GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

After eight great years and over 100k miles with nothing more than some rock chips, my Baby got a dinger. I have a 17y/o daughter driving it now, who for some reason she can't explain decided to hang a Uey on a narrow road and hit a fence. Ouch. Fairly minor, will cost me a few hundred at most to fix, but very depressing nonetheless.

Oh, the joys of fatherhood!

Honestly, I would not spent a few hundred dollars on this. But if you do get the stone chips taken care of as well. It appears the headlight did not get damaged.

You won't believe how effective a good buffing is on the scuffs. If the plastic is deformed a heat gun will bring it back. O.k.it won't be perfect....

You're probably right, and yes the headlight is fine other than a scuff on the lens. I'll likely buff it out and then see if that crease by the headlight is bad enough to bother me.

There are no parents in hell!

if my kid had done that, it wouldn't cost me a penny to fix.

of course, i don't have kids, and if i did, they sure as heck wouldn't get the keys to my vibe.

Zimm wrote:if my kid had done that, it wouldn't cost me a penny to fix.

of course, i don't have kids, and if i did, they sure as heck wouldn't get the keys to my vibe.

yes, it would and yes, you would. But of course you won't know until you have kids.

Ouch! Yeah, I probably would not spend money on that, at least not MY money. I'd have my kid out there with the compound and buffer working on it if it is paint transfer. Or I'd be teaching them about spray painting! Or leave it as a reminder for the future!

I'm still razzing my daughter about totaling my 10 GT, and she was not even moving when it was hit! I'm a cruel parent!

Good luck on it!

My BF scraped the front of the Imba Impala on our cinderblock fence while turning on to the driveway. Said he didn't even feel it, which isn't surprising because Dad backed the side of the same car into a brick column and neither of us felt or heard it.

mark, i feel your pain.

my daughter just joined the navy, but for the year or so since high school graduation, she was driving my vibe. in that time, its had its share of dings and dents... i've been able to pull a couple of and then, learned to live with a 10 year old car that's now starting to look it.

but, like vibrologist said, you'd be surprised at how that could clean up with a good buffing.

Yep Mark; I wouldn't touch that damage except to buff out some of the black. Should this become her car from here on out, it won't be the last mishap. My daughter scraped her lower front sport trim on a cement parking lot stopper. I ordered some touch up paint and covered over the scrape. I also reminded her that if she decides to go far away to college, the car may go back up for sale, so don't take the car for granted.

I knew this was a potential issue, but it's why I bought the 08 Stealth last year, so my daughter could drive Frosty. Right now State Farm is charging me $800/yr to have her on this car with just liability, which I guess could be worse.

She said it was a chain link fence, so the black that rubbed off must be some sort of plastic coating. Any recommendations on the best method to get this off? I have some Goof Off that will probably remove it, but I don't want to damage the paint.


Edit: Well, I stand corrected. The black is the plastic bumper showing where the paint was scraped off. I have a body guy who is very reasonable, maybe I'll get him to take care of this and the chips in the hood all at the same time. I realize it's a 10 y/o car, but it's mechanically perfect and I'm hoping to max out the OD some day. It would be a shame if the body was what kills it.

Mark wrote:I knew this was a potential issue, but it's why I bought the 08 Stealth last year, so my daughter could drive Frosty. Right now State Farm is charging me $800/yr to have her on this car with just liability, which I guess could be worse.

She said it was a chain link fence, so the black that rubbed off must be some sort of plastic coating. Any recommendations on the best method to get this off? I have some Goof Off that will probably remove it, but I don't want to damage the paint.


Edit: Well, I stand corrected. The black is the plastic bumper showing where the paint was scraped off. I have a body guy who is very reasonable, maybe I'll get him to take care of this and the chips in the hood all at the same time. I realize it's a 10 y/o car, but it's mechanically perfect and I'm hoping to max out the OD some day. It would be a shame if the body was what kills it.

OD?

