GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

So here she is, as I posted in my intro "rode hard and put up wet". Neglected and filthy, and a little bit abused. All that is changing, and things are looking up for her. Planning to outfit her as a 'microRV' for road trips and car camping.

Views from further 'round...

There's being dirty, and then there's *this*... As if the PO/ALE was seeking to redefine the concept of 'nasty'... These shots really don't do justice to the grime-encrusted interior he achieved...

Time to address some bodywork.

Bodywork continues...

So that's all for now. Last night, for today, I bought some cleaning supplies and a little 'bling' for her in the way of a steering wheel cover. I did odor-remover bomb the interior overnight, so hopefully most of the rank smell will be gone today. Going to steam clean for sure, might wind up replacing the carpet. Once the windshield is replaced on Monday, and I get the tail lens in (assuming it gets here), she'll be road-worthy at least.

Wow. I hope the PO treated the dog better than this Vibe.

I suggest taking the whole interior out and taking the carpet out. I have done that to mine and it was not nearly as cruddy as yours. You can take a power washer to the carpet when it is out. In the end it is a time saver.


Good start. The best days for this Vibe are yet to come. Keep us posted.

Wow, that poor Vibe ! At least it's in much better hands now. I look forward to seeing the progress.

As the others have said ... WOW !!!! What a total mess. Glad to see someone like yourself is taking the time to properly restore this Vibe. Great progress so far and keep us posted on any "surprises" you may come across

Thanks, y'all.

A couple more shots from yesterday...

Put some liquid love on the body cladding this evening, & noticed that I am missing the drivers side small grill piece, next to the fog lamp. Will have to find one of those.
Also got the headlight lens polished, they were starting to craze and yellow a bit.
Last, noticed that the steel wheels are *very* rusty behind the hub caps. Could probably get them sand/bead blasted to remve and paint, buty am think that I might Ospho them and then use PlastiDip. Might look neat to have the texture there...

Been putting at least a couple hours a day of 'sweat equity' into the Vibe, along with parts and whatnot. 2 heavy coats of plastic protectant, inside and out, all the way around. That made a big difference in her appearance. Windows cleaned spotless, vacuumed twice (holding off on a steam cleaning for now). Clay barred half of her so far today, might be able to get the rest before sunset. Pulled the driver side hubcabs, wirebrushed the rust on the steel rims, hit it with two coats of 'rust converter' prior to some paint.
That got me looking at the wheels themselves, and I came up with this idea, GIMP'ed (photoshopped) onto a Vibe pic on here somewhere I found via Google Image search. Again: the car below is NOT mine! Just the same color, an easy one for me to grab to do a quick edit.
Flat black steel wheels, then deep gray on the hubcaps, except for a silver trim ring at the very outer edge. Should spruce up her appearance a little, for relatively little work/expense - certainly cheaper than new rims.

Here;'s what the steel wheels look like pre- and post-rust treatment. Simply by itself, it is an improvement...

Had a bit of change up to my plans, as tends to happen.

Started to shoot first black coat of Plastidip on rims today, and likes what I saw even after the first 'mist' coat, so I ran with it and this is the result (at least for now). A light black specklepaint on top of the reg'lar old silver plastic OEM hubs, topped with Plastidip Gloss finish - lots of it. Came out pretty good, as far as I am concerned.

...and here's what they look like on the car.
EDIT: From here on out, unless it is a big project, I'm just going to append minor fixes/upgrades/progress reports to the last/previous post as an edit. No point in making a whole new post to say "Today I replaced the drivers side front power window regulator." (Which I did today and now it works again, although it is difficult to make the window stop right where I want to once it is moving, either up or down. Could be the switch just needs breaking in...).

Also, last night I shot black PD onto the roof rack, and PD'ed the drivers side door "Vibe" emblem as a test. Looks cool.

Nice to see you're continuing to fix up this poor neglected Vibe. The paintjob on the wheel covers is definitely interesting. Looks good!

Latest pic: PDebadged the side and front logos, and also the front grill inserts. Did to the passenger side wheels what I had done to the drivers side. Got some window-edge rainshield thingies, new cabin air filter coming tomorrow, new front floormats, fixed drivers power window regulator. New tires planned for next week... First fill-up, got 24.6mpg's most all of that city.

You've certainly been busy! It's looking better and better! Keep it up !

Where did you get the "porch" tent from?

The interior looks similar to how my mom lets her car get.

BenWA wrote:Where did you get the "porch" tent from?

IIRC, it from a closeout site named "woot.com"

Addendum:

Picked up a few pieces-parts from nyfan08/Bob, including among them a set of crossbars for the roof rack. Had a devil of a time trying to find the way to install these using the "Search" function here, so I thought I'd post up a link for future reference of my own (and anyone else who might be looking) for a good how-to on roof rack crossbars installation/removal.

That thread is here:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=9134&p=492037

and here is a good video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNfR77ZVzOs&

Road trip yesterday, 425 miles or so, pleased to see the MPG's climb well up over 33. As I am still running on the old rubber, and averaged a bit over the speed limit for most of the trip, I could probably have gotten 35 without trying too hard.

Beats the heck out of 20mpg's or so in the Astro, even if I miss the better visibility when driving behind SUV's, trucks, 'crossovers', and such. The mileage and that part reminds me of my Saturn wagon days.

--

Vibe Love: Several days back I walked out of the corner store to find a guy with an '09 Vibe parked behind me at the pump. That's the 2nd I have seen around here, and then yesterday on my road trip, I ran with a Matrix for a little while on the I outside of Wilmington, NC.

Nice work!

Plcd22 wrote:Nice work!

Thanks, plcd!