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Riding rough

11K views 31 replies 19 participants last post by  the blur 
#1 ·
Hello,
I just recently purchased a 2008 Escalade ESV Platinum edition with less than 30,000 miles on it. I have only driven it about 185 miles and it rides rough. I can feel every bump pr hump or imperfection in the road. Not exactly what I was expecting.

Any one have any thoughts on what it might be?

Is it possible it was lowered and then put back to factory?
 
#6 ·
Hello jlt1699,

Congrats on your recent Escalade purchase! I am unable to offer any advice because I am not a certified technician, however I would like to further discuss these concerns with you and see if we can work with the dealership. If you please private message me with your contact information and VIN with current mileage I am more than happy to assist you.

Regards,

Laura M.
Cadillac Customer Service
 
#11 ·
A question guys. Assuming there is issue on the shock Absorber , freezes or leakage or whatever , shouldn't we get warning or any error message on the driver instrument panel ? Like check engine. Because I feel the same thing on my 09 escalade , sometimes. Feel it's rough , good idea to check the air pressure
 
#14 ·
Could someone show me these struts? All full size GM trucks have SHOCKS, if your dealership thinks these trucks have struts, or call them struts, then go find another dealership because they probably are not fit to repair your truck correctly. Seriously. :)
 
#16 ·
I just went through the same thing on my wife's 2008 Escalade Platinum with 110k miles. I don't drive it much, but we went a small road trip, and it beat me up! Once we got home, I inspected the front shocks. Both were wet, so I ordered some OE shocks from rockauto. Once I got to installing them, I found the passenger one was the really bad one, driver's was seeping. After replacement, it rode much better. Feels a little rough from the rear, and the rear shocks look a little wet like oil leaking from them. I'm probably gonna use the arnotts for the rear since they are about $120 cheaper for the pair.
 
#19 ·
I got so frustrated I tried a trick we used to use when our 1980's/90's vehicles had electric/electronic hiccups. I pulled the positive battery cable off for an hour or so, but usually just a few minutes works just to see if it would possibly work. WORKED!! Stereo now works - all the stereo/nav buttons work - phone now works - suspension is much better, softer ride but the vibration is still there.

So its now 3 hours later and the radio does not work, phone out, suspension harder than a rock! Vibrations are back to where they were previously, probably because the suspension tightened up again.

Pulled the battery cable for the second time and everything is working again radio, buttons, phone button, suspension softened up.

No codes showing on the DIC.

Uhm............inquiring minds want to know!
 
#20 ·
I have a 2010 Cadillac ESV with 47K miles and the ride is so rough that my 79 year old mother now refuses to ride in it because it threw her around so much in the back seat that she was sore the next day. I have taken it to the dealer several times over the past 1 1/2 years and complained but everytime the service advisor says "it is a truck and this is normal". I keep telling him I understand it is a truck but it rode much better when I first purchased the vehicle because my Mother made several comments about how smooth the ride was and how much she liked it and now she won't ride in it. This is a very expensive vehicle and if it is going to ride like my F350 p/u then why pay the extra money for a smooth ride that doesn't last? My Lincoln Navigator that had 100,000+ miles rode better than this thing. You can feel every bump and it bottoms out on the bigger bumps. We have replaced the tires and had them balanced and aligned and the air pressure checked monthly and all to no avail! It still has a rough ride and the dealer still says this is normal. I am ready to give up on cadillac all together.
 
#22 ·
Agree, mine went at 65,000 mi, rode like it was on steel bars for shocks, replaced the fronts, which were both leaking, improvement to ride was unbelievable. It appears when the shocks (struts) fail the default is full hard on the damping, unlike normal shocks that go limp. BTW what GM calls a strut we used to call a 'coil over' shock/spring unit.

