Zane

Zane Merva Executive Editor / Publisher, GM-Trucks.com April 26th, 2019 Our friend Tim Esterdahl from Pickup Truck and SUV Talk got an awesome chance to tour the Ft Wayne Assembly Plant. That's one of the two plants that produce the 2019 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. Tim's tour was narrated by GM's Executive Chief Engineer Tim Herrick. Sit back and enjoy this look inside the manufacturing of the all new Silverado and Sierra. And if you like what you see, subscribe to Tim's YouTube Channel.

Zane Merva Executive Editor / Publisher, GM-Trucks.com April 12th, 2019 A few months ago we started to notice something on our 2019 Silverado that no owner of a brand new vehicle wants to see. Rust. Specifically on our rear bumper, just around the plastic step. It wasn't huge and didn't spread very far from the edge... but we couldn't stop noticing it. There was no excuse for rust on a 8 month old vehicle with less than 10,000 miles. The photo above shows the minimal but noticeable rust patch. It was even happening on both sides and in the same place. The issue seemed odd. Unfortunately, we've just been too busy to bring it by to our local dealership for them to look at. Lucky for us, our procrastination has paid off, because in the time between us first noticing the problem and getting off our lazy asses to drive to our dealer, GM has released a TSB about this very issue. It appears that on most of the early trucks, production of the bumper was completed incorrectly. The steel assemblies should be bent into shape then chrome plated. But that didn't happen in a small part of the early bumpers. The supplier bent the area around the side step after the bumper was chromed. The new folds in the steel damaged the chrome, cracking it and making the truck susceptible to rusting. What's the fix? If your bumper is rusting already, Chevy and GMC will replace it. If it has not yet started to rust, they will apply an automotive grade wax/sealant to prevent rust in the future. If you're unsure if your 2019 has this issue we suggest doing the following: 1. Give your truck a bath for heavens sake! 2. Clean the rear bumper step area with a hose or pressure washer. Front and back! We find lots of dirt collects behind our step in the bumper assembly. 3. Inspect around the foot step area and behind the foot step area. We found rust in both areas! 4. If in doubt, wait for it to rust and kindly ask for a new rear bumper. Our dealership, Banks Chevrolet in Concord, NH has been great getting our rust issue fixed. Our service adviser Justin has kept us in the loop during the repair and gave us a loaner Silverado LT while they have our truck. He even made sure any other outstanding service updates are also applied to our LTZ while it was in the shop. As it turned out, there were six open issues that needed addressed. Here's the official Service Update you can print out and bring to your dealer when you take your Silverado or Sierra in for service.

Zane Merva Executive Editor / Publisher, GM-Trucks.com March 22nd, 2019 The all new Chevy Suburban & Tahoe along with the all new GMC Yukon have been caught testing on public roads once again. We've licensed these images so we can show you the very first look at production lighting for these future 2020 model year vehicles. The last time we saw pre-production models of GM's full-size SUVs was last fall when the 2020 Tahoe and Yukon were caught on film for the first time. This time, the trucks look more complete and almost ready for action. Here's what our spy photographer has to say about the 2020 Suburban, Tahoe and Yukon: And here are the images:

