New to me 2009 Yukon Denali

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14RamHemiSport

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hey guys, finally picked up a yukon. its an 09 (no afm!) denali awd with 89k miles. in really good shape for its age. had a gmc dealer go through it pruor to purchase, everything was great. new pads and rotors front and back, new tires, black interior with dual dvd players in the headrest. very nice rig. only thing i dont like right now is it has the denali wheels in 22, not 20s like i thought they were. sucks on the backroads we drive on. will be ordering a set of 18" wheels and tires soon. couple questuons if you guys dont mind:
1. what is a ballpark asking price for the 4 22 wheels and tires (cheaper nankang street tires - new though) and one wheel is peeling pretty bad, the others are pretty nice condition
2. on nice roads, this thing rides pike a dream. but back rougher roads...not so much. now a lot is the wheels, i know but this has a lot of body roll. expensive to address this? any good aftermarket sway bar?
3. there is this one bump at a section of road where the bump is across the whole road. in ky. truck its one bump as you go over it. i went over it twice in the denali and when you hit the bump you feel it bump like 4 or 5 times. is the suspension doing something here? my wife in the passenger seat said dhe only felt one bump. i felt 3 to 5 bumps driving....

i love how smooth the power is. a tune would really wake her up.
EFFECTS.jpg
 

wjburken

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hey guys, finally picked up a yukon. its an 09 (no afm!) denali awd with 89k miles. in really good shape for its age. had a gmc dealer go through it pruor to purchase, everything was great. new pads and rotors front and back, new tires, black interior with dual dvd players in the headrest. very nice rig. only thing i dont like right now is it has the denali wheels in 22, not 20s like i thought they were. sucks on the backroads we drive on. will be ordering a set of 18" wheels and tires soon. couple questuons if you guys dont mind:
1. what is a ballpark asking price for the 4 22 wheels and tires (cheaper nankang street tires - new though) and one wheel is peeling pretty bad, the others are pretty nice condition
2. on nice roads, this thing rides pike a dream. but back rougher roads...not so much. now a lot is the wheels, i know but this has a lot of body roll. expensive to address this? any good aftermarket sway bar?
3. there is this one bump at a section of road where the bump is across the whole road. in ky. truck its one bump as you go over it. i went over it twice in the denali and when you hit the bump you feel it bump like 4 or 5 times. is the suspension doing something here? my wife in the passenger seat said dhe only felt one bump. i felt 3 to 5 bumps driving....

i love how smooth the power is. a tune would really wake her up.
View attachment 230740

At 89K, you are on the downhill side of your shocks so that may be why you are feeling the extra bumps. I would look at getting ready to replace them. You can either keep the auto-ride, which I assume you have, or go with a auto-ride delete like a lot of folks here have done.

As for upgrades for the sway bar, there are many options that folks here have gone with on these vehicles. I personally don't have any experience with them so I will let those that do give their recommendations.

For the wheels/tires, I would go out on eBay and/or Craigslist and see what folks are trying to sell them for.
 
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14RamHemiSport

14RamHemiSport

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At 89K, you are on the downhill side of your shocks so that may be why you are feeling the extra bumps. I would look at getting ready to replace them. You can either keep the auto-ride, which I assume you have, or go with a auto-ride delete like a lot of folks here have done.

As for upgrades for the sway bar, there are many options that folks here have gone with on these vehicles. I personally don't have any experience with them so I will let those that do give their recommendations.

For the wheels/tires, I would go out on eBay and/or Craigslist and see what folks are trying to sell them for.

the rear shocks have been replaced recently. not sure about front. the tech who looked it over said everything was very tight. couldnt find any play. not sure how much he looked into shocks. with the auto ride, are there specific shocks or can i throw in a pair of bilstein 5100s?
 

wjburken

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the rear shocks have been replaced recently. not sure about front. the tech who looked it over said everything was very tight. couldnt find any play. not sure how much he looked into shocks. with the auto ride, are there specific shocks or can i throw in a pair of bilstein 5100s?

Auto ride requires specific shocks.
 

Doubeleive

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more tire and less wheel will make a world of difference but if the suspension is tight it's going to have a lot of body roll, you actually want the suspension to be "looser" for rough roads, you could maybe try a Hellwig rear sway bar, they are adjustable on the bar and on the end links, you may have a to find a happy medium, if it is to loose then you will have a lot of sway or roll on the highway but better ride on a unpaved road.
 
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14RamHemiSport

14RamHemiSport

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more tire and less wheel will make a world of difference but if the suspension is tight it's going to have a lot of body roll, you actually want the suspension to be "looser" for rough roads, you could maybe try a Hellwig rear sway bar, they are adjustable on the bar and on the end links, you may have a to find a happy medium, if it is to loose then you will have a lot of sway or roll on the highway but better ride on a unpaved road.

exactly. thats why i want to step down to 18s. at first i thought i had the usual 20" wheels, so i was going to just go with new tires, but now that im replacing wheels too, im going to go with 18 for more ride comfort on bumpy roads. i was looking to see if hellwig made one for these. will i see more benefit to reduce roll by replacing the rear or front, if i can only do one at a time?
 

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exactly. thats why i want to step down to 18s. at first i thought i had the usual 20" wheels, so i was going to just go with new tires, but now that im replacing wheels too, im going to go with 18 for more ride comfort on bumpy roads. i was looking to see if hellwig made one for these. will i see more benefit to reduce roll by replacing the rear or front, if i can only do one at a time?
the hellwig for the rear is adjustable, the front is not but I would imagine slightly longer front endlinks could be used if needed, never really tried to "soften" the suspension, does your truck have front struts or does it have torsion bars? not sure what year they changed over.
 

wjburken

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the hellwig for the rear is adjustable, the front is not but I would imagine slightly longer front endlinks could be used if needed, never really tried to "soften" the suspension, does your truck have front struts or does it have torsion bars? not sure what year they changed over.

He has struts. I know the '07's and newer have them.
 
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14RamHemiSport

14RamHemiSport

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He has struts. I know the '07's and newer have them.

thank you. like i said, on smooth highway type roads it rides like a dream. just more tippy and roll than i thought it would have. first rig with auto ride so that is all new to me. let me pteface this with a lot of comparisons i make are in relation to my 6000 lb ram 1500 with 4" lift. i know two different vehicles, but similar weight/size and same roads. i try to be as proactive as i can be with maintenance stuff vs reactive.
 

wjburken

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thank you. like i said, on smooth highway type roads it rides like a dream. just more tippy and roll than i thought it would have. first rig with auto ride so that is all new to me. let me pteface this with a lot of comparisons i make are in relation to my 6000 lb ram 1500 with 4" lift. i know two different vehicles, but similar weight/size and same roads. i try to be as proactive as i can be with maintenance stuff vs reactive.

I would caution you that, in my opinion, Yukon's with the Denali package are designed to be luxurious pavement cruisers that can haul a family of 6, all their gear and tow a boat or camper, and not so much for off-road. There is going to be a big difference between your Ram 1500 with a lift and a stock Denali when it comes to rougher roads. Going with 18" rims will help. You can get it to the point that it can handle the rougher roads better but it will come with a difference to the smooth highway ride, to a certain extent.
 

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