Chuck FB

While I haven't had a reason to use it extensively yet so others may have some more feed back on all of its quirks, it appears that its somewhat ground speed dependent as to what gear it will go into when shifted into L, mostly it was at higher speeds when I shifted it and it dropped down a few gears all on its own but then in thinking about it I am not sure if its aggressiveness changes if its in tow/haul mode or regular mode as I haven't tried all scenarios myself come to think about it. But if your worried about it slamming into some low gear its not supposed to go in, it won't do that if the system is working correctly. Yes it has access to all 10 gears if you want it to be so its not restrictive if you don't want it to be but if you do want to "lock out" certain upper gears and for example that might be 10th and 9th, you select it to read 8 with the rocker switch and from then on ( within that key cycle of operation ) it won't shift above 8th gear. When coming to a down grade for example when lets say you were in D mode and you want engine braking, pull it into L and it will probably shift down some in that moment but to continue to shift down you keep tapping the - on the rocker and if its able to ground speed wise it will shift down one gear at a time as you tap the - . Now lets say your in manual mode and its showing 8th gear and you come to an up hill, the truck will continue to shift down as required on its own but the readout will keep showing 8. If for some reason you want to manually down shift going up a hill you certainly can do that if desired and using part throttle that would otherwise cause it to shift up in D mode, in L mode you can keep it down into a gear where the engine would rev higher and your lighter on the throttle. I could see that making sense on a longer hill climb in hot weather and wanting to allow the engine to not work so hard but have rpm and none of this issue with it wanting to shift up and then bog and shift back down. I don't have the experience like I say with this truck and towing to know how bad it is for constantly shifting when on hills, some vehicles are bad for that and all that does is cause more heat and stress as the trans keeps shifting back and forth and bogs the engine down and ground speed slows and then it shifts back down and round and round it goes. All that would be a learning curve for the trailer one is pulling as a light low air resistance trailer would be very different then a tall trailer pushing a lot of air or an all out heavy trailer in how a vehicle responds. Hopefully I answered that other question about what gear its actually in vs what the readout is showing you in the L mode, that the readout is only showing what it could potentially have shifted up to but not necessarily what actual gear its in at that moment. GM would have to have two readouts to give all the information, the readout it currently has which shows what gear it will allow itself to shift up into if its able to and a new readout that shows what gear its ACTUALLY IN in that moment in time. But now I know from what was said here that using any form of the cruise choices on these trucks means its more that likely applying the brakes on a down grade on top of its shifting the transmission down so that could get a person into real trouble using cruise down any length of hill by way over use of the brakes unknowingly to the driver who may assume its only the transmission having shifted down that is holding the truck back "so impressively". Right now even if your not hooked up to your trailer you can play some with your L mode and get a feel for it a bit but only by towing your trailer will you be able to determine what gear and ground speed your unit will be able to use to go on a down grade and for example not hardly touch the brakes. Its one thing on freeways with sweeping wide curves and no traffic and can go faster safely ( sort of ) but mountain grades on two lane narrow sharp curving highways one has to shift down and crawl and probably hold traffic back as otherwise the brakes would be toast long before one would get to the bottom if one didn't shift an automatic trans down manually and that is why exhaust brakes if effective enough are a game changer if doing a lot of that type of terrain pulling loads, the plus of the big three diesels on the market aside from their hp/torque advantages.

Sad but true as time goes on for all of us, we are looking more in the rear view mirror and less ahead as the clock doesn't stop ticking. I don't fault someone for wanting to take a step back and let someone else deal with the maintenance and you have an exit plan ( for your truck that is ! LOL ) where my plan although of course could change drastically, would be to hang onto the truck for a number of years and who knows what will be left of it then but the odds are the five year time will be up for the drive train before the km are reached. But that is why I want to try and keep on top of it for engine oil changes and for that matter the trans ( if I am able to ) and transfer case and diffs. Of course on the other hand I may be pushing up daisies a lot sooner than I realize but then I won't have to worry about my truck so that works out good actually ... LOL.

That's a good idea if I think about it, to take photos of km on the dash and the jugs of oil and filter I will put on etc. Of course there is no way of proving even with that, that the work has been performed. But on the other hand I would know that the plug isn't about to fall out ( or be stripped out ) or the filter fall off after I did the work, or that the plastic bodied air filter that the screws go into are not all stripped out and that a filter is actually in the housing if they touched that. The fact is most places count on their employees to do fast paced work in a oil change bay to slam the vehicles though.

