Sounds like what is quickly becoming of our first '98 Grand Cherokee right now. The passenger side rocker is in seriously bad shape. I was thinking of using a cutting wheel to cut out the entire rocker panel and then doing a reasonable POR-15 job in there, but now that it is able to show me the truth in there the stuff on the other side is dying too, so I'm not sure there is enough there to pull off a decent salvage, extend it a few more years kind of job.
I really wanted to wheel and winter rat the hell out of this one so as to 3 season the "newer" cleaner one of the same year and model I just scored. This new one look so nice and clean I shudder to think of driving it reguarly in the brine up here....
They say the cost of living here in CNY is very good which at first glance it is, but when your add our some of the highest property taxes in the country together with the fact that your cars last half as long as they could, it really is still mighty expensive to live here. Just looking at this new Jeep as compared to my first one, Same year and basic model; one is still solid as a rock while the other is starting to look like swiss cheese. At 30K for a new SUV, if you break that down over 5-6 years it really adds an extra 5K to your cost of living expenses, no less extra heating expenses too. And in Primary Care we can't afford another new car even if we wanted to, with two school aged kids, morgage, school and business debts to eat our meger earning. Sometimes I really do yearn to get the heck out of here, especially when I read some of the mid-western posts about all the wildlife and great scenary all while just driving to work....
Heart broken over our first new car's painful slow death,
Paul
