Bought a new Denali and now I'm having buyers remorse

[DennisT]

My wife and I picked up a new 2016 Denali on Tuesday. This is a car we plan to travel back and forth to Florida in 2 or 3 times a year. I bought it from a small town dealer and on the test drive there were no express ways around to get a real good feel for it at highway speeds. I came from an '09 Tahoe LTZ so I was expecting a Denali to have at least as good of a ride as that truck. Yesterday I had to take a 300 mile round trip in it and while I didn't notice any buffeting, I did notice what felt like extremely out of balance tires. So knowing we had planned a trip to Florida for today, I made an appointment to take it in the first thing this morning to get the tires checked. The mechanic said they looked pretty good but he did change the weights slightly on 3 of them. We just stopped for the night after driving 400 miles and I am already sick of this truck. I like everything about it except the ride. I can accept the harshness over bumps. But the constant vibration feeling like a tire is out of round or out of balance is unacceptable. It has 22" wheels with Bridgestone tires. Has anyone else had this problem and what was done about it? The thought of dropping $50k plus trade for a truck that rides worse than a Kia just makes me ill.

Dennis

 

[TheVazha]

Don't despair buddie, you'll get to the bottom of it. Just take it to the dealer and have the SA go for a drive with you. Make sure he and his tech understand exactly what the problem is and then tell them not to call you until they've sorted out the issue. I assume you have a good warranty, it shouldn't be a problem. It sucks you're having to deal with these things on a brand new truck but I get it, trust me. I just went through a bad test drive experience on a 2016 and I'm not throwing in the towel yet! In the mean time, try to enjoy her in good health!

 

[Yukon John]

I had a similar experience with an Escalade ESV. Turned out that the culprit was a bent 22" original install rim. The dealer replaced it immediately...and all was great for 195,000 miles !!

Remember...you can balance a box....but that doesn't mean that it will roll smoothly. If you have the time during your trip take it to a local dealer and request that all 4: wheel and tire assemblies be checked with a radial/lateral turn out gauge. This will find your issue.

With respect to the rough ride....22" tires with a 45 aspect ratio are not ever going to ride smooth on a rough surface. When I bought my 2016 SLE I opted for the 20" vs the 22" for that reason. The 22's look great but you pay a price in comfort.

 

[thirdcoast]

Your problem is probably the 22" wheels and the BrickStone crappy tires.

I have a 2009 LTZ and changed the wheels to stock Chevy 20" and run Goodyear Eagle Sport V rated tires and the ride is firm but very comfy..

As was said, you pay when you decrease sidewall height. If you look at all the trucks that have high towing capacity, you will see smaller wheels so they have a taller sidewall.

With all that said, I drove a new 2016 Denali that was a demo for $58K and liked my 09 better so stayed with it. I do have one of the few 09 Tahoes with the 6.2L engine so mine will actually perform as good or better than the new stock Denali's.

Go to a dealer and see if they have any 20" takeoffs with the good wheels and offer to do an even trade.. might work out as they sell the heck out of the 22's..

Good luck,

Thirdcoast

 

[kiboater]

Generally a balance problem will peak at a certain speed and diminish at slower or faster speeds. Something like a bad tire or bent wheel will just get worse the faster you go. GM Dealers and others have a Hunter Road Force balancer that will detect things like a bent wheel or bad tire. A regular balancer will only balance and as the other poster mentioned you can balance a box.

 

[02Lightning]

Generally a balance problem will peak at a certain speed and diminish at slower or faster speeds. Something like a bad tire or bent wheel will just get worse the faster you go. GM Dealers and others have a Hunter Road Force balancer that will detect things like a bent wheel or bad tire. A regular balancer will only balance and as the other poster mentioned you can balance a box.

This! Make sure you get them road force balanced

 

[cardude2000]

Road force balance and also may want to drop the psi a bit?

I love the look of the 22's but took a couple of long test drives with them and couldn't take the ride so I went for 20's. Still a pretty rough ride but worlds better than the 22's


Sent from my DynaTac8000 using Tapatalk

 

[DennisT]

I just completed my 950 mile trip in the Denali. It is an incredible truck except for the ride. I averaged 20.2 mpg with the AFM defeated and running 75 to 80 all the way. That's about 3 mpg better than my 2009 6.2L Tahoe on the same trip. I think I will go talk to the service manager of the local GMC dealer here and see if there is anything they can do for me to improve the ride before the trip home. If not, I'll just take it up with my home dealer when I get back.

Dennis

 

[Yukon John]

I just completed my 950 mile trip in the Denali. It is an incredible truck except for the ride. I averaged 20.2 mpg with the AFM defeated and running 75 to 80 all the way. That's about 3 mpg better than my 2009 6.2L Tahoe on the same trip. I think I will go talk to the service manager of the local GMC dealer here and see if there is anything they can do for me to improve the ride before the trip home. If not, I'll just take it up with my home dealer when I get back.

Dennis

What part of Florida are you in ? If you are near Ft. Lauderdale I can recommend a good dealer here.

 

[thirdcoast]

DennisT;

I currently have a 2009 LTZ with the L9H 6.2 (see sig for mods) and drove a new Denali a few months ago, but did not like the rear seat area because you lost a lot of room without not being able to remove the seats. So I did not buy it.. Maybe I should have as it was a deal $58K with a few thou miles demo on it. (Dealers Wife)

Anyway, with my mods and performance, i am not getting anywhere near your MPG, 16 avg. This is probably due to the new Direct Injection, 8 Speed & 3.23:1 Gear.

