2008 Yukon - Need Opinion on Underside

[moviewithnotitle]

Hi All,
I'm considering this vehicle: 2008 Yukon. I test drove it today. It runs and drives well. Exterior is clean, scratch free etc. Interior is excellent. Almost nothing is worn, faded or showing signs of abuse. It's lived it's entire life in NJ (no jokes...) and it checks all of the boxes for me except for one, which is not a deal breaker at all. Engine bay is clean for the amount of use and clearly has not been detailed to try and hide anything.

But I am concerned about the underside. The frame rails show the factory paint peeling and surface rust in a number of areas. Here are some pics. (sorry, I didn't get one of the side frame rails). Should this be of major concern or red flag? I get that you can wirebrush/repaint these, but that is extra time/work for me.

Opinion, questions, and comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
MWNT

 

[swathdiver]

Mine was not quite as bad being a West Virginia truck. I thought about neutralizing the rust with baking soda and repainting. On some of the rustier areas I just sprayed it with PB Blaster, oil and left it be. Eventually that tire is going to have bead seal leak from the rust, might want to disassemble the wheel and clean the rust off.

If the price is right and everything else is to your satisfaction and there's not rot on or beginning rot on the body, I'd buy it.

I've got another auto from Wisconsin that does look a lot like yours now that I think about it, hasn't gotten any worse in the two years since we bought it. Both now reside in Florida.

 

[moviewithnotitle]

Thanks Swathdiver. I would have taken better/more pics if it was not frigid out with a stiff wind. Body looks great, clean, def garage kept, I just think the previous owner never thought to rinse the underside after the winters. Doh!

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Hi All,
I'm considering this vehicle: 2008 Yukon. I test drove it today. It runs and drives well. Exterior is clean, scratch free etc. Interior is excellent. Almost nothing is worn, faded or showing signs of abuse. It's lived it's entire life in NJ (no jokes...) and it checks all of the boxes for me except for one, which is not a deal breaker at all. Engine bay is clean for the amount of use and clearly has not been detailed to try and hide anything.

But I am concerned about the underside. The frame rails show the factory paint peeling and surface rust in a number of areas. Here are some pics. (sorry, I didn't get one of the side frame rails). Should this be of major concern or red flag? I get that you can wirebrush/repaint these, but that is extra time/work for me. View attachment 190239 View attachment 190240

Opinion, questions, and comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
MWNT

I'm with @swathdiver. Looks like a pretty typical northern truck that didn't get washed in the winter. It's probably just surface rust that you can deal with any number of ways (or just leave it, lol). My only other concern would be fasteners on stuff you might end up messing with like brakes, suspension, etc. That can really ruin your day when you're trying to take it apart. All in all, not a deal breaker in my book.

 

[95escahoe]

Looks normal for a truck from Jersey if you get it I’d remove the spare tire salt and crap can get behind there and really do a number on the truck


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[techbiker]

If you buy that truck, you might want to replace all of the rusted suspension hardware (bolts and nuts) you can reach. If the rust on the suspension bolts worsens too much, it will be a PITA to service anything. Cheap insurance IMO. We bought a car from Chicago in 2009 and half of the suspension pieces are now rusted and stuck. We had to replace the entire suspension on our 2006 Audi A3 (from New York) because the rust had gotten so bad.

I respectfully disagree on the nature of the rust. Looks fairly thick to me in some places. Is any of the rust flaking yet? Unless you stop that rust, the frame probably has a limited lifespan (10-15 years maybe?). Might not matter to you depending on your plans for the truck.

Definitely remove the spare tire and clean the underside thoroughly.

 

[08grey]

Look behind the spare tire for real idea of rust issues. What you showed looks normal for that year with no maintenance. If you buy it Buy a gallon of fluid film and a pump sprayer. Spray everything down underneath and wait for better weather to treat better.

Mine was pretty bad 08. Guy used it to drop his boat in salt water. 6 years later going strong here in NY with the worst salted roads ever.

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[moviewithnotitle]

I found 08 Tahoe LTZ in the area, much higher mileage, but the underside was very clean! Rust in expected areas for a 10yr old vehicle, but still very clean.

For reference, I have a 96 Tahoe 2dr (in the profile pic) with 192k. For all intents and purposes, it's clean. At least compared to the one I posted the pics about. It's Lived it's entire life outside, washed as regularly as possible. No paint peel, minor rust in the underside of the barn doors (very normal). It looks WAY better than the pics.

As much as I want to like the yukon, that rust now concerns me. If they didn't care enough for the underside, likely other things were missed that CarFax doesn't report on.

I appreciate the feedback people.

 

[PG01]

My frame isnt that bad but chunks of the ******** rubber/plastic dip undercoating are falling off. This spring im going under to freshen it up. There was some posts i was reading (maybe gmfullsize forum) when these body style trucks (pickups too) were only a few years old and diff chevy/gmc dealers were ‘fixing’ the areas that were falling off. There was a tsb on it...

 

[08grey]

At that age they all look like that unless they were touched up. Just cause the other kooks better doesn't mean they just didn't spray over some surface rust a while ago.


If you lower the spare and look at the frame behind it will give you a good visual description of the condition of the frame, trust me.

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