Silverado Rough Ride

Passivaggressor · October 9, 2019

According to some post of Facebook the 2018 rear shocks are the same length as the 2019's. So any Bilstein or Eibach for the 2018 should be good to go.

oldmann · October 9, 2019

This could be the single stupidest thread on this forum. The suspension will loosen up after a few thousand miles and these are trucks. They ride rougher than cars. 20" or 22" wheels are worse that 17" or 18". Run the correct tire pressure depending on you load.

The End.

Thomcat · October 9, 2019

6 hours ago, oldmann said:

This could be the single stupidest thread on this forum. The suspension will loosen up after a few thousand miles and these are trucks. They ride rougher than cars. 20" or 22" wheels are worse that 17" or 18". Run the correct tire pressure depending on you load.

The End.

Agree, nothing wrong with the suspension on the '19s. Stiff and bouncy with 22"s when new. Road force balanced the wheels after 1K, a few heavy loads, tow of the boat up and down the hill, and 2K miles later the rear leafs loosened up nicely.

Now, runs as nice or better than my '16Z71 with 17" wheels.

Passivaggressor · October 9, 2019

I don't think it's stupid for guys to want a better ride out of their trucks.

Thomcat · October 10, 2019

Cars and SUVs are designed to haul people and luggage; pickup trucks are designed to haul people, rocks, lumber and manure. So it is impractical if not stupid to expect anywhere near car ride comfort out of a truck.

A case of genes - Avalanches with rear coil springs were the closest a same cost class pickup will ever get to a car/SUV ride. The most successful way to get a better ride out of a leaf spring Silverado is to trade it in for a rear spring Suburban - anything short of that will be less successful - you can't turn a white horse into a zebra no matter how many black stripes you paint on it, nor paint a zebra like a horse to get it to run a racetrack.

Passivaggressor · October 11, 2019

Well when other leaf spring manure carrying trucks are riding better with the same payload capacities people tend to think there may be something that was done wrong or perhaps they can fix it.

MacLaren · October 11, 2019

My LT Crew has been good since I bought it, and since getting a little over 4k miles, she has gotten better too.

From what I've been reading, the LT models do ride the best.

I think it's because they are made a little different from the RST models - a different spring or something, I cant hardly remember.

It makes sense as mine rides very,very, well.

Mine is a Z71 as well.

Edited October 11, 2019 by MacLaren

Thomcat · October 11, 2019

6 minutes ago, MacLaren said:

My LT Crew has been good since I bought it, and since getting a little over 4k miles, she has gotten better too.

From what I've been reading, the LT models do ride the best.

I think it's because they are made a little different from the RST models - a different spring or something, I cant hardly remember.

It makes sense as mine rides very,very, well.

Mine is a Z71 as well.

LTs and RSTs have the same suspension, it is the Z71 variants that differ from both base models, primarily in the rear suspension/Rancho shocks. After my '16 LT Z71 I purposely stayed away from another, those knobby Goodyear tires were great off road in heavy snow or mud, but handled like crap in turns on wet pavement, the front slid and rear end would break out on hairpins even in AWD or 4WD. Stock suspension on '19 RST with high performance conventional sipe tires handles better in turns more so with low profile sidewall 22s over the Z71s high profile knobby 17s. Handling difference is not only in gripping like a cat, but in reduced body lean and nose diving admittedly at the expense of a harsher ride. Road force balance and a few thousand miles to loosen up the suspension has made it no worse than the ride on the former Z71's knobby tires. Wait until the miles and age build up on the Z71 tires and it is slide-o-rama on pavement turns, worse, they get noisy, and the large blocks in the "treads" begin to feather toward the rear edges (frequent, very frequent, cross tire rotation, not front to back, is necessary to compensate for this type of wear pattern).

Can't say how much of the latter might be attributable to the '19 body style over my '16 , but the comparison tire/wheel performance and grip of 22" Alenzas in emergency maneuvers and hairpin turns over the knobby Goodyears is nothing short of incredible..surprisingly so.....truck is as close as possible to handing if not in comfort as a sedan/SUV.

oldmann · October 11, 2019

21 minutes ago, Thomcat said:

LTs and RSTs have the same suspension, it is the Z71 variants that differ from both base models, primarily in the rear suspension/Rancho shocks. After my '16 LT Z71 I purposely stayed away from another, those knobby Goodyear tires were great off road in heavy snow or mud, but handled like crap in turns on wet pavement, the front slid and rear end would break out on hairpins even in AWD or 4WD. Stock suspension on '19 RST with high performance conventional sipe tires handles better in turns more so with low profile sidewall 22s over the Z71s high profile knobby 17s. Handling difference is not only in gripping like a cat, but in reduced body lean and nose diving admittedly at the expense of a harsher ride. Road force balance and a few thousand miles to loosen up the suspension has made it no worse than the ride on the former Z71's knobby tires. Wait until the miles and age build up on the Z71 tires and it is slide-o-rama on pavement turns, worse, they get noisy, and the large blocks in the "treads" begin to feather toward the rear edges (frequent, very frequent, cross tire rotation, not front to back, is necessary to compensate for this type of wear pattern).

