GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Is there a certain type, make or kind of paint to touch up the buttons on my radio that are starting to come off? My car is 5 years old and I would like to touch up the buttons, especially when they light up at night it looks awful.Will anything do?

Black sharpie? Or maybe black fingernail polish? Though, anything you do, you will most likely be able to tell.

Just a thought, as I don't really know that the first gen radios look like, but I wonder if you might find some kind of a black plastic or metal cap at your local hardware store that would fit over it and could be glued on? I find all sorts of stainless, chrome, etc stuff at our local Ace Hardware.

Quote, originally posted by Stevedfd »My car is 5 years old and I would like to touch up the buttons...I hear you on this! The only thing wrong w/the interior of my '05 are the buttons on the stereo...thanks to my wife's long fingernails. Maybe this weekend I'll head over to Michael's or JoAnne Fabrics and see if they have any hobby stuff that might work. I might just buy a sheet of black vinyl adhesive and cut out button "covers" (though an Exacto-knife and electrical tape would probably work too).

I am going to try black finger nail polish tomorrow. Sharpie didnt work at all.

I haven't tried it, but perhaps paint for plastic model kits.....a flat black color?

Quote, originally posted by Cougar Vibe »I hear you on this! The only thing wrong w/the interior of my '05 are the buttons on the stereo...thanks to my wife's long fingernails. I said the same thing about mine until I got the car all to myself for the last 2 years and the radio got worse than ever. The paint flaking and bubbling is mostly due to skin oil and sunlight. Bad quality control of the plastic and paint process causes the bond to break down quickly. Saw it all the time on dash-board test parts I would run through the ringer in thermal chambers. Most companies test for this but GM is awful about it and from everything I have read, they did the interior design.I plan to fix them myself. This will consist of sanding the remaining paint and roughing the plastic buttons. Cleaning with iso alcohol to strip any remaining oils. Probably just tape the rest of the radio off, or somehow yank the buttons off, and paint with something like krylon fusion.

The radio in the used Vibe I bought was so bad I replaced the radio. Found a used one on Craigslist that was actually within 15 minutes of my house for $50.00, and it took a whole 15 minutes to change.
The two knobs themselves are available at any GM dealership parts department for about $4.00 each.