Since we were talking about engine oil and Dexos approved oil to cover warranty, this may not be the correct area of this forum to get into this but I had a comment from a service advisor at the dealership ( I was not getting any maintenance done ). The conversation was about the 2 complementary GM oil changes that I have not been taking advantage of as I am using a different oil and to be honest I am not thrilled with having maintenance done by people they just dragged off the street and stuffed into the oil service bay anyway. So the service advisor was asking, are you getting your engine oil changes done at another shop and I said no, I am doing them myself. Then he says well there was this customer who was doing his own maintenance and his engine had a failure and GM denied the warranty claim because he didn't have proof from a shop that the oil had been changed. He said call GM Canada themselves and that is what I did and I was told that GM Canada can deny the warranty if there is no proof from a shop record of oil changes. I said I have the receipts from the oil filters bought at the dealership as well as the oil I have purchase elsewhere but no, that is not proof enough. So my question is, is this different in the United States as she had no idea what the states rules were, only what GM Canada claims in their warranty. Needless to say I am not impressed at all as I had no idea they could easily deny a claim because the work was done privately, I assume that would apply to any other maintenance as well performed on a transmission, diffs, even changing the fuel filter on a diesel truck ... no record, to bad ... I was not able to get in contact with the service manager or warranty manager at the dealership to have a chat about this but will try to reach someone to see what the dealerships stance is on this.

Are those the 2.5 series and wondered what one gets them for in the states, if its less than the listed price on the fox site. Also do they use the same shock valving for the gas HD as they do for the Duramax or is there a reason or even ability to get a custom tuned shock for the front ( the rear would have the same potential loads on either engine version ).

This video has a good example of a torsion bar cranked right up to the point where there is almost zero droop before the upper control arm hit the steel frame stop as well as the severe angles of the cv shaft and tie rods, and for that matter the upper and lower control arms. Also note they are using the hub center to underside of the fender for measurement comparisons and for the GM they are stating around 24 inches from factory, the Chev has a different fender profile and all I can say is that mine "averaged" about 24 1/2 inches and the high side was 24 3/4. I put mine to 25 inches and in checking the droop by jacking up the truck I am at around 2 3/4 to 2 7/8 for droop. I would say my cv and tie rod angles look very good, its not out much from the factory height, yet it gained 3/4 of an inch of height on my low side from the factory due to their lopsided adjustment. Perhaps that is just enough additional up travel before the jounce bumpers really start taking effect on smaller bumps on the highway and cause a less harsh hit feel to a bump. Trucks with some miles on may very well be sagging a little vs what the new height had been and with it the ride doesn't feel as good anymore and needs a slight turn of the keys and perhaps new jounce bumpers to bring the ride back and those jounce bumpers probably tend to get harder with age although I can't claim that, they sure can wear out though if smashed into enough times when driving crappy roads.

Here is an example of 5W-40 or in the one case 0W-40 European spec oils in Canadian tire, the sites information for each oil may be out of date on their website but here are the links to these ones and I have not looked into if each one is Dexos comparable as in the low speed preignition aspect . Also they do have some 5W-30's as well as 0W-30 and yes some 0W20 as well in the Euro spec. This will give you an idea of some of what is easy to get ones hands on here for the foreign cars. https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/mobil1-full-synthetic-euro-5w40-motor-oil-4-73-l-0289808p.0289808.html?rq=euro+engine+oil&colorCode=VISCOSITY_GRADE_CD_5w-40 https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/pennzoil-platinum-euro-5w40-synthetic-engine-motor-oil-5-l-0289358p.html?rq=euro+engine+oil https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/castroledge-euro-a3-b4-5w40-synthetic-engine-motor-oil-5-l-0289225p.html?rq=euro+engine+oil https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/motomaster-oeplus-european-premium-0w40-synthetic-engine-motor-oil-5-l-0287963p.html?rq=0W-40+engine+oil

Or perhaps upon the excitement of the findings "Eureka !" ... or .... Holy FU%$ ( after he hit his head under the truck )

