'15 Tahoe, Rear End Spongy or,.......

The Zip · August 8, 2014

The rear end of my Tahoe is spungy or, it could just be my truck with the standard suspension. I still own an '01 Tahoe, just sold an '08 Tahoe, and now own the '15 Tahoe. Of the three, the '01 has the best rear end followed by the '15, then the '08. I was following the wife while she was driving the '15 and noticed there was too much bounce in the rear when traveling over small bumps in the road. So I decided to push down on the rear bumper of the '15 and the truck bounced three times. I am a car guy so I know a vehicle's rear end should not be that spungy. I pushed down on the bumper of the '01 and there was no bounce, just a firm raise back in riding position, which is what it is suppose to do (love that '01, the '15 has big shoes to fill). The rear end on the '08 was the worst, I believe GM didn't put much emphasis in that area of the truck for this model.

I have to roll the '15 into the dealer to change the oil so I'll ask the question if the spongy rear end is a characteristic of the model or if it's just my truck.

Any other '15 Tahoe owners without upgraded suspension notice rear end bounce? I personally believe a vehicle should not bounce at all, just absorb the impact. Or else, what would be the purpose of a shock absorber.

'01LS1 · August 8, 2014

Just my guess, but the more they tune the springs for a softer ride or comfort, the easier they bounce. When looking at trucks last year the Ram was the easiest to bounce followed by Ford & the GM's(old gmt900's) were pretty firm. Have noticed the newer K2XX seem softer or easier to push down as well

bigsapper · August 9, 2014

Maybe a bad shock or two in the rear. It should be under warranty, take it to the dealer.

The Zip · August 14, 2014

Took the truck into the dealer today, dealer compared the bounce to other '15 Tahoe's. Bounce was "similar" on Tahoe's with like suspension. Although, my Tahoe's bounce was still borderline unacceptable. There were no visible defects with the shocks so the dealer requested I give him some time to research unpublished bulletins involving the shocks before a decision is made to change them out. Not an unreasonable request since no defects were found.

In the meantime I will put the truck on a road course (Southern California Freeway system) at the end of the month, after the road course I will definitely know whether or not the shocks need to be changed-out.

The Zip · September 3, 2014

Put about 600 miles on the Tahoe over the Labor Day weekend, rode the fast lane the entire trip. Traveling 80 mph in the fast lane in a vehicle that size next to the center divider on a So Cal highway is gutsy, but I had to test it because my previous Tahoe’s lived in the fast lane.

The ’15 Tahoe has more HP than previous versions and I caught myself traveling a bit too fast for a vehicle that size, causing a slight roll if approaching a bend in the highway. And if there happen to be a bump just as you hit the bend, the tail-end will get a bit squirrel-ly. Not out of control but it will get your attention, I attribute the squirrel-ly feel to the extra bounce in the shocks added to the approximately 1 inch higher chassis and my premium versus upgraded suspension. If the shocks were a bit tighter I don’t believe I would have noticed the feel. As a comparison with the ’01 and ’08 Tahoes, I drove the same highway for years and never experienced this with the ’01 and the ’08 just sat down, shocks in that truck were the worst of the three with the ’01 shocks being best. I will ask the dealer if there is a setting on the shocks to stiffen the ride a bit. If not, the ride is live-able, folks that don’t work on their vehicles won’t too much notice.

But what I did find out was the AC couldn’t handle the temps in So Cal when the mercury reached triple digits. With the AC temp at 70, really hot air versus cold air was coming through the vents. Outside temp was 104 at the time. I would not have noticed this where I live since temps reach 70 on a bad day. But now the cat’s out the bag. If you live where temps climb near triple digits, you may experience this problem. The compressor couldn’t handle the temps, cause when temps cooled to low 90’s a day later, the compressor cooled the truck to an “acceptable level”. Although the rear air is still unsatisfactory. An AC fix shouldn’t be a problem since an earlier post by “robseib – first issue with our 2015 Yukon” basically sums it up. Also, my compressor is really loud when it kicks in.

I will be taking the truck into the dealer to look at the compressor, I’ll tell the service advisor the problem is a bad expansion valve (thx to robseib). AC not working when I needed it most is unacceptable, especially when your dogs are in the back looking at you wondering “any minute now, AC would be nice”. I’ll bring up the shocks again while I’m there.