[rhudeboye]

We got a 07 Camry V6 SE late in 06. Its pretty much the wifes car but every now and then I drive as its the newest car we have and we take it on long trips. i noticed that when I get her up to about 65 + the car starts drifting to the right. I found myself constantly correcting the wheel which got annoying real fast. I took the car back to the dealer and explained the problem. They rotated the tires and told me problem solved. Significant time passed before our next family outing when I was back behind the wheel of the Camry and the drifting was still there. It was actually wearing away the outer edge of the front tires. Back to Toyota for an alignment check and things looked fine. Was told that the car is probably traking with the imperfections of the road.



Last week I had to replace the tires (got 225/50/17 high performance all seasons) and upon doing that took it to Toyota of Annapolis (different dealer) for another alignment as it was still pulling and I wasn't about to harm these tires. They said its only slightly off and didnt feel the pull when test driving. Knowing what I feel I do a search to see if others are experiencing this and low and behold, this pull issue is all over the web! There is even a TSB on it. So why didnt the "Specialist" at TOYOTA inform me of this. I called the tech and brought it to his attention and asked "why wasnt I told about this?" He explained that he was aware of the TSB and that the alignment looked good and the test drive went fine. Its not fine! So next Monday he and I are going for a ride together.



All this time wasted! What pisses me off the most is the way they try and tell you that your imagining things. Yeah, me and 400 other people with the same make and model car.



http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/archive/...p/t-176218.html

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[flash]

yup - i feel your pain



i have been trying to nail down a drive shaft problem with the denali that has been driving me nuts for over a year now - i have had that car in the shop 34 times in 2 years, for one thing or another, and every time while it was there, i complained about the problem - they kept saying it was "normal" - finally, the last time i was in there, i put my foot down and told them i did not want the car back until the problem was resolved - i didn't care who they had to call in, or if i had to enforce the lemon law - then i got to talk to the mechanic myself and he said "oh yeah - that happens - i know what to do about it - just takes some special grease"



10 minutes and 20 dollars later, the problem went away

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[rhudeboye]

You would think by going to the dealer, they would be more incline to know of common issues and a fast reliable fix. But most dont communicate with each other well and keep up with recurring issues. What if i was some old lady that didnt search the web and simply trusted their diagnosis as a specialist? Off I go with a defective product.

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[gryphon]

[quote name='flash' post='58496' date='Aug 28 2008, 08:11 AM']they kept saying it was "normal" - finally, the last time i was in there, i put my foot down and told them i did not want the car back until the problem was resolved - i didn't care who they had to call in, or if i had to enforce the lemon law - then i got to talk to the mechanic myself and he said "oh yeah - that happens - i know what to do about it - just takes some special grease"[/quote]



My now deceased father, a GM employee/retiree, used to avail me with some very deep discounts on General Motors vehicles. But with time I became very soured with the broken-record response to what I clearly believed to be legitimate problems as "normal." Humming differentials were "normal." Detonation was "normal." Rattles were "normal." Every damn things was "normal." And GM wonders why they have lost market share?



Tom

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[DiREW0LF]

Flash,



What sorts of problems have you had with your Denali? What year is it?



My 06 is a POS!!!



At 20K the water pump went, at 25K the power steering pump started to leak, just recently at 67K the rear hatch actuator went bad. Its been in for ball joints, UV's, CV's, tie rods... And the drivers side headlight bulb burns out once a month. The interior squeaks horribly, the dye on the interior parts is pealing everywhere. The biggest thing is the electrical problems, every once and a while all the electronics in the truck shut off (headlights lights, gauges, radio, etc...), I almost got a ticket because of it because everything shut off right in front of a cop at night.

I'm not hard on the truck at all, the original tires lasted to 64K and still had a little life in them, I just did the brakes but they were also in great shape. Overall for a $60K truck its really been a disappointment. I'm glad I only leased it. I doesn't help that my dealer is worthless and thinks I'm making things up. At least I'm making use of the extended warranty.

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[flash]

also an 06



blew a transmission, a drive shaft, a front diff, had a windshield leak, interior dye issues, squeaks and rattles, steering shaft twice - i can't remember what else



i think i have a ball joint going now

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[DiREW0LF]

I think I have a front wheel bearing on its way out.



It's funny, when I was looking at getting the Denali I had a 99 Range Rover (which I had virtually no problems with until 118K miles) and the sales people were telling me how few problems they have with the Yukon's and how Range Rovers are crap. The Range Rover was a much better vehicle, it could do anything (offroad, towing, comfortable DD, going out to high end restaurants...) . Speaking of doing anything, the Denali is horrible in the snow and is scary when towing anything over 4K lbs.



Once my lease is up I'm getting another Range Rover, I'm done with this GM crap. Anyone have any experience with the Cayenne (S or Turbo) ????

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[flash]

don't get me wrong, i love the car, but it has not been free of issues - it still does what i want it to, and is the smallest thing to be able to do it (we got the short wheelbase version) - i needed a REAL 7500lb towing capacity (not some posted 8500 on flat ground that really turns out to be 6000 uphill), full framed, good handling, 4wd, with at least 350 ft/lb of torque



the cayenne could not tow my race trailer - too short in wheelbase

the ford has weak trannies

the dodge was noisy and clumsy

nothing else was close



i am now pushing over 400hp and boatloads of torque - the bigger swaybars, 305/40/22 tires and bigger springs and brakes have made it a great tow vehicle - i have just had to spend a lot of time sorting out small stuff, and i have done it through the dealer because of warranty availability - i certainly could have taken care of it myself, but why should i?



i'm not generally a GM fan, but nothing else has come close to doing what i want this car to do - i am by no means looking to dump it

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[PorscheDude]

Deuce Dubs~ Gotta have'em on the left coast.

