Component wear in rust belt

I own a 00 XJ Classic that I bought earlier this spring. I now has about 81K miles. When I got the title I noticed it spend the majority of it's time in Illinois. There's some rust underneath, a tad bit of spots on the bottom of the doors too.

I noticed my swaybar bushings (bolted to the body) are really worn bad. Also, I had some ball joints go bad lately as well. My old 88 XJ, which spent all of it's life in Colo, had the original swaybar bushings and they looked as good as new after 160K. Also, I didn't have to replace much in regards to components that are exposed to salt.

Is their a connection between rust corrosion and parts wearing out a little quicker, even rubber parts? Or is this just a coincidence? I'm asking because I've been trying to decide if I wanna part with this XJ or keep it for a few years. Here in Colorado we don't have many rust problems so this rust concern is a little new to me.

Not that I know of. Those bushings could be a sign of the speedometer has been rolled back though.

Interesting. Is rolling back the speedo easy on a newer XJ?

Yes!
Illinois is a big user of salt and that spray-on crap, they want dry roads in the winter. The sway bar will corrode and wear out the bushings quicker, the salt is also abrasive and can aid in wearing out undercar parts.

Good luck.

Rev

Did someone say Rust, Swaybar, and Illinois?




Rule of thumb in IL is for every quarter inch of snow forcast, expect at least half an inch of rock salt on the road, or that new spray stuff that rusts even faster.

Got our first snow tonight- before the roads were even wet, they were white with salt.

Holy Rust Batman! How old is that swaybar????

In the mountains they use magnesium chloride a lot. Is that what they use in Ill? Here on the front range, we can get by with just using sand most of the time. Even older vehicles around here are almost rust free.

that's a '97 that lived in WI until 2001, then moved to IL. Magnesium Chloride- thats the stuff they just started using locally last year- leaves nice salty lines on the road.

you should see my driveshaft, axles, and U-joints.

the unibody is rust free so far though- besides every single bolt I've tried to take off.

Bushing are cheap, and yes salt can age a part prematurely. That sway bar is not as bad as mine....I actually have some swaybar on my rust, and some floorpan on my rust,etc......lol

In my experience, salt ==> rust ==> rough metal ==> increased wear on bushings.

Here in Vermont, I expect swaybar bushings and axle universals to have short lives. Also shock bushings, which will often fail long before the shocks do. It's not predictable, but when rust does get in under a rubber bushing, it chews it off pretty quickly. I haven't noticed problems with ball joints or other parts that receive grease routinely. I've lost a couple of oil pans and diff covers to rust, too, and it's the rare older XJ around here that still has a working rear wiper (bushing in the shaft corrodes and seizes, and the pot-metal arm pivot rots off too).

I live in NY and get over to VT and NH frequently. I've noticed that different towns/villages/counties use different "winter treatments" to the roads. Some use more sand than salt and some places use salt exclusively. I think that's why I see XJs and other older cars in VT and NH that are rust free.

Where I live, the county puts down salt if they *think* it's going to snow or get below freezing. So much salt you'd think you were driving on a gravel road sometimes.

BTW-my rear wiper still works... but the underbody surface rust is terrible.

Henkel or the people that make Loc Tite make some stuff they call undercoating primer. It's some kind of resin, that has a rust or oxidation inhibitor in it. It almost looks like the light brown sludge you see in a pan.
Stuff works pretty good, it's somewhere between a paint and an undercoating, you can remove it with a good solvent, paint over it, undercoat over it or leave it as is. It won't cure rust, but will stop it in it's tracks and dries really light, I've used a light coat on driveshafts and other parts with no balance problems. Just about perfect for sway bars, axle housings and stuff. It doesn't look pretty, but gets the job done and doesn't rub off, get soft in the heat, get sticky or light on fire and drip all over the place when welding.
If you know someone with a Loc Tite (Henkel) catalog, it may be in there and is worth a try as a cheap POR alternative.
The stuff is also, just about, salt proof and lasts. I use it to touch up the spots were the undercoating has peeled off.