Repairing And Upgrading VX Calais

[ChaosRonin]

Hey all, I have been neglecting my VX and letting lots of things pile up and I need some help/advice on the best way to go about fixing these issues. The Car is Tungsten Series I VX CALAIS 2000 V6 3.8L.

The list of problems as far as I can tell are:

1. Airbag light lights up on the dash, I have been told its most likely the clock-spring and hopefully this will be rectified when i take the car to get its 220k service from my mechanic in a couple days.
3. Front and back console compartment doors don't work.
5. Leather steering wheel is very worn and faded any recommend product to revitalize it?
7. Calais cup holder push to open doesn't work I had jigged the spring and was doing it manually, but I was wondering if the other model cup holder would clip in?
9. Some LED's have stopped working. (I had been wanting to change them to a white/blue or maybe an orange theme is there still ways to do this?)
11. Front inner tire guards have both cracked and tend to rub the front tires in deep turns.
13. Front bumper has lots of gouges, dents and scrapes and has come off alignment from a low speed accident. Fog light bezel and insert has gone lost as well would I be better off trying to find the parts from a wrecker/ebay or just get a pro to do it?
15. Few thick scratches along the door and paint has chipped from back of drivers side mirror what the best way to fix those touch up paint?
17. The rear left seat belt tenser is not working is this an easy DIY fix or should i get my mechanic to do it?

Lets some other things I have been thinking about are:

• Putting some nice leather seat covers as the cloth seats are getting a little ratty, anything I need to be aware off?
  
• I want to get rid of the Eurovox and the original speakers, was thinking of putting a Joying or Pumpkin android head unit to get all the modern infotainment goodies as well, does anyone have any experience with those brands?

Cheers for reading and thanks in advance for any help.

ChaosRonin
:hiding:

 

[sleepa]

First I'd recommend fixing it right the first time and not mucking around with cheap and nasty fixes.
There are plenty of people stripping out Statesmans and Commodores so you should be able to find the parts you need on gumtree or eBay for example.

1/Airbag light is probably clock spring But first see if your mechanic can clear the code, if not you probably have to get another one from a wrecker.
2/ Just get replacement consoles from a Calais or Statesman
3/If the leather is very very worn there is little you can do to fix it. There are kits to repair them (try Leatherique steering wheel repair kit) but they aren't cheap ~$70. You could always see your local trimmer and see what it would cost to get out retrimmed in decent leather. Or do what I just did and found a near perfect leather wheel on gumtree for $30
4/Same as number 2 above, you could get a base spec one but IMO it looks base spec.
5/Globes would have gone, you can change them to LEDs and choose any colour you want easy enough, take out the cluster (or other part with blown Globes) and try finding some straight join replacement LEDs from eBay.
6/wreckers
7/just get parts from a wrecker
8/Best way to fix these is to get it repainted, touch up paint NEARLY ALWAYS looks worse then the scratch. Or say hello to your local friendly professional detailer. If they are any good they should be able to minimise the look of the scratches unless they are very deep (through the clear)
9/I'd just get another seatbelt tensioner.

As far as seat covers go, try and find some Leather Calais seats, easy change over and pretty cheap really.

Ill let someone else answer the stereo questions. I have never heard of them and don't use anything andriod so no idea. Id stick with things like Alpine, Pioneer, etc though.

 

[Turtl3]

1. It could be the clockspring, or it could be that someone has previously played with the electronics without disconnecting the battery...so it may just need to have the code cleared
2. The compartment doors (if theyre the ones i think u are referring to-under the radio in the front, and under the vents in the centre console at the rear) can be fixed with these... commodore compartment latch | eBay
3. ur local auto store will have leather care/resto products. meguiars is a good brand, but depending on how far gone ur steering wheel is, it may just be easier to fit a new one when u have the clock spring fixed (if the clock spring is the issue)
4. same fix as number 2 with the compartment latch
5. the factory globes are not LEDs, but there are numerous conversion kits online vt commodore cluster led kit | eBay
6. depending on how fragile/brittle the guards are, u may just be able to drill holes along each side of the crack and cable tie them together...if theyre too far gone, visit the wreckers.
7. if the bumper is full of deep gouges or is cracked, i wouldnt bother trying to bog it up/have it repaired, it will be alot cheaper and easier to get a good one from a wreckers.
8. i totally agree with reepa, touch ups on big scratches or patches do not look good, ur best bet will be to have the entire door and mirror match painted by a spray painter, or try and find a good second hand one from a wrecker (same colour obviously)
9. im sure there will be a 'how to' on here with how to go about changing them, or someone will be more than happy to give u a few tips. Just get a new one, whether it be online or from a dealership, and install it urself if ur handy with a couple of basic tools. wreckers may also have these but i would compare costs first.

im yet to see or hear about good quality leather seat covers, and for what they cost, and how much of a PITA they are to fit, i would just find some good real leather seats online (ebay/gumtree) maybe even wreckers. anything up to vz will fit but the plugs for the electrics are different.

i havent heard of Joying or Pumpkin before...personally i would stick to the better known brands like reepa mentioned alpine, rockford fosgate, bose, kenwood, pioneer...even sony. they all have bluetooth and ipod/usb inputs nowadays so i wouldnt worry too much about it being purely android.

