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I've had my 2007 Chevy Tahoe LTZ for nearly a year and a half now, and after thinking I no longer had active suspension, I found out the front still had it! Well, thanks to @Strutmasters for gifting me this conversion kit, as it saved me a ton of money (and frustration). In this video, I show you what it is, what I liked about it, what I didn't like about it, and exactly who it is for!
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0:00
Alright, I admit it, I admit it, I was wrong
0:02
If you've been following my 2007 Chevy Tahoe LTZ, you'll know that when I bought it
0:09
they had replaced the rear shocks in this before I had purchased it
0:13
And that's because it had active suspension in the rear and just like every Chevy Tahoe LTZ of this generation
0:19
the active suspension had failed and thrown a error light. Now they did replace that and I thought I was done
0:26
Now, when I had purchased this Tahoe, I had heard a sound on the front
0:30
which I knew was probably a front strut. And I went ahead and negotiated that into the price
0:36
However, when I had the dealership quote out replacing the front suspension, I had them quote it out as a passive suspension
0:43
because that's what I thought was in the front. And they quoted it out about $700
0:47
and I negotiated that into the price of purchasing this Tahoe. Now, of course, here we are a year and a half later
0:53
and it's time to replace the suspension. It has officially gone out
0:58
It rides really, really rough. It's not a great experience. And it's bounces every time I go over a bump
1:03
and kind of makes you seasick, honestly. So what I did is I went into my local Les Schwab
1:08
and I'm like, hey, can you guys replace my passive suspension? They're like, yeah, sure. So they quoted it out and I took it in
1:14
Well, I got a phone call before I could get home from dropping it off
1:18
And they let me know, it's not passive suspension in the front and it's active suspension
1:23
And it's gonna cost me three to four times the amount it would be to replace it
1:27
as a passive suspension. And so we're talking thousands of dollars. So as you can imagine, I was pretty bummed about that
1:34
because I didn't wanna spend thousands of dollars on an issue I had not negotiated
1:38
thousands of dollars to replace. And to be completely honest with you, I didn't really wanna put another active suspension
1:44
in this Tahoe. I knew it just probably would fail again. So just like the rear suspension
1:50
I went ahead and did some searching for a passive suspension conversion kit
1:55
for the Chevy Tahoe in the front end. And I stumbled upon Strutmasters
1:59
And of course, as an influencer, I reached out to them to see if they'd be interested
2:04
in sending out a unit for free to let you guys know if it's a good solution for this
2:09
Now at the time of filming this, I obviously have not installed it yet. It is still an issue
2:13
So let's go ahead and get it out. And I'm gonna show you guys what it's all about. All right, and here it is
2:17
This thing is pretty heavy. Let's see what we have. Now this theoretically should be a full suspension
2:25
So basically you have both the strut arm and you're gonna have the coil springs on the outside. So it should just be plug and play
2:30
And then there also should be some electronic cables to basically trick the system into believing
2:35
that it still has an air ride suspension, but it doesn't. So I actually still hear the air compressor
2:40
kicking on every once in a while, trying to pump up the rear, which is not connected
2:44
And I'm sure that's because it has the same thing. So let's open it up
2:48
All right, first thing. These are going to be some of your hardware
2:52
for installation. And here it is. Here's the front struts. You have the coils and everything
2:59
Now let me say really quick, I'm gonna put this back in. Not only does this future proof your Tahoe
3:04
in the fact that you're not gonna have an air ride suspension that fails on you all the time
3:08
but it's also considerably cheaper. This whole kit is a little under $500 before tax
3:14
And I was quoted somewhere over, I think $2,000 to do the same job with the active suspension in the front
3:21
So if you're looking for a cheaper way to do this and to be able to maintain it cheaper moving forward
3:25
a passive suspension is a really good choice. All right, so let's throw this back
3:29
into the back of the Tahoe. And I'm gonna talk to you guys a little bit more about it. Now I'm not gonna pretend that I'm the one
3:34
going to install this because I'm not. I actually am not a super good mechanic
3:38
and I have a mechanic that's helped me out a ton in the past that's gonna be throwing these on for me
3:43
And we're gonna catch up with them later after this is installed
3:46
Now, just in case you landed on this video and you just so happen to have a vehicle
3:50
that has an air ride suspension and you want to convert it for cheaper into a passive suspension
3:56
I do have a link down in the description for you if you wanna check out and see if Strutmasters
4:00
has it for you as a thank you for them gifting it to me. But also it just is a really cool setup
4:06
Now I personally haven't had these installed yet. So far I've been impressed by the company
4:10
but we'll check out later in the video if it works and fixes my issue
4:14
along with making a better ride overall. So stay tuned for that
4:17
I'm gonna go ahead and drop these off tomorrow and we'll catch up later to see if it fixed everything
4:24
And we're back. So it's actually been about a month since that last clip you guys watched
4:30
but since then I did have the struts installed. As you can see, there is the old one right there
4:35
We'll take a closer look at that air ride suspension in a second, but the extra time has allowed me
4:41
to spend a little bit more time with the new struts. We're gonna get into that just now
4:45
