SVreX (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to frenchyd :
If you've never had a truck off the pavement, why did you buy a 4x4 truck?
4x4s sit higher. It's what they are. Partly for ground clearance when off road.
If you want a lower truck, buy a 2wd version.
Do you forget where I live? We have snow at least 1/2 of the year here. Getting up a snow and Ice covered hill with 2 wheel drive? Even with Blizzacks it's not going to happen. And I get going before the snowplows start working.
I like the new wheels Robbie!
Not sure if I mentioned this before in the thread, but I was getting tired of the rusty rockers.
I got a deal around Thanksgiving on these plastic quick covers, and I was finally able to install them today! It took me about 6 hours total (and I got the textured kind that you don't have to paint).
Now looks like:
I thought the passenger side had less rust than the driver side, but then I started in with a hammer and realized it actually probably had more rust. Yikes!
I took the opportunity to coat everything in fluid film when I had the access, so hopefully that slows it all down a bit.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with this job (and the quick covers product)!
Holy crap. Is it just me or is that totally unreasonable for a vehicle that new to rust so badly?
This makes me (more) scared to buy cars from any further north than me. Looks great but scary regardless.
Yeah the rust is a bit disappointing, especially considering that most of the rest of the truck looks nearly perfect (there are a couple more spots I want to improve in time).
However, the truck does have 220k on it, and it's prior life was in the hands of a traveling salesperson in the chemical industry. So, lots of long slogs at factories and chemical plants through crud and who knows what.
I think the real issue comes from bad drainage. There are sunroof drains that seem to drop into the rocker area but I don't know how it was supposed to get out from there. Additionally the third brake light is a known leak point in these trucks and that also drains down into the rockers (leaks go unidentified for a long time). Finally, I don't think the automatic running boards helped much either, they have a tendency to collect junk and hold it up against the bottom of the rockers.
Oh well, we got a great deal on the truck so for now I'll live with some foibles.
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah it's the drains and leaky brake light. This generation rots out in the south there( albeit at a much slower rate). Some leaves and moisture will do a number on those trucks. It's a bad design.
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
link to those? The Sierra is really getting bad.
In reply to bobzilla :
https://oamusa.com/products/1999-2006-silverado-sierra-crew-cab-cab-rocker-cover-kit
Dunno what year truck you have but I'm really impressed with the company and the product.
They make both a smooth panel meant to be painted and a textured panel that doesn't need paint. I wanted to go with textured because my truck is already black and I wanted to save the time. Somehow I ordered the smooth by accident but they helped me exchange no hassle, and they even helped me find a return shipping company that saved a TON of money on return shipping.
Highly recommend them.
"I think the real issue comes from bad drainage. There are sunroof drains that seem to drop into the rocker area but I don't know how it was supposed to get out from there. Additionally the third brake light is a known leak point in these trucks and that also drains down into the rockers (leaks go unidentified for a long time). Finally, I don't think the automatic running boards helped much either, they have a tendency to collect junk and hold it up against the bottom of the rockers. "
This statement gives me cause for WAY concern on my 2010 CTSV......"how does it get out from there"......thank you for sharing Robbie.....you don't even want to know the status of the interior....late
Well, quick post because I spent much of last week thrashing on this to get the old 222k mile shocks out and get new in.
The rears went just fine. Done in 15 minutes or less. The front, much less fine.
Woof.
I bought new lower control arms but did not install them at this time. Probably later this summer I'll get new upper control arms and new tie rods to complete the front suspension refresh.
Bleh. But at least it's done.
Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:Yeah the rust is a bit disappointing, especially considering that most of the rest of the truck looks nearly perfect (there are a couple more spots I want to improve in time).
However, the truck does have 220k on it, and it's prior life was in the hands of a traveling salesperson in the chemical industry. So, lots of long slogs at factories and chemical plants through crud and who knows what.
I think the real issue comes from bad drainage. There are sunroof drains that seem to drop into the rocker area but I don't know how it was supposed to get out from there. Additionally the third brake light is a known leak point in these trucks and that also drains down into the rockers (leaks go unidentified for a long time). Finally, I don't think the automatic running boards helped much either, they have a tendency to collect junk and hold it up against the bottom of the rockers.
Oh well, we got a great deal on the truck so for now I'll live with some foibles.
May I suggest that you look carefully at your brake llines?
When my truck started looking like that ( different areas, rocker panels OK but bottom of doors rusting and corners of front fenders. ).
I failed to check and found out when the pedal suddenly went to the floor luckily the parking brake saved me.
But this was a truck that was washed several times a week stored in a heated garage and almost daily hosed off. ( garage floor drains )
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