 

[ChaosRonin]

Hey, sorry about the late reply been bit busy last couple days.

1/Airbag light is probably clock spring But first see if your mechanic can clear the code, if not you probably have to get another one from a wrecker.

1. It could be the clockspring, or it could be that someone has previously played with the electronics without disconnecting the battery...so it may just need to have the code cleared

Yea already booked a time next week with my mechanic for my 220k service so hopefully the issue is fixed then and there.

2. The compartment doors (if theyre the ones i think u are referring to-under the radio in the front, and under the vents in the centre console at the rear) can be fixed with these... commodore compartment latch | eBay

Nice link definitely worth a buy, don’t think that will help the back one though as the plastic cogs on the mechanism are damaged and not the latch, going to need to get another one i guess.

2/ Just get replacement consoles from a Calais or Statesman

That's not a bad idea, as I could get all the wood grain facia from the all the models together. Or do somthing like this or this that looks pretty sweet makes me want to learn how to paint woodgrain.

3. ur local auto store will have leather care/resto products. meguiars is a good brand, but depending on how far gone ur steering wheel is, it may just be easier to fit a new one when u have the clock spring fixed (if the clock spring is the issue)

3/If the leather is very very worn there is little you can do to fix it. There are kits to repair them (try Leatherique steering wheel repair kit) but they aren't cheap ~$70. You could always see your local trimmer and see what it would cost to get out retrimmed in decent leather. Or do what I just did and found a near perfect leather wheel on gumtree for $30

Yea I think I'm most likely going to have to replace It or maybe just cut the wrap off, either way I have this $30 kit I'll attack it with and see if it helps at all. $70 is bit to expensive >.< In the meantime I just put on a nice $10 steering wheel cover to tide me over.

4. same fix as number 2 with the compartment latch

4/Same as number 2 above, you could get a base spec one but IMO it looks base spec.

The latch on the drink holder isn’t the problem its the bit of plastic that goes in that is, funnily enough as I was buying the car about 10 minutes after the deal was done my mother was fiddling about in the cabin and managed to break it off. :rofl: I might look into replacing the whole console with another models version at least that way I get a tray most of the time as I rarely drink anything that isn't bottled in the car.

5. the factory globes are not LEDs, but there are numerous conversion kits online vt commodore cluster led kit | eBay

5/Globes would have gone, you can change them to LEDs and choose any colour you want easy enough, take out the cluster (or other part with blown Globes) and try finding some straight join replacement LEDs from eBay.

Hmm its going to be hard deciding what colours I want everything to be, how many LED's does it take to do the whole 3 LCD cluster and climate control?

6. depending on how fragile/brittle the guards are, u may just be able to drill holes along each side of the crack and cable tie them together...if theyre too far gone, visit the wreckers.

6/wreckers

Hmm going to give that a try, if it comes to it do you just unscrew and put on the new ones ?

7. if the bumper is full of deep gouges or is cracked, i wouldnt bother trying to bog it up/have it repaired, it will be alot cheaper and easier to get a good one from a wreckers.

7/just get parts from a wrecker

Just from some quick browsing I saw quite a few Tungsten wrecks with good bumpers, hmm would it fit in the boot of backseat ? :rofl2: I have no clue how any of that works.

8. i totally agree with reepa, touch ups on big scratches or patches do not look good, ur best bet will be to have the entire door and mirror match painted by a spray painter, or try and find a good second hand one from a wrecker (same colour obviously)

8/Best way to fix these is to get it repainted, touch up paint NEARLY ALWAYS looks worse then the scratch. Or say hello to your local friendly professional detailer. If they are any good they should be able to minimise the look of the scratches unless they are very deep (through the clear)

Well that s disappointing is there some sort of protective coat or something that I can spray over the back of the mirror to at least stop the chipping and protect the exposed metal?

9. im sure there will be a 'how to' on here with how to go about changing them, or someone will be more than happy to give u a few tips. Just get a new one, whether it be online or from a dealership, and install it urself if ur handy with a couple of basic tools. wreckers may also have these but i would compare costs first.

9/I'd just get another seatbelt tensioner.

Nice might give it go and see what happens

im yet to see or hear about good quality leather seat covers, and for what they cost, and how much of a PITA they are to fit, i would just find some good real leather seats online (ebay/gumtree) maybe even wreckers. anything up to vz will fit but the plugs for the electrics are different.

As far as seat covers go, try and find some Leather Calais seats, easy change over and pretty cheap really.

