Penny the 2003 SLE

[95naSTA]

That might be steep but it sounds like the average cost over time is still way low. I'd say go for it. Go for a 1/4 mil miles.

[nos4blood70]

I was looking at it from a similar perspective. If it even lasts one year, that's a dollar a day for nice feeling steering. Lol!

[nos4blood70]

This also may be a stupid question, but I'm pretty steering illiterate... Let's say I keep my rack and just replace the inner and outer tie rods again. Last time, on the left side, there was fluid coming out (slowly) inside of the boot for the inner rod. At the time, I was like whatever.

Are there seals (like a kit) or anything I can replace and keep the rack going? I'd do the lines and everything as they are all moist. The binding and popping I am feeling from the right side must be the strut mount or the cheap garbage axle I have.

[harofreak00]

The seal you are talking about is what the cheap aftermarket racks are rebuilding. I would guess they are taking the cores, cleaning them up, popping in new seals and reassembling...that's why they are only $100. It isn't something you want to do yourself.

[95naSTA]

I was in a similar spot with my i30 where I replaced an inner tie rod to keep it going and saw some seeping. It worked fine for a while but eventually I ended up with sloppy steering in the rack it’s self. The tie rods were ok but I had play.

[nos4blood70]

That is where I am at right now. The play appears to be in the rack itself.

[nos4blood70]

Some minor updates these days. 207k miles has passed recently. Did both ball joints up front. They are very easy to drill out with the right drill bit. Glad I was able to save some money that way.

Other than that, just driving around like normal. A little less given the quarantine but still getting some use in. The mileage is starting to tilt towards the S2000's favor as the weather is nice.








The rust situation is starting to get pretty sad.


My last OEM wheel bearing finally gave up the ghost with some play showing up. 205k miles. What a bearing lol


Gas is so cheap these days:



Found a CRAZY twin at my local Costco.

[nos4blood70]

Approaching 214k miles and still going along! Biggest issue now is the passenger side rear subframe cage nut looks to have disintegrated and my subframe is shifting around. Going to have a friend cut a hole in my wheel well at some point and lay down a nice fat booger weld to get it permanently affixed. Lol Lately I've been tightening and loosening it every time it gets noisy and it goes away for 2ish weeks. Also unloaded a full can of fluid film in there to help and it seems to be working.

Rust will most likely cause the end for this car before the drivetrain goes, but I think it'll still be a few years before it gets unmanageable.

I've replaced inner and outer tie rods again and my steering play has gone away. I've been experiencing a trans fluid leak so today I changed the pan gasket, filter, and lines. Found a chunk of something in there, but very little wear materials, so I am not very worried. Car still shifts great 98% of the time. May need to also change the axle shaft seal on the passenger side as it is moist there as well. Also have a new accessory belt ready for winter so no more dimming lights when going through puddles due to belt slip.

Even with COVID and driving the S2000 more, the miles have been piling on at the usual rate. Got a couple of camping trips in, and a small little pittie has joined our little family via shelter adoption. Her name is Gigi and she loves car rides and sprawling across the Bonneville's big back seat.

[95naSTA]

Always cool to see this still ticking.

How many miles have you put on the Bonneville personally? I'm tracking almost 120k just in this thread.

[nos4blood70]

The car is a May 2003 build, and it joined our family on December 30th, 2003 with about 3500 miles if I remember correctly.

I became almost the exclusive operator of this thing in 2011 with about 45k miles on it, so with my math I have done about 168k miles in this thing in the driver seat. Still love it, and I'll still hop into it and think wow this thing is comfy and well dampened. Lol

[Sirius]

I wonder how long these cars would go under daily driver conditions if there was no rust. Rust has been the demise of many a decent car.

[dougtoth]

I believe they would last indefinitely if they never came in contact with salt.
Here in Wisconsin they are not only using calcium chlorine but are also using magnesium chlorine,
Read what this does to metal.
It is worse than calcium chlorine.
They are pre-treating the roads with this junk before the snow starts.
It supposedly prevents the snow and ice from sticking to the roads before they start plowing.
I am spraying Fluid Film on the underneath of the cars to try to prevent as much rust as I can.
Still confused if safety is such a big concern on cars then why aren't the brake & fuel lines stainless?
Good thing now is that the wife and I are now retired and don't have to go out in bad weather.
My 1975 Monte Carlo is from Arizona and has never seen winter.
I can take off every bolt on the car with no problem.
A course Car Companies hate people like me because I will never buy another new car.
My (2) 2005 Bonnevilles are in good shape and should last a long time since I will not drive in bad weather anymore.

[95naSTA]

I became almost the exclusive operator of this thing in 2011 with about 45k miles on it, so with my math I have done about 168k miles in this thing in the driver seat. Still love it, and I'll still hop into it and think wow this thing is comfy and well dampened. Lol

That is awesome.

[nos4blood70]

I've been applying Fluid Film to it as well, and it seems to have really slowed down the rust. It doesn't seem to have gotten any worse than it has been about 2 years ago when I started paying attention to it.

My commute is just over 50 miles round trip. The car hangs out at 65-70 mph, returns low to mid 20s MPG on regular gas, does really well on our questionable quality roads, and asks for a cheap part and an hour or two of my labor once a month or two. I can't complain!

The headliner is starting to fall down but the interior and all the seats are still very comfy and in good shape. It's treated me so well over the years, and it's only truly broken down in my own driveway, so I know it loves me haha

[nos4blood70]

It's my birthday and somewhat related to that Penny got some new generic all season tires as her send off to hopefully at least 250K miles lol God these wheels are so crusty.

Nonetheless, it's so nice to be driving a car that is shake free at any speed. I thought it wasn't ever going to happen again.

Also added the red line from a Tesla badge we had laying around at work, turning Penny into a Bonneville "performance". Bahahaha

S2000 is also back on the stock wheels since I obliterated the rear Hankook RS4s this year. Still driving it around as there is no salt. Let's see how late that goes for.

[Namrepus28]

Happy Belated Birthday! Penny is looking good for her age as well! The Generals are a good solid tire that aren't too expensive. Good choice.

I wish I had no shake at any speed. Haha.

It's funny I just hit 250 kilometres. Although that's only 155-ish miles.

[nos4blood70]

I am very impressed by them so far! They are quiet and soft. Noticeably more braking power and in the rain the car no longer feels like it has 400 hp lol Some snow will be a real test but I've never ever had trouble with this car in the snow, it does super well.

[95naSTA]

Happy belated. Cool to see both cars are being put through their paces.

[Sirius]

I've had Altimax on my SSEi (not sure what's currently on it ) and I liked them. Good tires. Like you I noticed they were quiet and rode well.

[nos4blood70]

Thank you folks!

I like them a lot as well. The first real snow will be their test, but I'm loving the ride and lack of highway vibrations.