OD = Odometer

Mark wrote:I knew this was a potential issue, but it's why I bought the 08 Stealth last year, so my daughter could drive Frosty. Right now State Farm is charging me $800/yr to have her on this car with just liability, which I guess could be worse.

She said it was a chain link fence, so the black that rubbed off must be some sort of plastic coating. Any recommendations on the best method to get this off? I have some Goof Off that will probably remove it, but I don't want to damage the paint.


Edit: Well, I stand corrected. The black is the plastic bumper showing where the paint was scraped off. I have a body guy who is very reasonable, maybe I'll get him to take care of this and the chips in the hood all at the same time. I realize it's a 10 y/o car, but it's mechanically perfect and I'm hoping to max out the OD some day. It would be a shame if the body was what kills it.

Oh, I hear you on the insurance! Luckily I've had my daughter, and my son before her, insured on my 87 Mustang, even though neither of them ever drove it. Ran me about $50-65 a month for everything but collision. Now I have her on the 03 GT and it is about $58 a month, same coverage.

I was afraid that the bumper was scratched down to the plastic. My son got a few scrapes on his from people hitting the bumper with shopping carts when he worked at Krogers. Luckily I was able to use the touch up paint as they were not too bad. But that is way more than touch up paint can repair!

Good luck on it!

Mark wrote: State Farm is charging me $800/yr to have her on this car with just liability, which I guess could be worse.

Whatever you end up doing shouldn't set you back much at all. Have that young lady put up some of her $$$ to help in the repairs.


Anyways about this "could be worse" as far as insurance goes, well ... you CAN'T get any worse because they are already severely overcharging you Your agent certainly is NOT doing you any favors or looking out on your behalf. My teenage son (yes he's still a teenager ... and MALE) pays $175 every six months for full coverage (100k/300k liability, $250 ded on collision, $100 ded on comprehensive) on his 2009 Vibe GT. That's $350 a year, which is unheard of in this day & age. Oh, I'm also with State Farm! I know rates vary depending on where you live so you must be in a very high rated area (update your profile).

Back to the original topic. When you fix this minor boo boo, Post before/after pics in the same frame so we can compare & see the improvements. Good luck!

I had the paint guy at the local NAPA mix me up a rattle can of the 40U/WA9737 for about $25, and he had an ounce or so left over that he put in a bottle with a touch-up brush lid. I didn't fix the dent near the headlight, I did use the brush to fill in some of the scratches and then sprayed. I also cleaned up the hood and covered a lot of the rock chips. Not perfect, but for a 10y/o car with 146k, it'll do.


Before:


And after:

That looks very good! They do have the flexible spot putty that can be used to fill in the gouges in the plastic, but then you have to worry about sanding and having it not match the texture on the rest of the bumper cover. But overall, a very good job!

As far as the insurance, I think we're getting screwed here because of hail storms over the last few years that have caused tens of millions in insurance claims. I just double checked my policy, I have higher liability limits and also kept the comp. I dropped collision as that was going to add another $400/yr. At the end of this month my son's last accident and ticket drop off, and I can re-instate my umbrella policy which will lower my rates some as well. My daughter also missed a 3.0 GPA by just a few points last semester, which knocks another 15% or so off. But mostly it's the hail damage that has our rates so high right now. My homeowner rate has gone up as well, but if it wasn't for my Malarkey hail proof shingles it probably would have at least doubled.

trb wrote:That looks very good! They do have the flexible spot putty that can be used to fill in the gouges in the plastic, but then you have to worry about sanding and having it not match the texture on the rest of the bumper cover. But overall, a very good job!

Thanks, I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. From even 10 feet away you can't really tell, up close the gouges in the plastic are still noticeable but not all that bad.

I tried to use touch up on the rock chips, but there were so many it just wasn't worth it. So I just sprayed about the first 8-10".