Stu
 
#23 ·
Quick follow up - we have been having this issue since 8/13/2013 at 33,724 miles. When we got in the car the air compressor (or whatever it is) would come on and this was no longer working. We took the car into Allen Cadillac in Laguna Niguel, CA (by the way their service people are the rudest condescending folks I have ever dealt with at a Cadillac dealership) and pointed this out to the service adviser. The service adviser looked at the car and said there was nothing wrong with it and perhaps we needed new tires. We took it in and got new tires the same day at 33,750 miles. It still rode rough. We took it back to the dealership on 8/14/2013 at 33,753 and they said we needed an alignment to fix it so we paid for an alignment. The car still rode rough. Took it back on 3/28/2014 at 40,440 miles (this was soonest I could return to the dealership due to work travel schedule) and complained about the rough ride again. Again the service adviser said everything was fine but you could use an oil change. We let them change the oil. Took it back on 4/2/2014 at 40,445 miles and had the panels around the passenger windows replaced ($200) because the paint was already peeling. Complained about the rough ride again and again the service adviser said there was nothing wrong with shocks or suspension.

After my Mother complained while visiting for Christmas we took it in again today 12/29/2014 at 47,000 miles. This time there was another used 2010 on the lot with 48,000 miles on it. Took a ride in it and the ride was what you would expect - smooth with no rattles and bumps. The service adviser finally agreed there was a problem and of course is working on a big bill/estimate to repair it. So frustrating. Let's just say that we are not very happy with GM/Cadillac or Allen Cadillac.
 
#28 ·
I don't know how competent or comfortable you are with car parts but for something as simple as the shocks I would order them online and take it to a shop or do it yourself. It will cost you 1/3 of the price of STEALers. Amazon has caddy front and rear shocks. (Pn for rear is 580 1057 and Pn for front is 580 435)

Good luck with everything
 
#25 ·
That sucks. Unfortunately there are some bad Cadi dealers out there.

I had my front shocks replaced under warranty and the tech told me the dealers are loathe to replace these unless they are obviously bad, i.e. dripping oil. They have to send them back to GM and will be charged if they are still good.
 
#27 ·
Hello,
First I want to thank you all for the support and helpful suggestions. It was most appreciated!

Just a Quick Follow Up to my previous post:
After we were finally able to get the service adviser to agree there was an issue they determined that all 4 shocks needed replacing because they had seized (imagine that!). We had to print out our Warranty to remind them what was covered. Initially they told us we had to pay for this including labor but according to our warranty this is covered (we have been having this issue since 08/13/2013 at 33,724 miles). They finally agreed to replace the shocks for free but did charge us a misc warranty fee of $170.00. I don't see how you can call it a warranty repair if you still charge folks. What a scam.
You have to wonder about the quality of the parts GM uses if your shocks go out at only 33,724 mile and all we have driven is locally on all paved roads and highways (where I live the roads are in great shape and well maintained).
The lesson here - GM Shocks are horrible and are known for seizing. If you think your car is riding rough...it is! Don't let them tell you otherwise! Be Persistent and don't take no for an answer!

This dealership tried to get us to get a brake job at the same time and wanted $1200 ($600 for rear and $600 for front). We told them no thanks! We contacted Discount Tire up the road from us and they only charged $418 ($209 for rear and $209 for front) and they used better quality parts.
Our lesson here - GM Dealerships are over priced (and provide terrible customer service) and are only good for warranty repairs (if you can get them to honor their warranty). You are better off going to a reputable mechanic for wear and tear repairs.

Our final lesson - GM has worse quality than Lincoln!
We thought GM would offer better quality and service. They don't! In fact parts and labor was much more expensive. We had our Lincoln Navigator from 2001 to 2011 and put 100,000 miles on it. The worse problem we had with it was the transmission (they use crappy gears that wear easily) at 75,000 miles. Our initial shocks lasted longer. Our initial tires lasted longer. Our initial brakes lasted longer. We'll have to wait and see if the GM transmission makes it past 75,000 miles, and I've got to tell you as it stands right now we don't have much confidence it will.
 
#29 ·
You should follow up with Laura in post #18. Allen Cadillac is obviously a rip-off dealership that gives all Caddy dealers, and GM, a bad name. I too am unimpressed with the overall quality and service life of some of the components on my Platinum, I'm going to wait and see how the new generation Caddy's fair, otherwise I'll move on to another brand.
 
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