Ownership Verified: My 98 Buick Park Avenue Ultra

[Punisher Bass]

Roadmaster was awesome, only way to stop one once it got going is to crash it into something

P.S. Have you tried my idea for getting the tape out?

Nah, I had forgotten about it, I will give it a try and see what happens.

 

[bartboy9891]

Are you refering to the 05+ or the older SN95 and new edge? The 04 and older only had 260hp and did 0-60 in about 5.7 seconds, or about the same as a regular WRX.

The most recent generation, when I saw "stock Mustang GT" that's the first thing that came to mind.

 

[thedguy]

Though not supercar territory, ~5 second 0-60mph is noticeably quick if you ask me.

My point was that the Mustang GT is not some unbeatable mythical creature. I've seen plenty of Honda's out pace many a stock Mustang with a v8 under the hood.

Though I do agree a sub 6 second 0-60 is quite quick.

 

[LeVeL]

My point was that the Mustang GT is not some unbeatable mythical creature. I've seen plenty of Honda's out pace many a stock Mustang with a v8 under the hood.

Though I do agree a sub 6 second 0-60 is quite quick.

I never referred to the Mustang as "unbeatable" or whatever. Late 90s / early 2000s GTs aren't that fast, no... but compared to a buick? How much does your buick weigh? It will run low 15s at best which is slower than a V8 Mustang (although not by a lot, as my personal experience shows)

PS: I'm not trying to start any sh!t - just talking performance here.

 

[thedguy]

I never referred to the Mustang as "unbeatable" or whatever. Late 90s / early 2000s GTs aren't that fast, no... but compared to a buick? How much does your buick weigh? It will run low 15s at best which is slower than a V8 Mustang (although not by a lot, as my personal experience shows)

PS: I'm not trying to start any sh!t - just talking performance here.

The Mustang GT would win the race if driven by a blind folded monkey, but then they are much better drivers than many of the people I've seen on the other side of the Mississippi

 

[LeVeL]

The Mustang GT would win the race if driven by a blind folded monkey, but then they are much better drivers than many of the people I've seen on the other side of the Mississippi

+1, I can't drive down my street without cursing at some moron who really shouldn't come near a car, never mind drive one.

 

[Ottobon]

I just put new front rotors on. The current set is less than a year and a half old, but at some point recently they had become slightly warped. Because of this, there was a nasty shake that went through the wheel if you braked around 60mph and up.

O'Reilly's had two kinds of rotors in stock, $26 each or $68 each. I went with the cheaper pair. I opted not to grab new pads because I was sure these still had plenty of life in them and I was right, there's about a quarter inch of material left.

The job was a little harder than when I did it on our Ford Taurus, thanks to my own stupidity, but once I found the right sized socket everything went smoothly. Tom was once again kind enough to help out by lending me a breaker bar and torx head (I think that's the name) to take home and use, thing is that he didn't know it's a standard 15mm bolt.

I took it for a short test drive and all seems fine, but I'll take it out to the highway in a little bit so I can test that 60mph braking and make sure everything is good.

http://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2008/04/22/Brakes1.jpg[/IMG]

http://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2008/04/23/Brakes2.jpg[/IMG]

http://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2008/04/23/Brakes3.jpg[/IMG]
http://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2008/04/23/Brakes4.jpg[/IMG]

http://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2008/04/23/Brakes5.jpg[/IMG]

Next time around you may want to scrub the rust off the hubs, otherwise your lugnuts can start to loosen themselves, even if you tightened them way beyond spec.

 

[Punisher Bass]

Next time around you may want to scrub the rust off the hubs, otherwise your lugnuts can start to loosen themselves, even if you tightened them way beyond spec.

I did indeed do that, atleast the best I could with my hand and some sand paper.

 

[Punisher Bass]

Over the last week or so I've given the car some badly needed TLC, mostly having to do with the paint. I'm saving the whole story behind it for another thread, but basically I sprayed on fresh clearcoat on parts of the trunk, roof, hood, and rear quarters where it had begun to flake off. It has yet to be wet sanded and polished, and while it looks far from perfect it's a damn sight better than it was.

Here is an example of what things looked like before.

http://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2008/04/08/BuickPaint2.jpg

http://pic.armedcats.net/p/pu/punisherbass/2008/04/08/BuickPaint4.jpg

And here are pictures I took yesterday after it's first washing in over a year.

