GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hello!

I found this site while googling "2009 vibe volume button broken" which lead me to the great thread on this infamous problem. I have ordered four knobs and will be shaving them down to remove retaining collar. Thanks for the thread!

I just purchased this used a few days ago. 2009 Vibe GT - Black. It has 83K miles. I was wondering if I could solicit some guidance on a few things from all of you Vibe fans?
1) All four 18" wheels have scrapes and strange worm like paths etched on them. What should I do? Can I repair/repaint? 2) One of the rear rotors has strange wear, is this a sign of a caliper problem or will new rotors fix this? I can replace the rear hats, but I am wondering if I have a deeper issue. Any recommendations on rotor/pad brands? 3) The car was missing the scissor jack, spare tie down bolt, lug wrench, from the trunk. I am having problems finding a "slotted" top jack replacement. Any suggestions on how to replace all of this equipment? I am looking for a cheaper alternative to Genuine Pontiac replacement parts.

4) Rear bumper is cracked. I am guessing this will be $1000 to replace and paint. Are there other options to "repair" it?


I am excited to own this car, and will be battling my son to drive it.

Regards,

Bruce from Peoria

Welcome and congrats on the new Vibe! Regarding your questions, the wheels will likely have to be refinished if you want them to look good as new. You could try to wet sand them yourself or use paint stripper, and polish them with metal polish, then clear coat them, but I'm not sure how well that would work. It is something I would try on a small section and see how it looks. As for the brakes, I would just get a full replacement of rotors and pads. I'm planning to buy some from this place for my 03 GT http://brakeoverstock.com/products/2009 ... /VIBE/9793 but any parts would be better than that rotor. It looks bad!

As for the jack and tools, you can look on http://www.car-part.com to see if any yard close by has a wrecked Vibe, Matrix or probably even Corolla would be a good source. Shouldn't cost much from them, maybe $25 if not less. I do have a jack I got with my 2010 GT when I thought the lug wrench was missing I could send to you just for postage. The wrench is hidden under a plastic cover in the black tire compartment on the right side of the spare tire. It was well hidden to me. I can send you a pic of the jack if you are interested.

How bad is the crack on the bumper? Some can be fixed with plastic repair compound by a good body shop. But if it is a big crack, it might be better to get a new bumper and have it painted. Car-part might be a source for a bumper cover too. Usually painting and minor repairs can run about $500 or so. I had a quote to repair a few scratches and repaint my front bumper of $400, and I'm glad I didn't do it since the car was totaled a few months later.

Again, congrats and good luck with your new Vibe!

daybw wrote:
I just purchased this used a few days ago. 2009 Vibe GT - Black. It has 83K miles. I was wondering if I could solicit some guidance on a few things from all of you Vibe fans?

1) All four 18" wheels have scrapes and strange worm like paths etched on them. What should I do? Can I repair/repaint?

Welcome Bruce. I see you too purchased a badly abused Vibe ... hopefully the price reflected this! My son's 09 GT has the exact same corrosion on all of his 18" alloy GT wheels. We got it at a good price because of the condition it was in. This is the result of salt & brine on the roads for all of us up here in the midwest when driving in the winter. You won't find any of this on a southern car. To fix this permanently it will involve lots of work and some $$$. You'd have to glass bead (sandblast) the rims, then highly polish them then reapply whatever clear protective coating that they came with from the factory.

Curious on the bumper crack also. Send up a pic! Update profile showing you're from Illinois. Lots of Vibe members near you and they can chime in on advice also. Thanks ....

Welcome to GenVibe! Congrats on the "new" Vibe! Thanks for posting pictures right away !

For the wheels, I would recommend having them powder coated. It's relatively cheap (no more than $100 a wheel) and very durable, not to mention the color options are nearly limitless. I would also recommend getting a seperate set of wheels and tires to use during the winter to avoid any further damage to the 18s. We use 16" steel wheels and 205/55/16 all season tires on both our Vibes during the winter. Because of this, our 18s are still in very good condition after 7+ Chicagoland winters.