All right, and here we are. You can see behind here, here is the new strut right there going all the way up
4:54
So it supposedly went in really well. My mechanic said it was an easy install
4:59
Wasn't too big of a deal. It was just a quick adapter. You can kind of see up in there
5:03
that they had to switch out and plug into, basically tricking the system
5:07
into thinking it still has air ride suspension. I do hear the air ride going on every once in a while
5:13
and it's all installed. And just in case you guys are wondering, here is the air ride suspension component right here
5:21
You can see kind of the electronics right there. And basically that is what has been adapted
5:27
to trick the system into thinking it has air ride suspension. But now it has full passive suspension in the front
5:33
And it is pretty nice because that was so much cheaper to do than replacing a full air ride suspension
5:39
So let's go ahead and talk about what I do like and I don't like
5:43
All right, so let's go ahead and start off with the things that I do like about this new suspension
5:48
Now, first things is really, it comes down to cost. So first off comes down to cost
5:52
and then the initial purchase of this. So this passive suspension, I think was five or $600 or so
5:58
to get all of the components. And then it was a couple of hundred bucks to get my mechanic to install it
6:02
And so it was super cheap to get fixed initially and it went over very, very well
6:08
However, it's also gonna come into future replacements of this as well
6:12
Once this passive suspension goes out someday, all you have to do is replace it
6:16
with the same component again. And that's really nice because it starts compounding
6:19
on itself over the years, because instead of spending, I think I was quoted between $2,100 and $3,000
6:25
to replace the active suspension in this vehicle, the passive suspension is much cheaper
6:31
Other cool thing about this kit itself is it does come with all the electronic to trick the system into thinking
6:36
it still has the active suspension. So I don't have any error lights or anything like that
6:40
from switching it over, which if you were to put in a normal strut system
6:44
it wouldn't come with that and you'd be running into error lights. And I really appreciate that it came with that
6:48
and it was a simple system to do. Otherwise I'd be spending more with my mechanic to fix that
6:53
The number two thing outside of costs that I really appreciate about this system
6:57
comes down to how quickly it shipped. I really appreciate how quickly they shipped this thing out
7:01
I think they had it to me within a week of me discussing it with them. And as far as I'm aware
7:05
they put me in as a normal order. I don't think they rushed anything. And so that was really nice
7:09
And the number three thing is it was the correct part and it was not damaged
7:14
I have been in the automotive world for a long time. I've worked at retail stores for parts
7:19
I worked for drivetrain and all that kind of stuff. And one of the biggest issues I run into
7:23
is wrong parts being shipped out. And I super appreciate Strutmasters for shipping out the right part the first time
7:30
Product worked really, really well. There's only so many things I can say about it
7:34
In the pros side of things, it did exactly what they said it would. It shipped quickly
7:38
I appreciate everything that they did. They even sent me a bunch of stickers that I can put on my guitar case
7:42
And that is amazing. I really appreciate companies that do stick to what they offer
7:46
I was super, super worried it'd come in as a wrong part and it didn't. And so here we are
7:51
Because I mean, honestly, I was going to have this replaced with another active suspension
7:55
And I gave VINs, I gave all that kind of stuff to a different shop that was going to install it
7:59
And of course it came in wrong. They didn't account for it having an active suspension in the front
8:04
And so it was just a pain. And Strutmasters, you know, they just kind of held up to what they said they would
8:09
So now that leads me to the downsides of the suspension. And there really is only one real downside
8:14
is that you're losing the active suspension. Now the active suspension is incredibly expensive to fix
8:20
but it does ride nicer. I did find a bit of a downgrade in ride quality
8:24
when I switched over to this passive suspension. I don't think it's really a downside
8:28
of Strutmasters themselves. However, if you're like me and switching from an active and air ride suspension
8:34
over to a passive suspension, you probably are going to lose a little bit of that ride quality
8:38
You'll feel a little bit more in the bumps. So I was a bit bummed about that. However, considering I'm saving thousands of dollars
8:44
doing it this way, I can definitely get past a little bit extra bumps
8:47
in the road. And so I have to say, who should buy this
8:52
Someone who not only wants to save money on their Tahoe like this
8:56
or other vehicle that has an active suspension, but also somebody who might want to make it
9:00
a little bit more reliable. I see these active suspensions going out all the time
9:04
in these LTZs. Also the GMC Yukon Denali's have the same suspension
9:09
and then going into Escalades and all the different GMT 900 platform vehicles
9:13
It's just a serious issue in these. And this is gonna be a much more reliable way
9:17
of having suspension in this vehicle with little to no issues. It's fixed all of my problems
9:23
other than maybe a little bit extra bumpy around the bumps. But that's about it
9:27
And if you're somebody who wants to purchase this, again, I do have a link down in the description
9:31
and the top comment. It is a paid link and I do get a commission if you guys do decide to get it
9:36
And if you like this glare on my forehead, make sure to subscribe and like this video
9:40
as it helps me out in the algorithm
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