Whats cheap? For example I found this Vt vx calies seats for the whole set is it a good deal? Is that the sort of price I should be aiming for? Does the leather stick to you on long journeys?

i havent heard of Joying or Pumpkin before...personally i would stick to the better known brands like reepa mentioned alpine, rockford fosgate, bose, kenwood, pioneer...even sony. they all have bluetooth and ipod/usb inputs nowadays so i wouldnt worry too much about it being purely android.

Ill let someone else answer the stereo questions. I have never heard of them and don't use anything andriod so no idea. Id stick with things like Alpine, Pioneer, etc though.

Fair enough, I'm guessing that holds true for speakers and amps.

Wanted to ask Pedders put on a VT IRS Commodore Kit 5403 does that fix the VXS1 tire wear problem or is there anything else that needs to be done?

Cheers for the reply's guys.
ChaosRonin

 

[ChaosRonin]

Took some photo's to show what i wanted to use the touch up paint for.
[Link1 Link2]
Been looking around online and like you guys said it seems like its a really fiddly job with a a really high chance of mucking it up don't think I could do it properly. Do detailers take up jobs like this? What would be my best option?

 

[Risky]

There are mobile companies that come to your house that do scratches & dings. They can colour match very well & you wouldn't know the difference. For the love of god, do not use those touch-up pens as they ruin the paintwork & leave streaks. I saw this on the back tailgate of a 2yr old Audi & it looks horrible . Google search mobile repairers in your area & get them to give you a quote. if it's worse for wear, take a trip to the wreckers to see if you can get replacements exactly the same.
Just a quick search got this: Car Scratch Repair & Removal, Paintless Dent Removal Melbourne Repair. - ScratchBusters

The Holden cloth seats are dreadful. Over time (and many butt sittings) the glue separates from the foam. If you can upgrade to leather, do so. The one you quoted here is pretty cheap. Go on eBay & your eyes will water at the prices & conditions of seats. If you are purchasing seats, find out which model they come from. from VYII onwards they used a different plug so you'll need to change it. I had to do that in mine. Upholsterers will charge like a wounded bull to redo your seats.
These guys are helpful if you're after NOS items - Get great deals on items on eBay Stores!

Consoles: Either the wreckers or see your local Holden Spares section. They do keep some in stock but be aware that the parts numbers have changed. I bought new from Holden for $80 which had plenty in stock at the time for VY-VZ. See above link.

 

[sleepa]

A bumper won't fit in the back of a sedan, a wagon, yes.

As far as the paint on that mirror goes it looks like it really needs to be sprayed. It may be easier to remove it and get it done off the car.

I'm a Detailer and at the moment I don't touch paint repairs like that as it's harder then it looks to do and I don't have all the equipment/paint/etc, etc.
There are some that do it, and they would usually advertise as such, just like the one Risky linked to above.

If you want a cheap temporary "fix" for the mirror to stop it flaking. then I would suggest mask it all up really well, including windscreen and windows, doors and anywhere paint overspray could go then sand the area that's peeling with 800 grit wet sandpaper, get a clear can of acrylic paint (make sure its for car use) from a car shop, Supercheap or whatever then give it a few light coats over the top. You could also get a small can of touch up paint (spray can) from same shop to give it some colour first.

These won't last more then a year and won't look as good as a proper fix, and cost you around $30 odd, but it might make it look good enough for the time being.

Of course if you wanted to do all this then you might as well just prime it with plastic primer and do a proper job of it. Or just get a matching mirror from a wreckers or use a touch up paint guy, who sometimes will touch up paint around the car as well so you get your moneys worth from them.
Up to you either way.

Those seats are a good price for what they are, some minor wear on the drivers seat but not bad at all. You might be able to get it down to $250.

I personally love leather seats. But some people hate them with a passion. Yes, if it is stinking hot and you have no air con then you will get stuck to the seats and be super uncomfortable.
But if you have air con in your car, on a hot day just leave the doors open with air con on for a few minutes to cool it all down before you get in, easy fix

Leather also does get colder in winter then fabric, but I think its a small price to pay for more comfortable seats that hold you better then fabric and look awesome.

 

[Risky]

The leather seats have better support & are miles better than fabric. Mine are a mixture of leather/fabric that came from a VZ SVZ wagon. Leather can tolerate more abuse than fabric. As Sleepa said, the seats will get hot in summer & cold in winter but you can always use a towel.

Back to the consoles, you could vinyl wrap them or repaint them. That's a personal choice. I did price out a carbon fibre wrap & it was cheaper to buy a new console. If a Statesman woodgrain console suits your Calais, I would recommend that. If it comes to selling it later, you can always say it was an option. When I was doing my interior, I intended it to be what an S model should look like if I ticked all the boxes if I had bought it brand new in 2003.

The mirrors, VT,VX,VU are pretty common & the colour of yours wouldn't be hard to find as a replacement. A quick search showed in tungsten colour $50 each. If you need to take them off then read this thread as a guide https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/how-change-your-wing-mirrors-may-apply-most-cars.209121. if you're swapping them over, it'll take you an hour.