The Merva Brothers Founders, GM-Trucks.com February 27th, 2019 When you take delivery of a brand new 2019 Silverado, you'll be faced with a few choices beyond which trim level or options you want. You'll also be asked which accessories you want to be installed on your truck before it rolls off the sales floor. Most GM accessories can even be factored into the sale price and financed. So, we're setting off to try out some of these certified accessories that are available for the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado. Our goal is to let you know if they are worth the cash or if you should take a pass. We've always loved the look of a blacked out bowtie and the idea of one that lights up seemed too cool to pass up. So we headed to our local dealership and ordered the 2019+ Illuminated & Blacked out front bowtie. Here's how it went and what we think. What is it? Chevrolet Illuminated Grille Bowtie Emblem in Black Part Number: 84069488 MSRP: $275.00 Manufacturer Website: https://accessories.chevrolet.com/ Main Features Doesn't effect your factory warranty Direct replacement for the standard gold bowtie Same quality as original parts Wiring harness is plug & play and matches factory wiring Here's the bowtie and grille as it came from the factory. Installation The first step to install the illuminated bowtie (or the non-illuminated black bowtie) is to remove the front grille. The grille on our LTZ was easy to take once we understood how it was fastened to the body. The entire process runs around 30 mintues We'll be covering how to remove the grille on the 2019 Silverado in detail soon. A plastic trim removal set makes this process much easier. After a little bit of pulling and careful prying, the entire front grille section comes off. Note the grille can be removed without having to take off any body panels or reach under the vehicle. This is a huge improvement over past Silverado generations, which required more disassembly to access the grille mounting hardware. The grille is a solid unit. Switching it out with another trim level's grille would be easy at this stage. This is also a good time to clean up the grille. To remove the factory bowtie, release four tab clips on the backside of the grille. One is inside of the support post where you will also run the bowtie's wiring harness. We popped out the bowtie and cleaned behind it before installing the new one. It was filthy underneath! The included wiring harness plugs into the driver's side headlight harness. It then snakes through the radiator opening and clips to the bumper. We found it easier to run the wire through the grille and connect it to bowtie, THEN snap the bowtie to the grille afterwards. Attempting to plug the harness into the bowtie after it is mounted on the grille turns out to be extremely difficult. We tested the bowtie to make sure it lit up properly before we attached the grille back onto the truck. Our Impressions Installation of the illuminated bowtie turned out to be pretty easy provided we used the right tools. Our plastic trim kit was invaluable during the process, allowing us to pry and remove pieces without scratching them. The kit also didn't come with instructions, so make sure to ask your dealer for a set of them when you buy it. They can print it out for you. The quality of the bowtie is on par with other factory parts and matches accordingly. The wiring harness looks similar to those already running under the hood giving the final fit a factory feel. So while the look and feel of the product is excellent the actual performance of the illuminated bowtie left us wanting more. We expected an illumination effect with a similar brightness to our DRL lighting. Instead, the bowtie glows a dull white at light. During the day or bright sunlight the illumination effect disappears completely. We do appreciate that the color temperature of the bowtie matches the headlights and DRLs. The MSRP of $275 is steep for the eventual lackluster performance. Excellent build quality, plug and play performance, a factory look, and no warranty interference offset the price to an extent. If you want a quality replacement for your gold bowtie that adds a little more flare to your 2019 Silverado, the Illuminated Black Bowtie could be right for you. If you're looking for a bright centerpiece that stands out with the same intensity as your other lighting, this may not fit your bill.

Oh heck yeah! Especially going 100mph+ into turn one. It just didn't look like we could turn that much going that fast. Ended up being a piece of cake. Chevy claims 100% stock. Just red painted calipers, an RST grill, and the bed cover.

Zane Merva Executive Editor / Publisher, GM-Trucks.com February 18th, 2019 The Daytona 500 is the original great american race. The history, the track, the location, the excitement. Daytona is where NASCAR began and auto racing was changed forever. But this past weekend the 2019 Silverado changed the idea that the "pace car" has to be a car forever too. In 2019 the Silverado was the first truck to ever to pace the Daytona 500. Early Sunday morning, right before the big race, we had a chance for a ride in that pace truck around the 2.5 mile tri-oval Daytona track and recorded every second of the experience. Sit back and enjoy!

Zane Merva Executive Editor / Publisher, GM-Trucks.com February 13th, 2019 GM only announced the all new 2020 L5P Duramax and 2020 Silverado/Sierra HD models a few weeks ago and we're already finding out more about them. This time Gale Banks has his hands on not one, but TWO L5P Duramax engines and takes one of them apart to explain what's different from the 2019 L5P engine. The video is over 13 minutes long but worth every second. Enjoy!

