My wife has a 17 GMC Yukon. I had purchased replacement tires last month online and had them installed by a professional shop who said they will only install factory correct sized tires. She’s complained about a noise in the driver front wheel prior to the new tires. She says the noise is still there after new tires. She takes the vehicle to the dealership to check the problem. They tell her they can’t even look at it because I put LT all terrain tires on instead of P tires that were installed when we bought the vehicle new and the current tires are “way too big”. They did go ahead and place a new inspection sticker on the vehicle. Since they’ve told her this she now says the noise is present all the time and something isn’t right with the vehicle. I’ve driven it and haven’t noticed anything.
I’m not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination but this doesn’t sound right. I chose the LT All terrain tires because she actually does some mild off-road driving with her work. I know I will sacrifice some ride quality with these tires as well but they’ve been on at least a month with no complaints until after her trip to the dealership. I feel like they’re taking advantage of her because she is a professional woman and I wasn’t there. Thoughts?

Are they the same size as the OE tires?

If so, I can't imagine any reason for them to take issue with LT over P tires, unless they were significantly heavier & could cause drivetrain issues.

I remember the early Duramax HDs had it written that going to a larger diameter tire could void the transmission warranty. But find it hard to imagine the dealer refusing service for it.

quote:

I feel like they’re taking advantage of her because she is a professional woman and I wasn’t there

Sad as it is, that sounds exactly like what's happening. Best case scenario is the writer is just an idiot, but this sounds like it involves more than just one.

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I chose the LT All terrain tires because she actually does some mild off-road driving with her work.

There's a gazillion P-metric all terrain tires available, why did you go with an LT tire?
There isn't a single LT tire listed for a 2017 Yukon XL. All the OEM sizes are P-metric.

I'm not sure how the dealership is taking advantage of your wife by refusing to work on the vehicle? Did they take money from her?

Are you trying to get it fixed under warranty?

Did they say too big or too heavy? A load range E LT tire will be heavier than a P-metric tire of the same size.

You're right something doesn't sound right. There's a range of possibilities:

The dealer is CYA mode because the tires are not a stock size and type.
The dealer doesn't like to make money fixing vehicles.
The dealer is right, you have the wrong tire on the vehicle.
Etc.

I had a Ford dealer tell me I could buy the Ford 5th wheel hitch frame cross member from them, but they wouldn't install it for liability reasons. They told me they wouldn't install any hitch parts. I knew this to not be true, because the year before, they replaced my entire frame. That involved taking the entire truck off the old frame, including the regular hitch, and installing it on the new frame.

Sounds like it could be a wheel bearing starting to go, or possibly low differential fluid.

CV joint?
Noise all the time or just when starting off or turning?
Have we crawled under there and cast an eyeball on or shook anything?

So the size is within 1/8” in every dimension of the tire itself. I chose that particular tire because it’s US made, it was available during a pandemic and the price was fair. When I purchased the tire I entered the data for the vehicle and it was included in the list with good reviews. Surprisingly a few months ago options were somewhat limited in this area. We also do some towing occasionally and she does some off-road driving though nothing extreme.
We’ve had all maintenance performed at the dealership and were hoping to at least have the possible problem diagnosed there and if there is something and it is under warranty great, but I wasn’t holding my breath for that.
This particular tire is 7 ply vs 5 ply and is slightly heavier. It also sounds like they were going to be helpful and see if they had a set of stock tires on hand and would’ve sold her a set of tires!

The sound is heard when turning right and was present prior to new tires.

I also got her paperwork this evening and they describe the issue as “minor rubbing on upper control arm” and describes 5 ply tires vs 7 ply tires which makes the vehicle sit slightly higher and wider.

I did crawl under and take a look and didn’t see or feel anything out of the ordinary. Again though I’m not a mechanic. Fortunately I have a good friend who is a mechanic and he will be checking it out for us. Thank you all for the replies.

I'm curious how many miles are on this vehicle?

Surely a 2017 model is not running on something worn out?

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It also sounds like they were going to be helpful and see if they had a set of stock tires on hand and would’ve sold her a set of tires!

Then yes, they were trying to take advantage of her.

I didn't realize there is a tire shortage. You mention 5 ply and 7 ply. The old ply rating system used to tell you how many layers of cotton were used in the tire, which doesn't apply to modern construction methods. Today, ply ratings are even numbers and have nothing to do with the actual number of plies a tire has. For the most part, the ply rating corresponds with the load range and max air pressure of the tire. IE: 6ply=Load Range C=50psi max, 8 ply=Load Range D=65psi max, 10 ply=Load Range E=80psi max.

Load Index is a number that corresponds to how much weight a tire is designed to carry independent of size and pressure. For example, all tires with with a load index of 126 will carry 3,748 pounds. One tire might do it with 65psi while another could be smaller than the first and do it with 80psi.

Anyway, hopefully your mechanic buddy will find the noise issue.

One last thing, you're running the correct pressure, right?

A P265/65r18, a possible tire size for a 2017 Yukon XL, has a load index of 114 at 35psi. An LT265/65r18 needs 60psi.

