One thing to consider with your problem.
First, I have no problems with my air suspension. 2023 GMC Yukon Denali XL. I like it. The wife (her Car) likes it. But let me tell you a little story you might think about.
So, about to leave for a road trip. 23,000 miles on the Yukon. Tire wear is normal. Suspension up and down just like it should be. I have this bright idea to take it to my dealership to have it aligned. My brilliance never ceases to amaze me.
Got it back. It had the changes/new specs on this piece of paper with red and green on it. Wow, it really needed an alignment. Feeling good. Load up and go. Staying in Lanett, Alabama because hotels are sold out in in Auburn. It was graduation weekend. I never had any idea that they graduated people at Auburn.
We check into a Hilton property in Lanett, about 30 minutes away, and head to Auburn, Alabama for dinner.
I come out from dinner. I had parked with the front wheels turned left. I looked down and there was nothing but cord showing on the inside of the left tire. I go check the right side. Same problem. I am not driving this Yukon another foot.
Call GMC help desk. There is actually a dealership in Lanett. Me, the wife, and the tow truck set out on an adventure to Lanett, which happens to have.... a GMC dealer? That goes along with the incredible fact that there are real graduates from Auburn, but sure enough.....
We dump it on the lot and the wrecker driver takes us to whatever Hilton property we were staying in.
The next morning I get up and hitch a ride with the front desk clerk's sister, who stopped by for the free breakfast. She was driving something like a 2005 Yugo with 2.4 million miles on it. It was full of fast food boxes, cups, dirty clothes, dog hair, and no telling what else. She took me to the dealer about 20 minutes away. I extricated myself out of that thing, gave her $20, and thanked her for the help. She was actually a nice girl, but coyote ugly.
This dealership is tiny. Two bays plus tire storage. I check in with the service department, tell them the story, he says he knows the problem but lets go out and look at it.
"Yep, we can get it aligned, put two tires on it, and have it out in two hours." Hell of a deal.
I sit around and read the tractor reviews out of a tractor magazine in what some might call a lounge. They keep me updated on the progress. First, the dealership did not have an alignment machine, so they sent it down the street to Junior's with two new tires to have it aligned. He did so and gave me the same red and green specs on the changes he had to make. Turned out old Junior knew exactly what he was doing.
The dealer got it back, spiffed it up, I wrote the check, he handed me the keys, and I said thank you.
Then I turned and asked what happened? He said the guy doing the alignment in Rockwall, TX FAILED to read the owner's manual. I forget the page number, but sure enough there is a small section that gave instructions on how to align a truck with air suspension.
I then asked him how he came to know that. He said Junior had FAILED to read the owners manual last week when he did an alignment for a dealership customer.
I asked him for some help in assembling the info I needed for my soon to be upcoming visit with my service manager in Rockwall. He already had it together, including the copy of section something, page who knows, of the owners manual.
Anyway, we continued our trip to the Finger Lakes region in New York to visit the McKenzie Childs Pottery Factory, which makes the ugliest damn pottery in the civilized world. I challenge someone to find anything uglier. And we have plenty of it.
When we arrived back home I took my packet, plus the sheet detailing the alignment specs my dealer supplied when he did it, and promptly received a check for $700, which was about right.
The morals of the story? First, make damn sure your alignment store has an owners manual with the correct procedures and provides you the printed final sheet specs. Then put it in your glove box and lock it so you don't lose it, and remember to have that specific discussion with the service writer, inluding section and page number noted. Second, make damn sure you remember you now have an independent rear axle on your truck. I didn't even think of that and I knew it. The rear tires turned out to be worn, just not to the extent the fronts were. I put another 10,000 miles on them before I replaced, which probably broke me even with my settlement.
All in all, it only cost me 3 or so hours out of my trip and a basic breakeven on money out-of-pocket. And now I have the same knowledge that Junior had to learn the hard way and my Rockwall service manager had to learn the hard way burned into what is left of my brain.
It still makes me giggle, although it could have been a front tire blowout at 70 mph.
Anyone else encountered this?
