JustAnotherZ

Struts and shocks have to be gone at that mileage if they are oem. How are the control arm bushings? Wheel bearings, tie rods, or ball joints have any play? Motor mounts in good condition? Lots of stuff to consider.

murphinator

iTrader: (2)

not if its highway miles , I have a couple regal gs's and one has 220,000 miles on original struts , wheel bearings , window motors , etc.... all the stuff that goes bad by 80k on non highway cars is still good , my daughters gs had blown out struts by 90k , it was not a highway commuter car like mine was and I had to replace a lot of stuff between 80-120 k that I have yet to touch on the one with 220k , the 220 k car is in much better shape all around just like my z's the 235k car is nicer than the other 2

low miles cars are usually very nice , high mile highway commuter cars are usually nice and its the ones in between that I try to avoid 75-150k all around drivers see a hard life.

The cars that see regular long distance highway commuting in rust prone areas are usually less rusty underneath also due to all the debris getting vibrated out , all the air driving on dry days drying them out , all the rain rinsing them well on wet days , when I was shopping for my hd pickup everything i was looking at under 100k miles in my budget had scaly frames so I dropped my budget and found one with 130k that the frame was clean on , it has 180k now and stil no rust issues underneath , the tahoe it replaced had 240k and not rusty , never had a valve cover off it 2 trans 1 rear , the 1/2 ton pickup before it had 345k still not rusty and original unopened engine , did blow trans and rear twice each.

beating a dead horse here but I just have had excellent luck with high miles vehicles nobody else wants because they look to close at the odometer and not close enough at everything else

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

I have to disagree with this based on my life-long experience with Chicago driving and cars. Now, this may be different when it comes to trucks with higher ground clearance, but for cars (especially low ones like an F-body), winter highway commuters are usually in very poor shape underneath once they get to 10 years old or so. I've had several experiences in this regard, starting with new cars (or at least cars that hadn't seen winter), and watching the undercarrige deterioration under various types of driving conditions as my commutes (and usage for a given car) have changed.

Perhaps it's different where you live, but with the extensive amount of road chemicals that are used on Chicagoland expressways, the high speed salt spray just gets everywhere and trashes the undercarrige much faster than the cars I've owned for around town driving only. They also seem to mix some gravel in with the road salt on the expressways, so you get that tiny grit hitting the car at high speeds and nicking the paint, thus allowing moisture and salt under the surface. It's like a mini-sand blaster if you're anywhere near a salt truck during a storm.

I had a '96 Bonneville that was my daily driver for many years, all low speed city commuting at first. I did all the oil changes/maintenance myself on this car, so I was underneath it often. Starting in 2005 my commute changed to almost all highway, and within two winters the undercarrige had rusted and corroded more than it did in the previous 8 winters (not to mention the extensive battering that the front end paint took from all the highway driving).