[NWrain]

As I put more miles on my Terrain (1400 as of yesterday) more and more gremlins are appearing. I mentioned before that there is a bad squeak from the rear suspension. Now the steering is acting up. If I turn the wheel when at a standstill there is a jerking motion that I can feel. Almost like the power steering pump is going out (It's hydraulic). Then the biggest mystery is a loud thumping noise from under the rear seats. It is random and only seems to happen when at idol. It's enough to shake the vehicle. Maybe the metal expanding/contracting?

Otherwise it's a great vehicle and still happy with the purchase.

 

[Terrain]

I have about 7,200 kms or 4,470 miles on my Terrain (built last November) and while I haven't experienced anything catastrophic, I do have the following niggles:

- Creak/snap in the passenger front area of the dash when going over sharp bumps
- When the sunroof is in vent, there is a snap sound over sharp bumps
- Intermittent scraping noise coming from the right rear wheel when at around-town speeds
- Drone/vibration in the rear muffler at idle and low speeds
- Metallic 'thump' at startup coming from the exhaust system somewhere (only when vehicle is cold)
- Intermittent drone from the rear end area at light or part-throttle around-town speeds
- Driver's seat left bolster leather has developed excessive wrinkles
- Power steering sometimes strikes me as weak while turning at low speeds
- Thump from right front suspension when turning into curbed entrances

I'm waiting for most things on this list to get worse before I make the 2.5 hour drive to the dealership, to avoid the "cannot duplicate customer complaint" line. I am not going to mention the dash and sunroof rattles. The last thing I want is to open the door for potentially worse rattles after they 'try' to fix them.

Other than that my Terrain has been a pretty good ride so far.

 

[jayhawk27]

I have about 7,200 kms or 4,470 miles on my Terrain (built last November) and while I haven't experienced anything catastrophic, I do have the following niggles:

- Creak/snap in the passenger front area of the dash when going over sharp bumps
- When the sunroof is in vent, there is a snap sound over sharp bumps
- Intermittent scraping noise coming from the right rear wheel when at around-town speeds
- Drone/vibration in the rear muffler at idle and low speeds
- Metallic 'thump' at startup coming from the exhaust system somewhere (only when vehicle is cold)
- Intermittent drone from the rear end area at light or part-throttle around-town speeds
- Driver's seat left bolster leather has developed excessive wrinkles
- Power steering sometimes strikes me as weak while turning at low speeds
- Thump from right front suspension when turning into curbed entrances

I'm waiting for most things on this list to get worse before I make the 2.5 hour drive to the dealership, to avoid the "cannot duplicate customer complaint" line. I am not going to mention the dash and sunroof rattles. The last thing I want is to open the door for potentially worse rattles after they 'try' to fix them.

Other than that my Terrain has been a pretty good ride so far.

I have that same drone sound from my muffler at slow speeds as well from 5 to 20 mph, it annoys the crap out of me. Also the rough acceleration when using cruse control, it will rev up and jerk the car to get up to the set speed then jerk again once it gets there. Other than that I love this thing very happy with my Terrain.

 

[Terrain]

^ yeah I do find that the cruise programming is aggressive. Also with my V6 when driving around town, I notice that when I let off the gas the vehicle seems to nose-dive. I think it must be a by-product of the fuel shut off on deceleration.

Both of those things are inherent to the vehicle I think.

 

[Dutch]

- Driver's seat left bolster leather has developed excessive wrinkles

The same thing happened to my Charger's leather. Same exact spot and after only a few thousand miles as well. Those wrinkles eventually turn to cracks, and then rips. The fact that you're reporting this is odd to me because when the GM dealer saw my charger he laughed and said "crappy Dodge 'premium' leather"... Perhaps I will be investing in some seat covers for the new ride....

 

[2K10Terrain]

I've found the source of the "Creak/snap in the passenger front area of the dash when going over sharp bumps" and it IS correctable. Open up the glove box door and look under the trim edge at the top of the opening. There are small hex head bolts going thru the trim into support braces behind the dash. These support braces seem to be functional, but very flimsy. I found that 2 of these small bolts especially on the top right side were loose causing the creak/snap sound. Once I tightened them so the underside supports they screw into were snug, the noise went away and it hasn't showed its annoying issue since.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Terrain]

I've found the source of the "Creak/snap in the passenger front area of the dash when going over sharp bumps" and it IS correctable. Open up the glove box door and look under the trim edge at the top of the opening. There are small hex head bolts going thru the trim into support braces behind the dash. These support braces seem to be functional, but very flimsy. I found that 2 of these small bolts especially on the top right side were loose causing the creak/snap sound. Once I tightened them so the underside supports they screw into were snug, the noise went away and it hasn't showed its annoying issue since.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Ed

Thanks... I will definitely give this a try and report back. It never occurred to me to open the glove box and have a look for bolts. Duh!

