2004 Denali 20 inch wheel driving problems

[Ipaintgrt]

I have an 04 Denali, Tahoe style. I put some 20 inch wheels with 285/50R20's. It really drives like crap! It follows the ruts in the road, and wanders all over the place. It drives great with the 17's on it. Is there some trick to making these things drive like they are supposed too? There are no steering stabilizers on it that I can see. I have had a few 4x4's and they have steering stabilizers. Any idea's. Thanks Scott

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by Ipaintgrt

I have an 04 Denali, Tahoe style. I put some 20 inch wheels with 285/50R20's. It really drives like crap! It follows the ruts in the road, and wanders all over the place. It drives great with the 17's on it. Is there some trick to making these things drive like they are supposed too? There are no steering stabilizers on it that I can see. I have had a few 4x4's and they have steering stabilizers. Any idea's. Thanks Scott

I dont have any "big aftermarket wheels" myself, But alot of my customers do & they all drive like crap & ride bad too.

Low profile Z rated sports car tires are a poor choice for a pickup/SUV in my opinion. The excessive unsprung weight of the wheels doesnt help either.

[Ghastlyone]

Originally Posted by Ipaintgrt

I have an 04 Denali, Tahoe style. I put some 20 inch wheels with 285/50R20's. It really drives like crap! It follows the ruts in the road, and wanders all over the place. It drives great with the 17's on it. Is there some trick to making these things drive like they are supposed too? There are no steering stabilizers on it that I can see. I have had a few 4x4's and they have steering stabilizers. Any idea's. Thanks Scott

It sounds like your tire choice. Tire tread patterns make all the difference.

I have 295-50-20 Goodyear Eagles on my Tahoe Limited and I absolutely hate those tires. They do the same thing you described and wander all over the road.

My 35 series on 2 Door Tahoe are completely different. Those drive smooth, and quiet.

So it's not because of having big wheels, it's what brand tire and tread pattern you have.

[Ipaintgrt]

My Dad has some 20 inch 285/55's on his Roush F150 and it drives great. Not sure if it is the brand of tires or the amount of side wall. I wonder if your 2wd Tahoe having a different suspension than the 4wd makes any difference?

[Ghastlyone]

Originally Posted by Ipaintgrt

My Dad has some 20 inch 285/55's on his Roush F150 and it drives great. Not sure if it is the brand of tires or the amount of side wall. I wonder if your 2wd Tahoe having a different suspension than the 4wd makes any difference?

It shouldn't matter really. These IFS 4 wheel drives now days drive pretty dam good compared to a straight axle truck.

[Ipaintgrt]

All the vehicles I'm talking about are IFS vehicles. I dont think they make a straight axle truck anymore unless its a heavy duty vehicle.

[heymoe]

Originally Posted by Ipaintgrt

I have an 04 Denali, Tahoe style. I put some 20 inch wheels with 285/50R20's. It really drives like crap! It follows the ruts in the road, and wanders all over the place. It drives great with the 17's on it. Is there some trick to making these things drive like they are supposed too? There are no steering stabilizers on it that I can see. I have had a few 4x4's and they have steering stabilizers. Any idea's. Thanks Scott

I have a 03 Suburban with 20" wheels with 305 50 R20 and I also have a 02 Z71 Tahoe with 20" and it has 285 50 R20 on it and both ride very rough. It has allot to do with tread width and the type of roads you are diving on. On back roads with little to no traffic both my trucks ride great but as soon as I turn onto a main road with a significant amount of large truck traffic it begins to ride rough and pull from side to side. The truck ruts on the roads cause a good amount of the problems with wider tires. I am not sure about the diameter unless you are running a small side wall and then it will be bouncy as all get out. Just my .02 so I am sure there are some more comments coming.

[Ipaintgrt]

Has anyone used a steering stabilizer on one of these tahoes, or Subs?

[bwood]

We had a similar issue on my cousins truck when he put 295/60-15 on his 90. You could feel all the cracks in the road, small bumps and rocks in the road made the wheel pull, so would the cracks in the asphalt roads that ran parrell to the road, they you make the truck feel like it was "walking" back and forth across it. After he wore those tires out, he went with 255/70's in front and 275/60's in back and it really helped.

[Ipaintgrt]

Just an update for anyone who cares about how there vehicle rides and drives. I've been trying to figure out what to do about mynice looking, terrible driving 04 Denali. I went to a local tire shop and checked with them and they told me that the newer vehicles have 275/55/20's and they drive nice. So then I started looking into newer vehicles and found out that is what the newer Denali's run. So I started looking for some Denali take offs and found a set that had 275/55/20's and they ride and drive great. A huge difference, if your having trouble with your vehicle pulling in the ruts in the road, try this size. It drives great.