Definitely that would depend on what oil is chosen and the location within Canada for sure as southern BC and Vancouver/Vancouver island is vastly different for temps then where I am as an example. The odds are that someone on a forum and be it this one or another automotive forum has a different view point and mind set vs the person who knows nothing about their vehicle nor cares to and relies on everything done at a dealership or chain automotive shop. In fact it would be interesting to know what percentage of the driving population ever checks their engine oil level, never mind anything else. But going back to viscosity, that was why long ago I realized that non synthetic 10W-30 for a gas engine or 15W-40 for a diesel just wasn't going to cut for year around use without a risk of causing major engine damage unless the oil was preheated before start up and my switching over to 0W-30 for gas and 0W-40 for diesels that see all seasons and don't have to do seasonal changes on engines that may not have seen much use at all. Due to cost though for all those engines on a farm that never get run during the winter, it still makes sense to go with the less expensive oil blends and these days even the 15W-40 is a part synthetic depending on the brand and the long drain interval claims ( highway tractors ). Back when I was hunting around for better flowing oils some 40 years ago and had bought various products, I took some containers ( not bottles but open containers like ones for sour cream etc ) and marked them and then put in various oils, everything from gear oils to automatic transmission, hydraulic, and various engine viscosities. -40 or colder would hit and these samples were out in a cold storage shed and I could lift up the containers and see how the fluid flowed when tipped on its side or upside down. Non synthetic 10W-30 for example was a sight to see, I could hold it over my head as it just sat there for a number of seconds and then might start to move ever so slightly. Even automatic transmission fluid of the time was pretty darned thick and did not flow well. That was quite the wakeup call though to see how impossibly thick a lot of oils will become.

I would have barely scratched the surface in what I saw in the northern coastal redwoods relative to what would be out there to see. As a kid we drove through the Newton B Dury scenic parkway and someone had said just prior to be sure to take that side road as well as be on the lookout for the little sigh that says "Big Tree" which we did find and see. Walking through the forest with the ferns and moss on some trees looks like a photo in an old science book and the only thing missing is the dinosaurs. We did do the touristy thing as well as we toured the Trees of Mystery, that was back in around 1979 or so. As an adult I made a point to stop at the Big Tree and it wasn't looking so healthy by then, a huge branch had come crashing down and smashed the fence around the base of the tree and was still laying there not cleaned up, the parking lot had grass growing up through all the cracks as nothing was being kept up at that time in 2007 Funny you should say that about the crowds in Yosemite, that was the huge negative at the top of my list for that park at the time of year I was there, complete insanity within the valley during the day and stood in line hoping to get a campsite from a cancellation and I fortunately did. People streaming off of tour buses from groups from other parts of the world and hiking certain shorter trails so again the crowds. It was a dry summer and the water fall that comes over the cliff of the rock wall in the valley was completely dry as I imagine spring time would be the time to experience that. Then I think of Oprah and Gayles adventure with a pop up trailer in Yosemite they filmed years ago and the theme behind why they went to the park, I still shake my head over that whole embarrassing farce of a fiasco.

Of the US national parks I have been in ( which is only a handful or two of them ) I would say Yosemite ranks near the top of my favourites and like I said I did not have the chance to explore as much as I would have liked. The Half Dome hike, that was a whole different experience for me and I certainly was not in the type of shape I should have nor have ever remotely been in to be hiking that trail with authority. The cables were sure a mind game and I did stand on the diving board. You would have died laughing to watch me move the next morning as it probably looked like I was "carefully" moving with one end of a 10 foot length of tree stuffed up my butt and dragging behind me. I was in so so much pain but I pushed myself to keep moving and did the hike in the Mariposa Grove. I really like the natural landscapes of California I have experienced, what I have little to no interest in are the cement jungles.

I missed seeing this comment, yes the 0W-30 and one that doesn't sheer down to nothing is the better all around fit for our climate up here as the highs tend to be in the mid to high 80's as a typical summer extreme ( we did hit 106 a few summers ago but that was a complete outlier ) but unfortunately during the winter we can have -30f for weeks sometimes and the typical dipping into the -40's, its rare not to see at least one day of -40 or colder during a winter. And those are real temperatures, not that fake wind chill spouted off by the weather reporter to impress the audience. The lowest temperature recorded for this area was way back in 1914 at -70f although they state the instrument was more than likely not reading as cold as it really was ... stupid cold anyway. I understand that in Alaska dealerships will install a "winter package" of one wants and of course a block heater is essential but they put on a engine oil pan heater, possibly a trans oil heater pad and some fluid changes such as the cold weather power steering fluid, electric battery blanket ... its a list of items anyway. I've never been to the Yukon or Alaska during the winter but Anchorage area and south is very different from the central and northern parts as its warmer than here during the winter in southern Alaska. Fairbanks is a different story though as its a cold city but two winters ago we were in a cold pattern and beating Fairbanks day after day for being colder .... and I hate the cold, but I can't handle the heat either so I am basically screwed all the way around !. If I lived where you do I know I would be very very tempted to run either 5W-30 or 10W-30 in an engine that called for 0W-20