Notice how that nasty crap on the roof is gone.

http://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/08/09/BuickWash1.jpg

http://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/08/11/BuickWash2.jpg

http://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/08/09/BuickWash3.jpg

Before cleaning and polishing.

http://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/08/11/DirtyWheel_001.jpg

And after. OOOOOOOOOO shiny.

http://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/08/09/BuickWash5.jpg

http://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/08/09/BuickWash6.jpg

I also wet sanded and polished the headlights. I didn't take any before pictures, but know what they look like on any older car that's been exposed to the elements for many years. Yellowish, rough, and just crappy looking. Well a little 2000 grit sandpaper and the proper compound has made them look almost like new.

After wet sanding.

http://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/08/09/BuickWash8.jpg

And after polishing.

http://pic.armedcats.net/a/an/anonymous/2008/08/09/BuickWash7.jpg

So the car is now looking better than it has in years. As for running it's a slightly different matter. I need to get a belt on the enigne replaced and it's not easy to get to, I'm looking at around $200 to get it fixed when you add labor into it. The belt isn't in danger of breaking, it's just worn and has been making a bit of noise. I'll also be due for a round of fluid changes soon (tranny, brakes, power steering) and all those together will add up as well.

 

[Josh]

Gogo car maintenance! I haven't washed my honda since I bought it.. No desire to! Stupid POS..

 

[Wizegui]

I've always wondered about what the cause of the peeling paint is. I've seen a lot of Fords and GM cars that have that problem.

 

[JipJopJones]

Poor paint quality and poor painting technique mixed with less than adiquate car care.

 

[Punisher Bass]

This is the third Buick my family has had and all three of them developed problems with the clear coat. An 88, 96, and this 98 here all were taken care of as best they could be and they still had the problems. Again, I'll go into detail in another thread.

 

[thedguy]

This is the third Buick my family has had and all three of them developed problems with the clear coat. An 88, 96, and this 98 here all were taken care of as best they could be and they still had the problems. Again, I'll go into detail in another thread.

I direct you to your own quote...

And here are pictures I took yesterday after it's first washing in over a year.

Even I wash my car more often than that, even if it was fucking cold out.

 

[Punisher Bass]

I should have rephrased it then. It's the first full on washing it's gotten in over a year, as in a cleaning to this degree with extra TLC instead of a quick scrub down. That Ford Taurus that shared the driveway with my Buick sat outside exclusivly for well over 3 years, 2 1/2 of those years were when it didn't run so it NEVER got washed by anything other than the rain. That car was a year older than mine and after all that the clear coat was still in much better shape than mine.

 

[bump909]

Nice Buick.. that is one huuuge FWD car. Superchargers are nice.

It has a Series II 3800 with a supercharger pumping out 240 hp and 280 ft?lbf of torque, along with GT Sport Suspension it's enough to handle any Mustang or Camaro at the stoplight.

That's a bold statement.

 

[Wizegui]

That's not really hard to achieve, but I'm still having a hard time believing that. Do the C-Bodys come with independant rear suspension or just a torsion beam axle?

 

[NightHawk805]

its not a true buick if it dosnt have white walls...hehe, nice car bro, reminds me of my 91 Ford LTD Crown Victoria, had all the options, 5.0L V8, RWD, Posi, leather, dual power seats, and the rare CD player for that time.

love the car and always will, i enjoy the giant boats.

 

[Punisher Bass]

Nice Buick.. that is one huuuge FWD car. Superchargers are nice.



That's a bold statement.

It's big yes, but not as big as you'd think. I parked next to a 94-96 Impala once and if it causes me to say "Jesus that's big", you can take that to bank.

And yes it's a bold statement, you wanna make something of it?

That's not really hard to achieve, but I'm still having a hard time believing that. Do the C-Bodys come with independant rear suspension or just a torsion beam axle?

It's not a C body. The Park Avenue was a C body car from the mid 80's till 96. In 97 they switched over to the brand new (at the time) G body which is basically identical to K body that underpinned/s the Cadillac Seville and Deville and the current DTS. About the only thing they really changed was the name. The G body was a HUGE improvment over the C body in every way, shape, and form. Trust me, my family had 2 C body PA's and they were crap next to the 98.

But to answer your question, the G body has independant suspension all around.

its not a true buick if it dosnt have white walls...hehe, nice car bro, reminds me of my 91 Ford LTD Crown Victoria, had all the options, 5.0L V8, RWD, Posi, leather, dual power seats, and the rare CD player for that time.

love the car and always will, i enjoy the giant boats.

The 88 had white walls, but they were alays a bitch to keep clean as were the wire spoke hub caps. There is no better way to travel cross country than in a big luxury car.

 

[bump909]

And yes it's a bold statement, you wanna make something of it?

Nah, you'll learn your lesson some day at some traffic light.