Zane Merva Executive Editor / Publisher, GM-Trucks.com February 12th, 2019 An exciting but anything-but-confirmed rumor has started to swirl around the GM performance community recently. Here's two completely independent reports I read in the last 24 hours. With the sheer number of white collar jobs currently being "resized" at GM, it's no surprise that anyone working on future product development might feel a little salty and inclined to chat about the projects they were working on. Does this mean these products are in development? MAYBE. We see three likely options. Option 1- The Rumors Are True: That means the next generation Escalade will get a V-Series variant with the 650-horsepower Supercharged 6.2L LT4. If that platform was packaged for the Escalade, slapping it into a Silverado and calling it an SS would be child's play and the most likely next move. GM has been criticized for lacking a true performance truck for a long time and this could make up for the absence. Option 2- The Rumors Were True: But not anymore. In this scenario, the leakers who knew about the projects were let go because the projects were canceled. This is also a likely option. Option 3- The Rumors Are Not True: The whole thing was made up and taken out of context by hopeful GM Performance Enthusiasts (myself included). It was wishful thinking anyways... Stay tuned to find out exactly which option it was. Maybe it's option #4?

Zane & Josh Merva The Merva Brothers - Co/Founders, GM-Trucks.com GM-Trucks.com is always trying to stay on the bleeding edge of General Motors vehicles and the aftermarket accessories that owners install on them. That’s why we occasionally purchase long term pickups to better understand the ownership experience of these extremely popular vehicles. Our last truck, a 2011 GMC Sierra All Terrain, continues to serve us well all these years later, but became outdated in 2014 when the K2 generation of trucks was produced. We never had a chance to purchase a 2014-2018 Silverado but had a half dozen close friends who let us work on theirs. So when GM announced that the 2019 model year Silverado and Sierra would be brand spankin' new, we knew we had to have one. Thus, a year long effort was set into motion during the Winter of 2017-2018. Internally, GM-Trucks.com declared war on the 2019 Silverado. We could cover it, we would own it, we would be THE place for owners of the T1XX generation to call home. To do that, we had to have one ourselves. We saw the surprise unveiling, followed trim level news, ordering information, factory startup, placed an order the first day we could, then waited (not so) patiently for it to arrive. In September 2018 we took delivery of our new 2019 Chevrolet Silverado LTZ. Here it is a few seconds after the first time we saw it. What’s the plan? We’re going to make our new Silverado work for us and you. Over the next few years we plan on transforming our truck, installing loads of aftermarket parts, and reviewing everything in the process. Our thought process behind this Project Truck is simple. We originally wanted to buy a Silverado Trail Boss but found that Chevy wouldn’t let us get it with the all new 6.2L V8. That engine and the brand new 10-speed transmission was reserved for those who purchased an LTZ or High Country. With the 6.2L being more important, we acquiesced and ordered a more expensive LTZ instead. Thus, our mission to replicate the Trail Boss’s off-road stance and beefed up attitude but with a legendary 6.2L engine and a more luxurious take on things was born. We've decided to call it…. Project Trail Beast More than just a name, Project Trail Beast is a set of core vehicle modification goals that we’d like to accomplish with our 2019 Silverado LTZ. The ultimate goal is to create the truck that Chevy should have made… a Trail Boss with a 6.2L engine. Thankfully, we’re not bound by factory parts anymore, so we can go a little more hardcore than Chevy would have. Our goals include: Suspension Lift: We’ll take our Silverado and raise it a modest 2-4 inches. More aggressive tires are a requirement and aftermarket rims are being considered to complement the higher stance without sacrificing driveability. Beefed Up Performance: 420-horsepower stock isn’t bad…. but isn’t nearly enough. We’ll explore adding a supercharger to our 6.2L and work with leading brands to install performance intake and exhaust systems. We’ll also check in on the custom tuning scene and how the 2019 models can be modified on the inside. Updated Lighting: Even though most of our Silverado has high tech LED lighting, there are still some conventional bulbs. We’ll replacement all with the latest LED tech and add additional illumination around our truck. Expect us to talk about and review industry players such as Sylvania and Baja Lights soon. Utility Accessories: We'll explore bed covers, floor mats, security products, custom keyed locks, ceramic coatings, and a wide range of other accessories that any truck owner may use or need on their vehicle. From Adams Polishes to Husky Liners, we’ll look at what works and what does not. GM Official Accessories: GM is upping their game and offering lots of performance and visual accessories right from the dealership. We opened up a parts account and immediately started buying. How do these products perform? Are they worth the price? We'll let you know Help Us Out! What Do You Want? Do you want a particular product reviewed? Can't decide on a truck safe? Or confused about Ceramic Coatings? Let us know! We’ll do our best to review anything we can on Project Trail Beast. Do you work for a company who has a product you’d like us to look at? We can do that too. What’s next? It's time to get installing. We have a fat pile of accessories we've already started to work on. Each product, each experience, we'll share with you. Stay tuned for more updates on Project Trail Beast.