I sure hope she doesn't serve up actual impossible burgers ... those things are awful in every way possible That looks like a fantastic oil, yes it comes with a price even state side but just think, it covers one from Death Valley to northern Canada/Alaska, over to Siberia and down through the Saharan desert. I was not able to get into the spec sheets the other day like you were on HPL's site as I never signed up is what I am assuming prevented me from accessing that information but through your link I was able to bring up the basic properties page. That is an impressive oil on both ends and certainly outshines most 30 oils on the top end I imagine its a very sheer stable oil. 5W-30 as well as the 5W-40 are all impressive. Speaking of oil prices and this was the 75W-85 gear oil for the front diff, I believe it was at least 35.00 if not more at the dealer here in Canada.

Are you sure, I don't know if I would want my engine to run more quiet then it does now as the truck hardly makes any sound unless I am standing more at the rear of the truck to hear the exhaust as its idling. I've been really impressed with how it doesn't sound like much of anything when near the engine other then knowing its running, more like the proverbial well oiled sewing machine as its sits idling and when revved up its exhaust and fan sound as the engine just runs so smooth without any weird misses or ticking. Now had this engine had 0W-20 in it and the oil was to the end of its life and lots of short runs during the winter with fuel diluted oil, that may be a slightly different story and probably not a good one either in the long run.

I agree that the NOACK is excellent on the 10W-30 , however for the more bitter winter time temperatures the 0W-30 of an Amsoil or various other brands has the better cold cranking specs and so switching out to a more winter friendly oil would be the best case scenario for the engine, perhaps not so much for my pocket book due to timing and changing oils well before it would think of needing an oil change. Unfortunately that comes with the territory of such variable seasonal temps and if one wants the best oil for the time of year. More than likely the NOACK ( as it is on the Amsoil 0W-30 ) will be higher on other brands of 0W-30 as well. Of course all those half tons out there and suv's and cars with their 0W-20 are just peachy keen all year around and never have to worry about what oil is good for what season as its just all great with just one oil viscosity ... as long as one turns a blind eye to to seized engines, damaged lifters and cam or blown turbo bearings ! LOL.

I've never been over the I 80 pass in the few travels that have had me touching on California as a kid exploring the coastal redwoods in the north or as an adult and its years ago now in 2007 that I was last in California. I recognized the number 395 right away due to youtubers roaming around that highway and refreshing my memory. So in 2007 about the third week in July I had crossed over at Laughlin and then up to Death Valley and experienced a lovely 118f which for me was far hotter than I have personally ever been in ( the park office told me the temp it had been and said good thing you were not here last week as it hit 129f ) and then in the evening as it began to cool which is a relative term there !, I made my way west climbing out of the valley to 395 and by then the sun was setting so I didn't see too much of the Sierras at that point as I kept driving north to near Lee Vining. The next day went over Tioga Pass to Yosemte and saw some of the wonders of the park, the next day I hiked half dome ( that was interesting ... I am guessing you may have done that hike among others in the park ) and the next day hiked a bit more among the Sequoia tree groves and then headed south west to Paso Robles and out to the fantastic scenic highway 1 and then followed that up all the way until it joins up with the 101. Somewhere south of San Francisco I believe is where I stopped at a temporary weekend road side fruit stand and got ripped off by a young "valley girl" as after the fact I realized as I had driven on up highway 1 a ways and then tried the cherries and realized they were all rotten and had to throw them all away .. uh good memories LOL. Thought you might get a laugh out of my California adventure ! I am only guessing that you would be on the minority side that would change your tires over to winters being that you live in southern California at the coast. There are a lot of people in Colorado at least from what I gather that never put winter tires, mind you some of them would be those that avoid going near the major passes if there are slick conditions because they know how horrible it is.