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[flash]

huh?

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[94SilverCab]

The respected gentleman from Maryland was referring to a perceived requirement for those individuals residing in California to enhance said vehicles with 22" wheels.



I yield the floor,



Jay

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[rhudeboye]

[quote name='94SilverCab' post='58560' date='Aug 28 2008, 03:03 PM']The respected gentleman from Maryland was referring to a perceived requirement for those individuals residing in California to enhance said vehicles with 22" wheels.



I yield the floor,



Jay[/quote]

<img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/laugh.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/laugh.gif" class="smilie" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/laugh.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />



School 'em Jay

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[flash]

ah - i see - i didn't do it for bling factor, in fact, i chose a wheel that was painted center to avoid that - if i had to do it over again, i would probably have gone with 20s



i went with 22s because, believe it or not, the load carrying capacity of the tires was actually HIGHER than that of a 20 - this was across the board brand to brand - not what i would have expected, but knowing that i was towing, i wanted the highest load carrying capacity i could get



i also chose the 22 because it would handle better, as i was choosing a 305/40 series profile over a 295/50 series profile, due to insisting that i maintain the outside diameter



however, and this is a big one, the additional weight of the 22s and their tires was huge - i gained almost 20lbs per corner - that was immediately felt in the braking

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[DiREW0LF]

Mine has the 20's from the factory, the stock tires were garbage, bad road noise and horrible in the rain and snow. I had purchased a 24' box trailer when we were moving, I figured I would keep it to haul the 944 around. With the car and some tools and such (3200lb trailer + 3000lb car? + 500lbs of "stuff") it had trouble getting up hills and the trailer would make the truck push badly in turns. I'm not an expert at towing but I'm not exactly new to it either. For the size of the truck and the power of the motor I didn't expect towing to be such a chore for it.

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[flash]

interesting - that is why i did not go that big on the trailer - i would be VERY surprised if you are not a lot heavier than you think you are - i would guess it is closer to 7200 - that is really the absolute limit for the denali, even though it states over 8000 - when they figure that, i think they figure flat ground at 55 steady state



i do not have any of those issues - plenty of power - i blast up the hills at the speed limits with no issues - handling is great - no pushing at all - my trailer is only 18' though - you do have the 6.0 in there, right?



as i said though, i have increased power quite a bit with the hypertech, throttle body spacer, and cold air intake - AMAZING difference - that car is fast now - the swaybars, springs, and lowering really made the difference in handling too - i've seen .85G



i also added a nose cone and airtabs to the trailer, which helped a lot in stabilizing it and reducing drag



i also added a deep sump tranny pan to reduce tranny temps - already smoked one of those

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[DiREW0LF]

Yeah, she's got the 6.0, nothing done to it though. The trailer didn't have anything done to it in terms of aero bits which may have helped a lot. I'm sure it didn't help that the trailer was much wider than the truck. It was a 24x8.5' trailer, HD axles (10Klb), upgraded brakes, "landscape package" which included 6" on center floor bracing instead of 10", HD rhino coated frame... The title said 3200lbs. The car I never weighed so I'm just guessing, it had some items removed to lighten it up a bit.



Thing that gets me, even my small Triton 2 spot ATV trailer with 2 ATV's was\is noticable behind it where with the Range Rover you couldn't even tell.



I'm glad that I got such a good lease deal on it. The window sticker was $61,xxx. In the end I will have ended up paying about $43K for it over 4 years (100,000 miles) with a full warranty for the whole time. The buy out at the end is $22K and right now they are selling at whole salers for about $8K. GMAC is taking a beating on it.

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[DiREW0LF]

Speaking of my old car, here is a picture.



The picture wasn't taken in front of our house, we don't let our grass grow that high...



   

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[94SilverCab]

THat's funny, I have recently seen a car just like that around Newtown, PA...do yoiu know the new owner?

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[flash]

hmmm - well, when i had the trailer built, i guessed on the lower true limits of the denali, and consequently followed pete's example when designing it - i had it built with a slightly lower ceiling 6'2" on the inside, and only 8' wide on the outside



every trailer i looked at, except the featherlight, was 3200 or more at 18' - 24' was about 3500 and up



i would get that puppy weighed - you could be voiding your warranty, which could make for a very expensive repair

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[DiREW0LF]

94silvercab,



I actually keep in touch with the new owner of the car, he's finished a few projects that I hadn't gotten to like recovering the dash in leather. I don't know if he would have been down in Newtown, he lives in an area a little further east in NJ than I do and the last I spoke to him he wasn't doing much exploring.



Have you been on rt97 going north on the Delaware water gap? We were out in NY some two weeks ago and came out to 97. Supposedly there was a Porsche commercial filmed on a section of the road. An area called the Eagles Nest or something???? The area seems like what I have seen of rt1 in Cali, which I'm sure Flash has had the pleasure of driving on...?







Flash,



It is very possible that the trailer weighs more. I ended up only using it for the move then I sold it about 3 weeks later (after waiting 3 months for it to be built and delivered). My previous experience with vehicles and towing has usually lead me to believe that vehicles are under rated. When I purchased the trailer the dealer didn't think it would be a problem and had other customers with basically the same size trailer and were towing them with regular Yukon XL's and Suburbans. Maybe the Denali is less capable because of the all wheel drive and extra weight of the addition luxury items?



Oh, and does your truck shift hard between 2nd and 3rd? And hunt for gears when accelerating around 45-50mpg? Mine does all of the above and will sometimes downshift from 4th to 2nd when passing on the highway hitting the limiter then shifting to 3rd. The dealer doesn't believe me.

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