musclecar6

I recently took advantage of the suspension upgrade to my 2014 Stingray at Hendick Chevrolet in Monroe, NC. It cost $350 for the software and there was no labor charge for the install.

After the install I drove the car for about 400 miles on varying road surfaces, both smooth highway and mild to moderate rougher secondary roads. The steering and handling are tighter after the upgrade which was to be expected from the literature GM put out, HOWEVER the ride was definitely firmer than before the upgrade and delivered a harsh ride on mild to moderate bumps. The ride was anything but more compliant, IMHO. It’s steering, handling and ride reminded me very much of the 08Z I drove for 2yrs/10,000 miles. The 08Z was very dialed in that handled like it was on rails, but rode like a buckboard on all but mainly smooth roads.

Since I did the suspension upgrade in hopes of a more compliant ride in touring, the last thing I wanted was a less compliant ride than stock. With that in mind I took it back to Hendrick Chevrolet and requested to have the stock settings reinstalled. They informed me there would be a reinstall charge of $350 plus 1 hr labor of $ 135 for a total of $485. Needless to say I was not thrilled about this, but I needed to return to an acceptable ride so I said go ahead with the reinstall.

Although my service advisor is a good guy, there wasn’t much he could do and I would have to take it up with GM. So I just an email to Mary Barra, GM CEO requesting resolution of this matter.

So FWIW, although some may like the somewhat improved steering and handling and steering over stock, be aware, at least in my opinion, there is a definite tradeoff in a harsher ride. Also, at this point anyway, it seems like you may have tp pay twice if you don’t like the upgrade as GM will charge you to have the original software reinstalled that you paid for when you bought the car.

c54u

I would think that just the labor charge would be fair, as this would be no different than reflashing another computer in the car.

Call another dealer and see what they say about what they would charge you to reflash the mag ride to original specs.

Thunder22

Email to Mary Barra? Seriously?

Wow. just wow.

buckeye4

Did it change after a day or two after initial test drive?

Avanti

Merry Christmas, loyal customer, from the General (and, its sterling dealers)!!!

chefcg1

Making the DCS upgrade sounding better and better.

I think the best option would have been to trade the gm module with another member on here for a discount. You would have saved money and got your suspension tune back to stock as well as probably making another forum member very happy...my 2 cents.

Hell I would have traded you and given you beers as I switched them out for you.

dashotgun

I think the ride is smoother I am surprised. As far as asking the old one reinstalled why should they not charge you it is labor

musclecar6

I have no problem with the dealer charging for the reinstall( the 1 hr labor, not another $350 to purchase the original software) and I said so in my email to GM. The main issue here in my mind, is GM charging for the original software that was already included in the purchase price of the vehicle when new. To me that’s like having a song one purchased on itunes and having to buy it back again. Just doesn’t make sense to me.

musclecar6

Well my service advisor spoke to his service manager and he said there was nothing he could do about it as GM charges the dealership for the original software if it is to be reinstalled. Yes this seems like a simple fix should be in order here, but it also seems odd that the service manager couldn’t get this resolved with GM relatively easily. I’d rather not spend all my spare time chasing down the right person to straighten out a minor issue, so I sent the email to someone who can hopefully correct things.

musclecar6

Not at all. I noticed right away when leaving the dealer that it handled tighter and was more planted ( although the stock Z51/mag ride is pretty good to begin with ) and the ride was firm. So I traveled on many of the rougher seconary roads I’m familiar with and noticed immediately the ride was more harsh than the stock settings. I figured maybe I was being too critical initially, so I put quite a few miles on the car to be sure ( about 400 miles ). I started out with around 30 psi in the tires as called for by the manual and after 150 miles or so, reduced the tire pressures to around 28 psi to see if that would help soften the ride. Oddly enough, didn’t help. I even took another 1 psi out after awhile and that didn’t do any good.

Hey some people may not mind or even prefer a more firm ride and not mind the trade off for the better handling that I experienced. Also maybe the tech didn’t get it right when he installed the updated software ( although when he reinstalled the original software he got that part right).

pkincy

Did they install the correct upgrade? There are about 6 part numbers and it may be that they got one for a Z06 or the similar track only upgrade for the Z06/Z07.

proexpert

Mary Barra won't read or even see your email. You have a customer service issue, you should email GM customer service, they will read your email.

musclecar6

That thought occurred to me as well. I asked that question of my service advisor and he seemed to think the tech knew what he was doing. I think mine was the first he had done, so being first unfortunately has a greater potential for not getting it right.

musclecar6

I realize the CEO of a major corporation typically does not have the time to read every customer issue that comes across her desk and has a group of people who sort through pertinent issues. Hopefully one of her staff will see that this is handled appropriately.

Thunder22

It was handled appropriately, you voluntarily requested a service, the service was performed, you paid.

You didn't like the results, voluntarily requested that the service be reversed, and were charged for the labor/time accordingly.

I still don't see the justification or logic in demanding that the reversal be free. Maybe I'm just dense.

SRQStingray

I’m sure it’s at the top of her agenda

Jerrymannal

2K14C7

Actually, she does read her emails. I sent her one months ago and she replied the next day. Granted, it wasn’t a complaint but she does read them.

musclecar6

What a hoot. Rest assured I’m not losing any sleep over GM’s response. I’ve spent a ton of money over the years sending cars to various tuners including 2 C6’s to Lingenfelter and had a great time doing it. The dollar amount involved here is very small and I’m quite happy all it required was a simple reinstall of the original software to fix things.

Being a life long vette/performance car enthusiast, I passed along my experience to GM in the hopes that they see fit to change their policy in this matter. If they do see fit to refund me some money, great. If not, so be it. It’s also possible that the tech doing the install of the upgrade didn’t get it done properly and maybe that’s something GM needs to look at.

Corvette forum is a great resource for many of us vette junkies and saves us a lot of time and trouble as we pursue our vette hobby. I’m always happy to pass along my experiences ( admittedly usually subjective and objective) as I learn from others.

Dif

^ My guess is they didn't do the install correctly.