You probably guessed what I was driving at, using cruise on ice as well as the adaptive cruise slamming on the brakes and your not ready for it. Last winter we had some fair spans of time with clear highways which is very unusual as so was the weather but normally the roads are unpredictable or put another way predictably horrible !. So no cruise being used at all typically unless its one of those perfect dry pavement winter road conditions. I've seen some videos of the wonderful road conditions going over the pass on I 80 during the winter and I can imagine the accidents are numerous, and a lot of vehicles with tires that are just asking to get into an accident as they came from the valley where its like summer time so who wants to wear out there tires doing that but then go to Tahoe to go skiing and and have summer slicks on ( or worn out tires ).

Ok that makes sense, I was thinking that maybe the way the Chev tailights are designed in how they wrap around a bit, that you could make out a little bit of light coming from them when the brakes were applied. If I think of it as I had mentioned before I will try and see if the rear camera will pick up more glow from brake lights coming on and if that works I can monitor the brake lights when descending a hill with the cruise on and see just how often the brakes are being applied although there is no way of knowing how hard the brakes are being applied.

I see what you mean there in the wording of the Euro spec oil, one being north american derived so they name it differently to distinguish while the other is physically blended in Europe for their domestic as well as world wide market. Really the goal is not a complicated one to explain as its simply to protect the engine when at operating temperature which also tends to be higher during the summer, but also at the same time able to protect the engine upon severe cold startup and allow for ease of proper cold cranking during the winter. Ambient temperature wise for the extremes we can get to help draw the picture, this summer we had a few days of 93f, while winter time we almost always hit -40f if not colder through a winter in cold bouts and sometimes winter daytime highs of -40f within that but can be colder as the winter before we hit -52.5f . That is some yearly temperature swing as you can see ( don't ask me why my grand parents thought they should move up here when they had a perfectly good place in Oregon ! ) However that is where there may be an issue of one particular packaged oil that is capable of doing both jobs because those goalposts are so far apart in a climate like we have up here, severe winter temps vs summer. Throw in the sheer issue of some oils that as you have pointed out don't protect like their numbers on the surface would indicate and so one goes deeper into the weeds in the effort to use the correct oil and if that even exists in one bottle for year around use. That was why I at this point and in the theme of trying to stick with the GM warranty aspect coverage, 5W-30 being within the Dexos spec but also certain 0W-30 oils as well having that certified spec. If the 0W-30 didn't sheer down and as per Mobil or the other main line oils go as I suspect they do, I wouldn't have to overthink the choice past that. Mobil states that the 0W-30 can be used in any application that the 5W-30 can be used, but they also don't admit their oil sheers down either !. So if that makes sense, that was why I initially thought I would do like I have in the past ( although that was with an older oil chemistry 0W-30 which was a thicker viscosity at 100c ) to just run the newer dexos Mobil 1 0W-30 year around but then started having some doubts on that being the best idea and so chose to use the Truck/suv 5W-30 this summer in the thought it may protect a bit better and then switch over to their 0W-30 for the winter. But are there better products out there for the engines life, I think its safe to say there are ... , just not in GM's little cubical of fuel mileage at all costs and be dammed the wear !

Is that during the summer or winter time ?

I haven't dug into the oil manufactures websites yet for the Euro oils but gather there are flavours of Euro oil that are not compatible with GDI and those that are which makes it more interesting to sort through what is what. Definitely there are some retailers that handle a bit of the Euro spec oils such as Mobil and Pennzoil but not sure on their spec as it makes a persons head go around to stand at a shelf of oil as there are so many jugs that look almost alike but are different viscosities or types just within one brand. Napa I believe handles some actual European branded oils as well. I have seen some numbers and possibly a graph in the past showing how a true PAO out performs the lesser types of synthetic oils and certainly blows mineral oil off the chart as it doesn't even compare when it comes to the extremes of cold start up and hot operating temperatures all in one formulation. I wish a company like Mobil would list the cold cranking figures or the HTHS test readings but they don't. One item I find interesting about the Mobil Truck/suv 5W-30 is the flash point of 261c ( 502f ) as that is quite a marked difference higher than for example any of the viscosities but including the 5W-30 Amsoil signature series as I would have assumed it would have been the other way around. Does that mean that flavour of Mobil has some PAO in the blend ? I had not mentioned this in my last comment but when I look up Red line in Canada in a search for product it lists Walmart so I go on that link and while they list some gear oils and engine oils, I get the idea few of any of them actually exist in the store so therefore its the online third party rip off scheme sending product through Walmart. Here is an example and I assume this is not the correct 5W-40 for a GDI and is an Ester anyway but its an example of the price I was seeing ! . I paste in the link and tried it and now they won't list the price, well it was listed at 47.70 per quart, make that make sense ... that would be 382.00 plus tax for the oil itself for one oil change on a gas truck. https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/Red-Line-Oil-Synthetic-SAE-5W-40-Quart-Turbocharged-Performance-Formula-Fully-Ester-Cars-Trucks-Marine-Extended-Drain-Intervals-Improved-Efficiency-P/6SYSYTR5JRWM?classType=REGULAR

