Road noise after level…

Garrett Haight · May 14, 2021

I had a shop put a 2” RC leveling kit on my 2020 Sierra and ever since then the road noise is has been very bad. It’s like all I hear when driving it now. Just a whirling sound all the time that goes up and down in frequency. Never noticed it as much without the level. On gravel roads, the suspension is not deadening any of the sound from the road, just a constant whirling. However, on a perfectly smooth road, it’s as smooth as ice and I can’t hear anything hardly but once I get on a smooth but grittier road the same whirling sound comes back. I was wondering since there’s not as much weight on the front now if that’s why I’m getting so much road noise now. I haven’t gotten an alignment yet either but seriously think that wouldn’t help as much as I’d hope. Any ideas?

newdude · May 14, 2021

Did you have it aligned after installing the level? Everything tight? Any CV boots ripped?

No weight was taken off the front of the truck BTW. Its not like you put 400lbs in the bed of the truck against the tailgate to "level" the front. That is how you take weight off the front.

andrewb24 · May 14, 2021

I installed mine myself and it made squealing noise when driving it after the install but it ended up being the brake dust cover got bent and just had to bend it back out. Maybe thats all that is wrong with yours. Take the wheel off and spin the rotor with your hands and see if it makes noise and then find where the flimsy dust cover is touching and bend it back away from the rotor.

Garrett Haight · May 14, 2021

13 minutes ago, newdude said:

Did you have it aligned after installing the level? Everything tight? Any CV boots ripped?

No weight was taken off the front of the truck BTW. Its not like you put 400lbs in the bed of the truck against the tailgate to "level" the front. That is how you take weight off the front.

It has not been aligned yet. For comparison, I drove the same truck except it had the 2 inch lift (not level) and it was night and day difference. The steering felt heavier along with the front of the truck. That’s why I was thinking the weight has shifted towards the rear. The whirling noise could have been there before the level and since it’s a new truck I’m just not used to the road noise it normally makes. Getting an alignment on Monday, along with tires balanced/rotated. Hoping it will correct the issue. I can live with it but I’m considering lifting rear now to force more weight back on steering.

Donstar · May 14, 2021

43 minutes ago, Garrett Haight said:

I had a shop put a 2” RC leveling kit on my 2020 Sierra and ever since then the road noise is has been very bad. It’s like all I hear when driving it now.

Why wasn't your first response to take it back to the shop?

Garrett Haight · May 14, 2021

13 minutes ago, andrewb24 said:

I installed mine myself and it made squealing noise when driving it after the install but it ended up being the brake dust cover got bent and just had to bend it back out. Maybe thats all that is wrong with yours. Take the wheel off and spin the rotor with your hands and see if it makes noise and then find where the flimsy dust cover is touching and bend it back away from the rotor.

It’s not a squeal, like I said in OP, on a perfectly smooth road, the noise goes away, but as soon as the road gets grittier, the road noise becomes very noticeable, more so than I noticed before leveling the truck. I drove my fathers diesel 2020 half ton gmc and his has the 2 inch lift and it was very solid and not as noticeable road noise.

Garrett Haight · May 14, 2021

2 minutes ago, Donstar said:

Why wasn't your first response to take it back to the shop?

I called the shop and talked to them about it. They suggested getting an alignment which I’m getting on Monday.

aseibel · May 14, 2021

The "road noise" as you call it likely is due to the tires. Your modification has changed the way the tires interface with the road surface. You didn't say if they are OEM or oversize. Oversize tires are just plain louder.

How many miles on the current tires? how often do you rotate them? are they worn unevenly at all?

Getting an alignment and making sure your air pressure is correct will make a big difference.

newdude · May 14, 2021

13 minutes ago, Garrett Haight said:

It has not been aligned yet. For comparison, I drove the same truck except it had the 2 inch lift (not level) and it was night and day difference. The steering felt heavier along with the front of the truck. That’s why I was thinking the weight has shifted towards the rear. The whirling noise could have been there before the level and since it’s a new truck I’m just not used to the road noise it normally makes. Getting an alignment on Monday, along with tires balanced/rotated. Hoping it will correct the issue. I can live with it but I’m considering lifting rear now to force more weight back on steering.

The steering feel has changed because of the alignment being off. Raising the nose up 2 inches those tires are toed in pretty good right now. Leveling changes all of the geometrical angles of the CV, control arms and most importantly the tie rod ends.

Your tires went from | | to / \ from the toe being too inwards now.

Garrett Haight · May 14, 2021

18 minutes ago, aseibel said:

The "road noise" as you call it likely is due to the tires. Your modification has changed the way the tires interface with the road surface. You didn't say if they are OEM or oversize. Oversize tires are just plain louder.

How many miles on the current tires? how often do you rotate them? are they worn unevenly at all?

Getting an alignment and making sure your air pressure is correct will make a big difference.

The tires are OEM with 14K miles on them. I just purchased the truck used so I’m unsure about the rotation schedule or if they’ve been balanced yet. Hoping an alignment cuts down the road (tire) noise a little more. Just seems way more noticeable than before the level, every little rough patch in road can be easily heard.

Garrett Haight · May 14, 2021

21 minutes ago, newdude said:

The steering feel has changed because of the alignment being off. Raising the nose up 2 inches those tires are toed in pretty good right now. Leveling changes all of the geometrical angles of the CV, control arms and most importantly the tie rod ends.

Your tires went from | | to / \ from the toe being too inwards now.

Thanks for the response. Yeah that makes sense. You think an alignment will help with the sound issue at least? I’m going to have the tire shop check everything while they’re down there and that nothing was damaged in the install of the leveling kit.

lapoolboy · May 14, 2021

16 minutes ago, Garrett Haight said:

Thanks for the response. Yeah that makes sense. You think an alignment will help with the sound issue at least? I’m going to have the tire shop check everything while they’re down there and that nothing was damaged in the install of the leveling kit.

Yes an alignment will help. Your tires are scrubbing going down the road essentially chewing rubber off of them. This is going to make noise. Get an alignment ASAP unless you like spending money on tires.

Also, the truck will still make more noise than you were used to because you've now changed the airflow under and around the truck.

Garrett Haight · May 14, 2021

22 minutes ago, lapoolboy said:

Yes an alignment will help. Your tires are scrubbing going down the road essentially chewing rubber off of them. This is going to make noise. Get an alignment ASAP unless you like spending money on tires.

Also, the truck will still make more noise than you were used to because you've now changed the airflow under and around the truck.

I hear the same whirling sound going over gravel too and I didn’t hear it that well when I test drive a brand new one off the lot after the level. I know the brand new one had 15 miles on the tires whereas mine have 14K miles on them. Same tires but mine aren’t aligned either. Could that cause that much noise reverberating in the suspension? It feels like it’s absorbing too much sound from what the tires are riding on, gravel, semi rough roads. Perfectly paved and the sound is very minimal and what I consider “Normal”. Just wasn’t sure an alignment could play that much of an impact.

Garrett Haight · May 14, 2021

26 minutes ago, lapoolboy said:

Yes an alignment will help. Your tires are scrubbing going down the road essentially chewing rubber off of them. This is going to make noise. Get an alignment ASAP unless you like spending money on tires.

Also, the truck will still make more noise than you were used to because you've now changed the airflow under and around the truck.

I’ve had bad tires before and it sounds like they’re not making an aligned contact on the road but when my 115K mile Ford is quieter than my brand new GMC, something is off.

Garrett Haight · May 14, 2021

Like I said earlier, I can just hear way too much road noise almost to a point I can’t see tires being aligned making that big of a difference….? I could be wrong and hopefully I am.