch door. The car has a 1000 miles. I'm slighty angry now.

quote:I have an Abyss and the front end is a mess already with 11,000 miles. In another year I can only imagine how bad this will look. Hopefully there will be some sort of recall or something to reimburse painting the front ends. Should GM pay when you run over a nail and get a flat too???Come on, if you don't want chips don't drive your car. You don't see any chips on your rear bumper do you? NO, of course not. All cars get them. My 01 Jetta looks horrible, BUT I do alot of highway driving and drive too close to the cars in front of me. Just learn to live /w it. VWs have some of the best paint jobs too.

I just said, i got them everywhere, even on the rear of the vehicle. Only got 1000 miles on it. I don't even drive very much on the highway.

'IT' happens too easily on the VIBE. Yes, paint damage happens, but the amount and severity of damage on the VIBE is shocking. I've owned many cars and nothing has chipped like this before, not even close. It may not even be too thin paint, but too soft or too hard or whatever. That's for the paint engineers to decide. Something is definitely wrong and they need to know about it, if not for our benefit but for future VIBE buyers. We need to form a united front and not bicker about if it is just normal wear and tear. This is not normal wear and tear.

WOW, only got 400 miles on odo... this will SUCK if my 23k miles per year are going to result in chips and rust all over ... my girlfriends new Focus is looking better.. wanted that ZX5 until i spotted the Vibe/Matrix.I hate the way the bras look and had a deflector on my Astro Van 15 yrs ago and did not think that did anything good.Guess I'll just save my bucks for speed upgrades and Damn the rocks, Full Speed Ahead!!!

quote:...I hate the way the bras look and had a deflector on my Astro Van 15 yrs ago and did not think that did anything good...After a single trip on the #1 to Lake Louise I had four very apparent chips on the front edge of my hood. Although I'm not a fan of front end covers either, after I put mine on after Christmas time (thank you, Santa!) I believe that it helped a great deal. Of course, there's no way of knowing for sure.The fact that I'm driving an Abyss helps - any other colour and the whole look of the car is chopped up. However, as soon as the snow melted and it got to 10 degrees, I popped the cover off and gave my Vibe some attention of the Meguire's variety. I hope to only put it back on for extended highway trips this summer - I think that's a reasonable compromise.So Mfreed - paint chips certainly do happen, but so do sub-par paint applications. Clearly, that's what we've got here. If we don't ask, we'll never get.....

quote:'IT' happens too easily on the VIBE. Yes, paint damage happens, but the amount and severity of damage on the VIBE is shockingAgreed. If you don't have this problem, then you have no idea what it is like. I have scrapes, scratches, and chips ALL over the car. Front, rear, and sides. I have NEVER had a vehicle do this after 50,000 miles let alone the measley 12,000 I've put on. Not to mention I always hand wax, and use touch-less car washes.The paint is crap. I've had enough. I'm going to the dealer next friday...I'll keep posting.

After noticing a cip on the edge of my door, I ordered my Ventshade stone deflector from Advance autoparts yesterday. It will be here on Tuesday! 495 miles and no stone chips up front yet ... 2 more days...

quote:After a single trip on the #1 to Lake Louise I had four very apparent chips on the front edge of my hood.Well I'm driving to Edmonton this coming up weekend. Being that it's still May there should be lots of debris on the road. I'm hoping that the deflector and splash guards I installed will reduce the amount of paint damage on my Vibe.I doubt I'll get off scot free, but the other thing I'm worried about is the fog lamps. I had a set of fog lamps on my Dodge Shadow, and one return trip from Edmonton-Vancouver shattered the lens on one, and cracked the other.

arrghh... So in a year or two they will get it right and everybody will avoid buying "those cars from the THIN PAINT ERA" Oh yeah and all those "era" cars will look like CRAP!!-Phil

I don't call this a good news, but now we know....And for sure the 5 years warranty "rust proof" won't be apply is the rust is cause by a chip. I'm thinking getting 1 Gallon touch up

I'm gettin' a BRA (for the Vibe!!)....its cheaper than repainting!

I used to have a hood deflector on my Civic....and it really did the job. I wanted to get it for the Vibe, but at the time of purchase the manufacturer was being changed.

quote:CONCLUSION: THIS IS NOT A VIBE, or PONTIAC, or GM PROBLEM, THIS IS A PROBLEM ON ALL RECENT CARS.... AND WILL BECOME WORST UNLESS THEY CHANGE THE WAY THEY PAINT CARSFirst off, my paint has swirl, blur, and bubble marks in the paint. Not just chips and scratches. This is the reason I know the paint on my Vibe has issues. They kinda look like blobs, or drip marks. I have heard of other vibes with similar problems. NUMMI plant hiccups perhaps.

quote:I'm gettin' a BRA (for the Vibe!!)....its cheaper than repainting!HEHE!!! I GOT IT!!! got a brand new GM bra today for $45 shipped ...did a deal w/ the chick on ebay..... I'm happy now!!-Phil

hehe...you wish silver...but nah...it was a straight deal...i showed her the gmpartsdirect.com site where they are $60 new and i offered her $45 for hers and that was it!!!

quote:That might be true Flip.... the chipping however is du to the new paint that is used on car,,,,,I agree with what you say Salsa. The paint is thinner and is like that on all vehicles now. I had my Vibe looked at though, and the dealership agreed to have it looked at by their paint guy. They sound like they only want to do touch up, or just buffing because they think the imperfections are normal. Heres a question for everyone. Open your hatch and look in the upper corners near the door opening. My car has discolored splotches and blobs in these places. They look like imperfections in the paint. Now if you have these, imagine them on the outside of your car like mine. It is kinda ugly, and I never had it taken car of before because I just thought it was wax from the dealer. Not to mention the other spots are near the bottom of the bumper, and I thought nothing of it.