New to me 2021 Chevy Traverse

[NYEngineer]

This was kinda funny. We had the car about a month and were planning on taking it on a trip. I looked under the cover in the bumper and there was no receiver for my bicycle rack. I ordered one and installed it. My wife comes out and sees me with the whole bumper cover off the car and freaks. Relax... You'll never know it was ever apart.
The stock metal bumper weighed about four pounds. The new one with the hitch in it feels like about thirty.

 

[userfriendly]

A V8 would be going too far. I wish GM had kept producing the LT-based 4.3L V6. That engine would be a good fit in this vehicle. They could have bored it to ~4.6 liters and pumped the power up to about 350 hp.

With an odd fire crank?

 

[John105]

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This was kinda funny. We had the car about a month and were planning on taking it on a trip. I looked under the cover in the bumper and there was no receiver for my bicycle rack. I ordered one and installed it. My wife comes out and sees me with the whole bumper cover off the car and freaks. Relax... You'll never know it was ever apart.
The stock metal bumper weighed about four pounds. The new one with the hitch in it feels like about thirty.

Our car was 10 yo when I installed ours…funny the eTrailer DIY vlog goes, “Before installing the draw tite model xyz receiver, first make sure you don’t already have one.”

I was skeptical as our car is white diamond and underneath was all orange. I worked the bolts in and out gently with WD40, then chased the threads. Things were cheap 2021 the Draw Tite was only $103…ours had to lower the mufflers and when I was done forgot the lock washers at the tongue

 

[NYEngineer]

Our car was 10 yo when I installed ours…funny the eTrailer DIY vlog goes, “Before installing the draw tite model xyz receiver, first make sure you don’t already have one.”

I was skeptical as our car is white diamond and underneath was all orange. I worked the bolts in and out gently with WD40, then chased the threads. Things were cheap 2021 the Draw Tite was only $103…ours had to lower the mufflers and when I was done forgot the lock washers at the tongue

That's funny. Make sure you don't already have one.

 

[A_Harman]

With an odd fire crank?

The LV3 engine series is even-fire and has a balance shaft.

 

[KrisZ]

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This was kinda funny. We had the car about a month and were planning on taking it on a trip. I looked under the cover in the bumper and there was no receiver for my bicycle rack. I ordered one and installed it. My wife comes out and sees me with the whole bumper cover off the car and freaks. Relax... You'll never know it was ever apart.
The stock metal bumper weighed about four pounds. The new one with the hitch in it feels like about thirty.

Haha, my wife reacted the same when I took half of the dash apart on my then a month old Mazda to install a remote start system.

Now I understand why many shops don’t want their customers seeing their cars apart when doing something more major. It’s anxiety inducing for those that don’t know how the proverbial sausage is made.

 

[JTK]

@NYEngineer Looks good! I didn't realize the hitch/receiver replaced the rear impact beam on the 2018+ Traverse.

Disturbingly, the same process is required to replace the sealed LED taillamps, which are $400/ea aftermarket. I researched that a bit as I noticed some condensation in the right rear one on my 2021. It was there one day and gone the next.

 

[NYEngineer]

@NYEngineer Looks good! I didn't realize the hitch/receiver replaced the rear impact beam on the 2018+ Traverse.

Disturbingly, the same process is required to replace the sealed LED taillamps, which are $400/ea aftermarket. I researched that a bit as I noticed some condensation in the right rear one on my 2021. It was there one day and gone the next.

It really wasn’t bad at all. Maybe took me an hour and a half.

I hate that when lights get water in em.

 

[NYEngineer]

So this was fun...
We're going to Florida again in the Traverse. My wife swears the brakes squealed so she wanted me to look at them. I looked through the wheels and could see the pads on the rear are perfect. Can't see the front pads so I went and got Autozone Premiums or whatever their best pad is. Yesterday, I go to swap them and they're different. I box em back up and back to the store. We recheck everything. The VIN, LX, front wheel drive, V6... Every time it's the pads they gave me. We check 2020, same. 2022, bingo. So my 2021 Traverse that we bought in April of 21 has 2022 front brakes. Great. Now, for the future I have to figure out which rotors I have and the rear pads and rotors.
Last time I saw this was on my 69 Charger that my dad was the original owner of. It had an odd combination of 68 and 69 stuff.

 

[tbm5690]

So this was fun...
We're going to Florida again in the Traverse. My wife swears the brakes squealed so she wanted me to look at them. I looked through the wheels and could see the pads on the rear are perfect. Can't see the front pads so I went and got Autozone Premiums or whatever their best pad is. Yesterday, I go to swap them and they're different. I box em back up and back to the store. We recheck everything. The VIN, LX, front wheel drive, V6... Every time it's the pads they gave me. We check 2020, same. 2022, bingo. So my 2021 Traverse that we bought in April of 21 has 2022 front brakes. Great. Now, for the future I have to figure out which rotors I have and the rear pads and rotors.
Last time I saw this was on my 69 Charger that my dad was the original owner of. It had an odd combination of 68 and 69 stuff.