Gm dealers can recalibrate the computer for gearing changes and tire size changes, within certain parameters. Here's a TSB that mentions that:https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2018/MC-10129089-9999.pdf

I would get past the service writer and go to management, either the service manager or the service director. I think the advisor is trying for a "home run" and sell you a set of tires. Or try another dealer.

To me 1/8" is nothing, tires vary in size (somewhat) by manufacturer, a 265/70-16 from one manufacturer can be slightly different from another. Rule of thumb, you can substitute for example a 265/70 for a vehicle that was equipped with 255/70 tires as while you are going one step wider you are also reducing the height slightly by going to a lower aspect ratio. To explain this a little better, the first number in a tire size is the width, the second is the height as a percentage of width of the tire (in a 75 series tire, the height is 75% the measurement of the width, 70 series, 70% and on and on.

I worked in a lot of GM dealership parts departments over the years. While we could substitute a heavier tire or an LT for a P series we could not use a lesser tire than it left the factory with. I used to have a lot of battles with service advisors over selling tires only on price point and not replacing by matching Load Rating or TPC Specs, just because a tire size is the same does not mean that it is correct for replacement usage.

IF they decline warranty work you may need to have a sitdown with management and the factory rep.

Personally I'm calling the whole thing B.S. It's amazing how many times service writers try to pull stuff over on customers. I had a FCA dealer put the wrong oil in my Jeep. The service advisor started up with the "That is the right oil as specified by Chrysler" to which I replied "Then show me a TSB that states that a 2012 3.6 now uses 5w-20 in place of 5w-30 like the owner's manual and the oil cap indicates. Show me that TSB and I'll leave otherwise I want it changed to 5w-30 now."

It got changed again.

The car has 54000 miles. The wife has calmed down a bit and my friend is going to take a look at it tomorrow. Thank you all for your input.

My bet is that the wheel hub bearing is starting to go bad. Turning right will place a good load on the left front wheel hub bearing. GM's are known for weak front wheel hub bearings.

If you do find it has a bad hub bearing either use a OEM Delco GM, a NAPA premium or a Timken brand. DO NOT use the "generic" Chinese bearings that many of the chain auto parts sell, they are JUNK!

Last dealership that I worked for had a service manager that wanted a lower priced alternative to Delco GM bearings. So we got this line in from an auto parts jobber we dealt with. They were total garbage, some would not even make it through the tech's road test before going bad.

After eating the labor to replace them as parts was not responsible and the jobber did not cover labor the service manager decided it was best if we no longer used aftermarket bearings. Wise move on his part.

Sorry for the late update but as usual Sigforum knows what’s happening. Right front wheel bearing has gone out. The independent shop identified the problem and said its relatively common. A couple hours later and all is well. The downfall is they told us the wheel was dangerously loose. I’m thankful my wife and 3 year old son weren’t involved in an accident.
After we picked the vehicle up I stopped by the dealership and spoke to the service manager. I told her what had happened. She conferred with her master tech who explained the wheel bearing probably went out after my wife left but she assured me she wasn’t trying to make excuses. Needless to say we’ve bought our last vehicle from this dealership and visited their service department for the last time.

Obviously that dealer's master tech needs some remedial training. Or like a lot of techs today if they can't plug it in to a computer they cannot find the problem.

I’m glad you got it fixed, but how in the hell can an only 3 year old vehicle need a new wheel bearing after only 54,000 miles? GM having parts made by Fisher-Price, now?

Make sure you run the pressure that's recommended by GM (on your door jamb or sill). You can go up a few pounds if you wish. But sometimes oil change guys will look at the sidewall and you don't want that 80 PSI for the load range E.

The post directly above this is wrong. The door sticker psi no longer applies when switching from pmetric to lt tires.

Please be sure to properly inflate your LT tires. The door sticker no longer applies and you will need to refer to a table for the correct PSI. I can send it next week if needed, but a good place to start is 50psi. Start here for now.

Now, there will be those who say I am full of it, and that's fine. They can be wrong all they want. Tires are made to carry loads at certain PSI. Under inflating any tire is a bad idea. It causes heat to build in the tire and increases the chance of premature failure. Ask Ford how it worked out for them on the explorers and expeditions that were flipping...

As long as the diameter is within tolerance, run what ya brung, just inflate properly.

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Originally posted by Krazeehorse:
Make sure you run the pressure that's recommended by GM (on your door jamb or sill). You can go up a few pounds if you wish. But sometimes oil change guys will look at the sidewall and you don't want that 80 PSI for the load range E.

This is bad advice. The pressure on the door jamb is for the P-metric tires the vehicle came with. You should run the pressure in the LT tires that gives you the equivalent load carrying ability the stock tires had.

For example:
A P265/65r18, a possible tire size for a 2017 Yukon XL, has a load index of 114 at 35psi. An LT265/65r18 needs 60psi for the same load index of 114.

You can google the load inflation table for whatever size LT tire you put on the vehicle.

Contact the tire manufacturer anytime you change tire size or specifications don’t rely on the door sticker.

Michelin got back to me very quickly on what pressure I should run.
Tire Pressure is actually a drop down option on their contact us site.