Can't say how much of the latter might be attributable to the '19 body style over my '16 , but the comparison tire/wheel performance and grip of 22" Alenzas in emergency maneuvers and hairpin turns over the knobby Goodyears is nothing short of incredible..surprisingly so.....truck is as close as possible to handing if not in comfort as a sedan/SUV.

I rotate the tires every oil change or 6000 miles. They stay in good shape that way and do not wear unevenly.

OnTheReel · October 11, 2019

The LTs with the 5.3 have a composite rear leaf spring, as referenced in the compatibility guide for the 2” factory lift. So there is a difference there.

Between loaners and my own, I’ve spent at least a few days driving each of the 3 suspension packages on these 2019s on the same routes. All three have exhibited much more wayward / tailhappy behavior over broken roads than my 2016 with the base suspension ever did. This is not the only factor in ride quality, but it seems to be the main complaint when it comes to these trucks vs the last generation. All in all, I’m happy with the ride of my NHT, but it does kick out and bounce around occasionally on rough crossings, even after 8500 miles. This can be disconcerting for people who are only getting into their first truck, and I believe it is likely the main reason they retuned the suspension for 2020.

Doolin-Dalton · October 12, 2019

On 1/4/2019 at 11:41 AM, cbpagent72 said:

I'm coming from a 2018 ZR2 and the ride in the Silverado is very bouncy and rough compared to the smooth as silk ZR2. I have never felt a vehicle ride this bouncy that didn't have bad struts. Do any of you have the same experience?

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

No and sorry this is happening to you. I have a 2019 Trail Boss, Custom Trim, Z71 with the Goodyear DuraTrac tires. The ride is very quiet and smooth like a car. The rear end does hop a little if you hit a bump while going thru a turn at speeds above 40mph, but I thought that was common for most trucks with leaf springs?

Thomcat · October 12, 2019

.02 People are driving these more like cars than trucks with a few passengers and very little weight in the bed so the rear springs never get a workout. Seems the springs may need a little flexing under load to free up the sliding movement of the ends of the leafs, and a little oil spray didn't hurt, especially after sitting with that crap they spray on. When new mine rode like there was only a single leaf. Couldn't have been just road force balance that helped with the ride of the 22s, 2K+ miles a load of firewood and towing the boat sure flexed the springs especially when going up hills. Suspension is just right now, any looser and it would see-saw towing over humped RR crossings. Workout mellowed the ride right out, even rides better now when unloaded with just the front passengers.

Want a real gut busting ride? Take out the Ford flatbed loaner from Home Depot.

Thomcat · October 20, 2019

On 10/11/2019 at 11:37 AM, OnTheReel said:

The LTs with the 5.3 have a composite rear leaf spring, as referenced in the compatibility guide for the 2” factory lift. So there is a difference there.

Between loaners and my own, I’ve spent at least a few days driving each of the 3 suspension packages on these 2019s on the same routes. All three have exhibited much more wayward / tailhappy behavior over broken roads than my 2016 with the base suspension ever did. This is not the only factor in ride quality, but it seems to be the main complaint when it comes to these trucks vs the last generation. All in all, I’m happy with the ride of my NHT, but it does kick out and bounce around occasionally on rough crossings, even after 8500 miles. This can be disconcerting for people who are only getting into their first truck, and I believe it is likely the main reason they retuned the suspension for 2020.

If they retuned the suspension for 2020, funny they didn't bother to mention it.

http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/chevrolet/silverado/2020-chevrolet-silverado/2020-chevrolet-silverado-changes-updates-new-features/

OnTheReel · October 20, 2019

54 minutes ago, Thomcat said:

If they retuned the suspension for 2020, funny they didn't bother to mention it.

http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/chevrolet/silverado/2020-chevrolet-silverado/2020-chevrolet-silverado-changes-updates-new-features/

Well, that’s not even a GM-operated website, but I’m guessing one wouldn’t necessarily advertise this because doing so would basically admit that the 19s could have been better?

Nevertheless:

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/gmc/sierra-1500/2020/2020-gmc-sierra-1500-duramax-first-drive-review

“The GM engineers on hand told us the entire lineup of half-tons had their suspensions (both front coils and leaf rear springs) retuned for the 2020 model year, mostly due to customer feedback.“

Thomcat · October 20, 2019

2 hours ago, OnTheReel said:

Well, that’s not even a GM-operated website, but I’m guessing one wouldn’t necessarily advertise this because doing so would basically admit that the 19s could have been better?

Nevertheless:

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/gmc/sierra-1500/2020/2020-gmc-sierra-1500-duramax-first-drive-review

“The GM engineers on hand told us the entire lineup of half-tons had their suspensions (both front coils and leaf rear springs) retuned for the 2020 model year, mostly due to customer feedback.“

Boils down to a matter whether to believe either one of them or my lying eyes. To early to check replacement numbers, so next time at the dealer, it's flat on my back pulling numbers off the springs of a '20 RST for comparison against mine. Other models too.