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My money is on AutoZone's parts catalog being wrong...you have 2021 brakes on a 2021 Traverse.

 

[D60]

My money is on AutoZone's parts catalog being wrong...you have 2021 brakes on a 2021 Traverse.

Yeah, RA differentiates "first design" to VIN 296020.

So, there are 2 designs for '21 and AutoZone just sucks here

 

[JTK]

Yeah, RA differentiates "first design" to VIN 296020.

So, there are 2 designs for '21 and AutoZone just sucks here

Interesting.. my last 6 digits start with 109, if that's what this is referring to.

 

[NYEngineer]

My money is on AutoZone's parts catalog being wrong...you have 2021 brakes on a 2021 Traverse.

That certainly makes my life easier.

 

[D60]

There's also this, but I'm unclear if it brought about the "second design"

 

[NYEngineer]

Tell ya what, The brakes on this thing are insane. A tap on the pedal almost puts you through the windshield.
Not exactly conducive with the way my wife drives. Last year, we're coming home from a funeral. She's driving, her father is in the front passenger seat and my son and I were in the back seat. She was buzzin' down I-4 in Florida right on someone's bumper. I've given up saying anything. Suddenly, she romps on the brakes. My son and I are both big boys. We both banged our heads hard on the roof. My son lost his ****. MOM! STOP TAILING PEOPLE! Then her dad speaks up and says you were pretty close.
I'm just amazed she doesn't wad up more cars.

 

[vipergg]

Will do. Yesterday I tried simply unplugging the hood switch. This immediately threw a "hood switch circuit high" code P257F. Luckily I was able to clear it with my old cheap generic code reader. I ordered a jumper plug online that runs between the hood switch and it's harness connector that is supposed to disable stop/start on GMs w/out codes, etc. It was $14. If that doesn't work, there's modules that connect inline with a small harness that runs to the vehicle's positive batt terminal. Those are in the $150 range. I'll go that route if I have to.

Remote start isn't a concern for me as this LS model doesn't have it.

Luckily starting in the 22 model year they just have a switch you can hit everytime you start it to shut it off. Just got a new 23 traverse and it has the start/stop shutoff . I wouldnt have bought it if it didnt . It is a bit of a pain doing it everytime but I'm used to it because I have the same thing in my 20 Durango .

 

[vipergg]

My wife wanted a Telluride in 2021 but there was no way I was paying mega dollars over sticker for one. We made a deal on a 21 Traverse and have been very happy with it. I THINK it's an LT. I never look. Oil changes are SIMPLE.
One issue that drove me a little crazy was the headlights. Not LEDs. Six months in, the drivers side light goes out. I check and see that it's a bulb and a ballast so I switch the ballasts from side to side and the light stays out so I know it's the bulb. NO ONE had a bulb for this car at the time so I wound up finding some guy on line and buying one from him. I apparently didn't seat the bulb in the bucket correctly and blew the tiny ten amp fuse feeding it. The other side continued to work so that threw me off the scent for a little while while I had the ballast tested. Ultimately, I learned there is a fuse for each side. All fixed and been ok for many months now.
The other thing is that the high beams are awful. There is only one light on each side and the high beam is a little flapper that opens over the bulb. Does nothing. Other than that, I like the Traverse very much.

Hopefully they are better now , just bought a new 23 Traverse and they have LED headlights now. Havent had a chance to drive it at night yet so we will see . Cant be any worse than my 20 Durango with halogen projector setup which is what projectors are , they cover half the bulb for low beam and then the movable flapper goes wide open for high beam . You can hear that flapper move when you hit the high beams on the durango .

 

[JTK]

Hopefully they are better now , just bought a new 23 Traverse and they have LED headlights now. Havent had a chance to drive it at night yet so we will see . Cant be any worse than my 20 Durango with halogen projector setup which is what projectors are , they cover half the bulb for low beam and then the movable flapper goes wide open for high beam . You can hear that flapper move when you hit the high beams on the durango .

Are you sure on the headlamps for your 2023?

Last I knew, the 2023 had the same headlamps as the 2018-2022. HID, not LED.

 

[NYEngineer]

Are you sure on the headlamps for your 2023?

Last I knew, the 2023 had the same headlamps as the 2018-2022. HID, not LED.

I think the higher end models have LEDs. I see some and they have a smaller, sleeker headlight.
Our 21 has that awful flapper. Does next to nothing.

 

[JTK]

I think the higher end models have LEDs. I see some and they have a smaller, sleeker headlight.
Our 21 has that awful flapper. Does next to nothing.

I believe his is an LS model, so it should have the old school HIDs unless Chevy indeed did the switch-a-roo sometime after 2021.