My question is this: I really like this 09 as it is the perfect Geezer Hot Rod, has less than 50K miles on it and lots of rear storage for trips which I am planning this following year.

If you had it to do all over again would you still buy the 2016 Denali?

Thanks,

Thirdcoast

 

[adventurenali92]

I agree the road force balancer makes worlds of a difference. But tires and wheels make it too. 22 inch rims suck. There just isn't enough tire in between the truck and the road. Plus Bridgestone dueler tires are absolute crap. My 2006 denali XL had them when I bought in my Denali 17 inch rims and the truck rode terribly. Granted my suspension needed to be replaced as well. When I stole an almost brand new set of take off Michelin ltx tires my ride quality improved 100 times. So look into tires. And talking to the dealer is a good idea on wheels and tires. You can probably score a good set of take off 20s that will look good and help you're ride quality a bit. If you want to go that route.

 

[DennisT]

DennisT;

I currently have a 2009 LTZ with the L9H 6.2 (see sig for mods) and drove a new Denali a few months ago, but did not like the rear seat area because you lost a lot of room without not being able to remove the seats. So I did not buy it.. Maybe I should have as it was a deal $58K with a few thou miles demo on it. (Dealers Wife)

Anyway, with my mods and performance, i am not getting anywhere near your MPG, 16 avg. This is probably due to the new Direct Injection, 8 Speed & 3.23:1 Gear.

My question is this: I really like this 09 as it is the perfect Geezer Hot Rod, has less than 50K miles on it and lots of rear storage for trips which I am planning this following year.

If you had it to do all over again would you still buy the 2016 Denali?

Thanks,

Thirdcoast

That's a hard question Thirdcoast. I had the same reservations about the third seat and cargo area. Had it not been for that I would have probably bought one a year ago. I wanted a large SUV for our trips south and I needed to tow a trailer twice a year. Other than the GM products there is not much out there to choose from. I looked at Mercedes, Audi, Ford and Lexus. I had negative issues with all brands. Based on my positive experience with 3 previous Tahoes and Yukons I decided to live with the cargo area of the Denali. We really like the truck but if they can't get this road vibration corrected I would gladly go back to my 09 Tahoe with 110,000 miles. After all that I've read since I bought the truck I probably wouldn't buy it again until the vibration issues are solved.

 

[thirdcoast]

DennisT

Thanks for the input, I think I will stay with my 09 as it only has 40K on it and I only use it on weekends or trips..

I do have a 2014 that is my daily driver & a 2007 GMC Sierra VortecMax with 120000 that I use as a tow/work truck.

I just took the Bridgestones off of the 14 & put the Goodyear Eagle All Season that were on the 09 in it and it made a big difference. The BRICKstones had 43000 on them and were used pretty hard, but the compound they use is harder than the Goodyear.

I added the Goodyear Eagle 2 V rated to the 09 as I get a bit leadfooted and with my mods can easily exceed the safe operating speed rating of the H rated tire.

Both ride very well now..

Good luck with your ride problem,

TC

 

[bde269]

that sucks i hope it works out

 

[WillieFlo]

Holy crap Dennis T, is yours a 2-wheel drive? I average about 14-16 on the highway, but mine is lifted 4x4 Denali with bigger tires/wheels.
Love the ride, even with the bigger meats.

 

[DennisT]

Holy crap Dennis T, is yours a 2-wheel drive? I average about 14-16 on the highway, but mine is lifted 4x4 Denali with bigger tires/wheels.
Love the ride, even with the bigger meats.

No, it is a 4 wheel drive unit. i'm getting around 14 mpg around town which is better than the 12 mpg I got our of my '09 Tahoe.

 

[Ralph Varick]

its not the tires....its the V8/V4....I have a new Tahoe and the V4 vibrates at all speeds and the V8 at 55 and 80 mph....GM has no fix and no clue...They say its a character of the vehicle and within spec...I drive it in M4 to get away from V4 and it vibrates only at 55 and 80 mph...

 

[adventurenali92]

@Ralph Varick, I had a rental 15 yukon slt in April for a few days And the V8/V4 was not causing the vibration that he's described. I kept it in manual mode the whole time I drove it and it still made the buffeting/vibration noise at every speed I drove it. Windows up or down didn't make a difference. The vibration was still there.

 

[DennisT]

My vibration was definitely tire related. Although you can feel a bit of vibration with the AFM. After all of the pico analysis and repeated tire balancing by the dealer, and after my insistence, GM agreed to put on a new set of Michelins. That cured 75% of the vibration. I attribute the rest to the nature of 22" wheels.

Dennis

 

[Deuce16GMCs]

My vibration was definitely tire related. Although you can feel a bit of vibration with the AFM. After all of the pico analysis and repeated tire balancing by the dealer, and after my insistence, GM agreed to put on a new set of Michelins. That cured 75% of the vibration. I attribute the rest to the nature of 22" wheels.

Dennis

What dealership do you frequent?

Reason being is that my 2016 Denali has had all 4 Bridgestones replaced and road force balance 4 time and the vibration atill persists.

It's better than it was, but there's still an annoying amount of vinration that just feels like a crappy set of 22" wheels on a crappy set of tires.

My dealer says GM won't let them replace the tires with Michelin's.

How'd your dealership do it?