Mark wrote:I had the paint guy at the local NAPA mix me up a rattle can of the 40U/WA9737 for about $25, and he had an ounce or so left over that he put in a bottle with a touch-up brush lid. I didn't fix the dent near the headlight, I did use the brush to fill in some of the scratches and then sprayed. I also cleaned up the hood and covered a lot of the rock chips. Not perfect, but for a 10y/o car with 146k, it'll do.

There ya go! That's the way to fix this. And first you thought it would take hundreds of dollars. Good job!

vibrologist wrote:

Mark wrote:I had the paint guy at the local NAPA mix me up a rattle can of the 40U/WA9737 for about $25, and he had an ounce or so left over that he put in a bottle with a touch-up brush lid. I didn't fix the dent near the headlight, I did use the brush to fill in some of the scratches and then sprayed. I also cleaned up the hood and covered a lot of the rock chips. Not perfect, but for a 10y/o car with 146k, it'll do.

There ya go! That's the way to fix this. And first you thought it would take hundreds of dollars. Good job!

That's because I would have had him fix that dent and paint the entire hood and front end, including the front of the A pillars and roof. Still may do that some day.

Mark wrote:

vibrologist wrote:

Mark wrote:I had the paint guy at the local NAPA mix me up a rattle can of the 40U/WA9737 for about $25, and he had an ounce or so left over that he put in a bottle with a touch-up brush lid. I didn't fix the dent near the headlight, I did use the brush to fill in some of the scratches and then sprayed. I also cleaned up the hood and covered a lot of the rock chips. Not perfect, but for a 10y/o car with 146k, it'll do.

There ya go! That's the way to fix this. And first you thought it would take hundreds of dollars. Good job!

That's because I would have had him fix that dent and paint the entire hood and front end, including the front of the A pillars and roof. Still may do that some day.

That makes sense.

BTW in 2008 our boyscout troop had a high adventure in your neck of the woods. Rock climbing at Veedovoo, camping at a lake near Medicine Bow, hiking Medicine Bow, horseback riding and spending a night on a fire watch tower. Never before have I seen a night sky this clear!

That's great that you got out here and had a good time, Vedawoo is an awesome place. I've spend many days hiking, climbing, bike riding and just picnicking up there. It's amazing what the lack of ambient light and an extra mile or so of atmosphere does for the view of the night sky!

Mark wrote:That's great that you got out here and had a good time, Vedawoo is an awesome place. I've spend many days hiking, climbing, bike riding and just picnicking up there. It's amazing what the lack of ambient light and an extra mile or so of atmosphere does for the view of the night sky!

This jogged my memory. We camped at Rob Roy Reservoir and everyone had one night on the Spruce Mountain Fire Tower. Plan 2 years ahead: it is very hard to reserve a night.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/mbr/recarea/?recid=22888" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The other front corner this time, not as bad just a scuff. But not paying attention again and being in a hurry, got too far out at an intersection and got clipped on the front bumper. Strike two. One more absent minded fender-bender and she won't be driving one of my Vibes any more.

At least your left over paint hasn't dried up yet!

Being a teenager is tough. Remove motoring privileges and point to that bike that's collecting dust.

Actually, I had a bad time in my early 20's and totaled my car. Having no money put me back on the bike. Things got better from there. My fitness improved and many things in my life turned to the better.

Mark wrote:The other front corner this time, not as bad just a scuff. But not paying attention again and being in a hurry, got too far out at an intersection and got clipped on the front bumper. Strike two. One more absent minded fender-bender and she won't be driving one of my Vibes any more.

Are you sure she's not texting and driving? Because that's pretty bad. My BF has clipped the Impala's front bumper on the fence and not done it again and also he makes his turns much better and tighter. You may consider riding with her and grilling her if she has too much slack in turns etc.

The Vibe was my first car when I was just old enough to have one (parents were tired of me) and I didn't do any of those things, so that's why it sounds really weird. Plus, if the vibe isn't her car, maybe she just doesn't care as much.