Perhaps in hindsight had you realized there was one series of torsion bar lower rated that the stock configuration that you may have tried it instead as definitely if a 4800 bar is just fine for a crew cab short box fully loaded up with crap ( I mean options ... ) it certainly can hold up the front end of a single cab truck. However I have a question in how you set up the keys ( the trucks height ) compared to the factory equipped plow package bars. I am wondering if you have some leeway to raise the truck slightly to possibly use the suspension travel to be more effective. Put another way, if the suspension is bottoming out for example, raising it a little to gain up travel before it smashes against the jounce bumpers hard when hitting a bump but not to the degree of loosing the proper amount of down travel. "Leveling" a truck like what some want to do though is not that wise of a plan or I don't think so anyway, that messes up the ride and causes a short life of a lot of suspension/steering parts. What I am wondering is, what your front measurement is from the center of your front hubs to the underside of your fenders. Measuring that way eliminates all issues with tire size or air pressures your carrying and so if its a heavy front end diesel or a lighter single cab gas, that measurement stays the same.

I didn't realize the online gm parts and a dealership were connected in any way, I've never had anything to do with GM online parts but it seems there is a Canadian website as well. So does GM the online parts store pay for shipping to the dealership or do you get that fee tacked on as well ?. But as to the price and if they are the same bars or perform the same, its obvious as to which one costs less and then shipping costs dependent as well. It is a good question as to what one would notice in a ride difference with ratings being so close, what a stock suspension would react like as per factory shocks and factory weight tires vs a higher end shock and heavier tires ... a few variables thrown into the mix and hard to know unless a lot of swapping and testing was done which again goes back to the seat of the pants feel without having some fancy measuring system to calculate the performance. Amusing about the truck you found, literally came to your house and no surprise that the driver had no idea what you were even talking about, its a company truck for one thing and not everyone would have a clue what a torsion bar even is, never mind that GM has 5 different ratings on this series of truck.

The main thing is your health, my questions on oil are waaaay down the list of importance !. The over all picture you draw with the Dexos theme and certainly the 0W-20 due to it sheering down to what may very well be a critical point of engine damage depending on its use case in time and engine type ( and the Dexos 30 grades not staying in grade either ) , that certainly points to bs politics and not sound mechanical engineering practices. And one wonders why so many engines fail these days adding that to cylinder shut off systems and turbos cooking the oil in high strung small displacement engines as well as turbo failure. Which reminds me, Toyota and their 0W-8 , I wonder how that will play out in the long run. I went to the Red Line website to see who retails the oil around here and they didn't list anyone, I have seen the odd bottle of gear oil on shelves over the years but not engine oil, I imagine its not a fast moving product due to the pricing. Never the less I will look and ask at a few places over the next while to see who has what or can get it in. I am just speculating that the benefits of a higher viscosity and higher quality oil such as Red Line would give the best best bang for the buck during the summer ( a northern Canadian summer that is ) if towing and pushing the rpm as well as the oil temps, aside from the likelihood of the oil package lasting longer. Low ambient temps and low demands from the engine perhaps not as much benefit ?, that is conversely as long as the typical Dexos slop is changed often enough before it does break down too far.

Oh ( makes sense too ) and I've not been driving at night all summer and to be honest past vehicles I could not see any portion of the brake light from the drivers seat while driving to know if they were working or not, that was always a test with a weighty object on the pedal to self check or by backing up to a building to see the reflection. In fact I will have to go out at night now and see if the Chev brake lights will show up at all in the mirror ... or are you forcing the rear camera to come on at highway speed to do this test ? I saw a comment and not sure if it was on this forum from a while back about how fast the brakes were wearing on a truck and I have to wonder if it had something to do with this very issue, the truck applying the brakes on either the adaptive cruise ( which I thought was the only way they applied on their own in high range ... obviously mistaken ) or now realizing even on normal cruise. I could see though on very hilly roads as well as varying traffic, the brakes would be going on far too often for no good reason.