For the brakes, as was already suggested, I would play it safe and just replace everything. I got PowerStop drilled and slotted front and rear rotors and PowerStop Z17 Evolution Plus ceramic front and rear pads on eBay for ridiculously cheap. I have not installed them yet as I am still gathering other parts and our Vibes don't need brakes just yet, but they will look killer behind the 18s and perform much better than stock.

For the spare tire components, as was already suggested, check out car-part.com.

For the rear bumper cover, again, as was already suggested, check out car-part.com. I also see used bumpers pop up on eBay once in a while.

Thanks for all the input.

I found a slotted top scissor jack which fits perfectly in the boot jack slot at harbor Freight for $21. trb, thanks for the offer to send me one. And you guessed correctly, I had not lifted the tray bottom to reveal the lug wrench and jack handle. They were both still there.

I ordered "standard" rotors and pad kit from a parts store last week. Regrettably, this was before I read your feedback on slotted and drilled options. I will wait for the fronts to wear out and upgrade all four then. The standard rears & pad kit only cost me $80 as I had an awesome coupon. They should be delivered today or tomorrow. Can anyone confirm if I need to have the rotation caliper compression piston tool? Of will a C clamp do? I have the 8mm by 1.25 pitch bolts and a can of WD40 ready to go.

tpollauf, here is a pic of the crack. kind of hard to see. But it starts at the top edge and goes for a good 8-10 inches.

1. looks like someone used the alloys through the winter. if you're cheap: sand and paint yourself. media blasting and a powdercoat near me is usually 250-300.
2. looks like you need a brake service and potentially new rear rotors and pads
3. find a used setup from the wrecker. or get a cheap jack from harbour freight and leave it under the back
4. zipties

Great that you found the "missing" parts! I felt bad when I found mine since I gave the salesman a hard time about it. But I think he just wanted to get rid of the extra jack and lug wrench he had sitting under his desk.

As for that crack, before I would go buy a new one, I would pull the bumper off and see if you could use some of the bumper repair epoxy on the back side to close up the crack. That might make a decent enough repair. It really does not appear that noticeable since it runs along the curve in the bumper. It would not be perfect, but on a 6 yr old car, I'd rather have not a bad bumper for $15, than a perfect one (until someone hits you!) for $500 or so.

daybw wrote:Thanks for all the input.

I found a slotted top scissor jack which fits perfectly in the boot jack slot at harbor Freight for $21. trb, thanks for the offer to send me one. And you guessed correctly, I had not lifted the tray bottom to reveal the lug wrench and jack handle. They were both still there.

I ordered "standard" rotors and pad kit from a parts store last week. Regrettably, this was before I read your feedback on slotted and drilled options. I will wait for the fronts to wear out and upgrade all four then. The standard rears & pad kit only cost me $80 as I had an awesome coupon. They should be delivered today or tomorrow. Can anyone confirm if I need to have the rotation caliper compression piston tool? Of will a C clamp do? I have the 8mm by 1.25 pitch bolts and a can of WD40 ready to go.

tpollauf, here is a pic of the crack. kind of hard to see. But it starts at the top edge and goes for a good 8-10 inches.

bumper.jpg

You can definitely use a C-clamp on the front. My rear calipers have the parking brake integrated into them so the twist in tool is required for me but I think the GT's have drum style parking brake so you should just be able to push the rears in as well.

Based on the wear in the pictures I would say that the pads are seized in the hardware. I would strongly recommend replacing the hardware and sanding the inside of the caliper brackets. Remember the pads should slide in the bracket. You shouldn't have to force them in.

Rear rotor/pads/clips are replaced. I did not have to rotate caliper pistons. The pads on one side are still making contact with the rotor, I will see if it goes away in a day or two.

Still need to fix the volume button and find a spare tire hold down nut.

I might get this, buy a 8mm 1.25 pitch stud, and fabricate the wheel plate out of something.
http://amzn.com/B000DEMJOS

I did see this on eBay, would anyone know if this would work on my '09? Does it look the same?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2003-2007-Ponti ... vR&vxp=mtr