I've been on CorvetteForum since 2001.. who's to say I'm not this ZERV dude?

Zane Merva Executive Editor / Publisher - GM-Trucks.com Februrary 7th, 2019 Yesterday we brought you an exclusive look at the new logo for the 2020 C8 Corvette in a digital high-resolution format. Although the logo had been previously rendered through a leaked key fob passing through FCC certification, GM-Trucks.com gave you the very first official version of the emblem in digital format. Today, we've got part two and it's even better: A brand new, never before seen, blacked out version of the 2020 Corvette's iconic emblem The corresponding gauge cluster startup animation Your first look at the brand new Corvette script First things first, what's a startup animation? Well, these days a lot of new GM products use an LCD display in the gauge cluster, or even use a display as the entire gauge cluster. The C7 Corvette (and now C8) uses a large 8-ish inch screen for most of the gauge cluster. When you open the door, the gauge cluster "starts up" showing an animation, usually with the Chevrolet logo or in this case the Corvette's logo and script. Our 2019 Silverado LTZ has a Chevy Logo animate on it's 4 inch gauge cluster display. This is a C7's Gauge Cluster. See that huge screen? The C8 is going to have a variation of that. Maybe the same, maybe larger. Interesting to note, this crossed flags emblem is not the same as the logo we leaked yesterday. Instead of a chrome surround it sports a blacked out trim. It looks mean, nasty, and one may presume it just may be destined for a performance variant of the Corvette. Is this the emblem for the rumored Zora model? We won't comment specifically on how we obtained this animation. We can say it was collected from publicly available file by a third party and passed along to us. This is the gauge cluster start up animation for the up-level (Zora?) 2020 C8 Corvette Here's a closer look at that blacked out emblem variation And here's a closer look at the 2020 Corvette Logo Script- which has evolved from it's C7 form Here's the C7 logo and script for comparison What do you think? Are you excited for the Corvette to go mid-engine? Do you think Chevy's graphical updates to the logo and script are living up to the hype of the 2020 Corvette?

Zane Merva Executive Editor / Publisher - GM-Trucks.com Februrary 6th, 2019 This is the first of two GM-Trucks.com 2020 C8 Corvette exclusives. CLICK HERE TO READ PART TWO Images of the C8 mid-engine Corvette logo have been out in the open since late November. They showed up on a leaked key fob undergoing certification last fall with the FCC. The internet has run wild with speculation since but no-one has gotten their hands on a real digital version of the 2020 Corvette's logo. Only enthusiast renders based on the leaked fob.... Until now. GM-Trucks.com has the first exclusive look at the official logo in digital format. We won't comment specifically on how we obtained it. We can say it was obtained from publicly available files by a third party and passed along to us. Enjoy! Tomorrow, we'll give you the very first look at the 2020 Corvette's dash cluster start up animation.

Zane Merva Executive Editor & Publisher - GM-Trucks.com February 4th, 2019 The Detroit Free Press is reporting that GM will layoff as many as 4,000 people white-collar positions today. Dubbed as "Black Monday" by an investment strategist, the cuts that may start today are a result of a low take rate on an employee offered buy-out announced in October. I can personally attest to the talent lost at the company in the last few years. Most of the people that I had the pleasure of communicating with for the past twenty years at General Motors no longer work for the company. Most received early retirement buyouts and will move on to other roles at other companies. Those cut today won't be so lucky to get that buyout.