 

[Terrain]

The same thing happened to my Charger's leather. Same exact spot and after only a few thousand miles as well. Those wrinkles eventually turn to cracks, and then rips. The fact that you're reporting this is odd to me because when the GM dealer saw my charger he laughed and said "crappy Dodge 'premium' leather"... Perhaps I will be investing in some seat covers for the new ride....

You could tell on mine the day I picked it up that the leather would wrinkle in this area. Must be the way it was sewn. The rest of the seat and the other seats aren't showing the wrinkles yet. I will be mentioning it to the dealer when I take it in for its first inspection and tire rotation.

I should take a picture so you can see how bad it really is.

 

[jbsails]

at 6,600 miles mine just started to get the bad squeak from the rear suspension. I heard it first on Friday and it was faint and only once in a while and by Sunday it was loud and very annoying. I'm going to schedule and oil change at the dealer and have them look at it.

 

[NWrain]

jbsails - Let me know what the dealer does to correct your squeak. I scheduled an appointment this Wednesday. I'll let you know what they find out.

 

[bballr4567]

I take it that the side that the wrinkles in the seat is the drivers side?

If it is, you just have to learn how to get in the car without rubbing up against the bolster. If you just slide in then you will damage the leather especially if you wear blue jeans often. You have to sit down into the seat rather than slide.

 

[Terrain]

I take it that the side that the wrinkles in the seat is the drivers side?

If it is, you just have to learn how to get in the car without rubbing up against the bolster. If you just slide in then you will damage the leather especially if you wear blue jeans often. You have to sit down into the seat rather than slide.

Not sure if it's getting in the car or out that is causing the wrinkles. I don't slide in... I sit right in the middle. These seats have very high side bolsters IMHO and I think I'm getting the wrinkles when I get out. Not sure how I can get out without pushing down on the bolster. Maybe I could do the worm...

Here are some pictures of my driver's seat. Sorry for the quality... I only had my blackberry with me.

 

[gearhead]

Not sure if it's getting in the car or out that is causing the wrinkles. I don't slide in... I sit right in the middle. These seats have very high side bolsters IMHO and I think I'm getting the wrinkles when I get out. Not sure how I can get out without pushing down on the bolster. Maybe I could do the worm...

Here are some pictures of my driver's seat. Sorry for the quality... I only had my blackberry with me.

We're not seeing that issue after around 7300 km of driving since last September.
The wife is 5' 4", around...(I'm not sure LOL, I'll say 125 lbs. in case she reads this) and I'm 5' 10" around 200 lbs.

Maybe try adjusting your seat and/or seating position, lumbar support (if you have one), etc...?
Don't mean to be offensive whatsoever, but maybe you're not sitting in the seat as it was designed to be sat in, I dunno and as I said, just throwing out ideas, don't get offended, maybe it's is a defect in the seat itself. It shouldn't show such marks, IMHO, after such little use.

 

[Terrain]

We're not seeing that issue after around 7300 km of driving since last September.
The wife is 5' 4", around...(I'm not sure LOL, I'll say 125 lbs. in case she reads this) and I'm 5' 10" around 200 lbs.

Maybe try adjusting your seat and/or seating position, lumbar support (if you have one), etc...?
Don't mean to be offensive whatsoever, but maybe you're not sitting in the seat as it was designed to be sat in, I dunno and as I said, just throwing out ideas, don't get offended, maybe it's is a defect in the seat itself. It shouldn't show such marks, IMHO, after such little use.

Don't worry, I'm not offended. I have the seat set as far down as possible and have the lumbar deflated almost entirely as it is positioned too low to be of any use to me. I'm 6'2" and built so there aren't too many different combinations I can try. As I said this wrinkling started almost immediately so I believe it to be defect in the seat cover. The cushion cover is replaceable though. I would have preferred to have had wider seats in the Terrain... I liked the shape and width of my Sierra's seats.

Interesting comment about wearing jeans... doesn't apply to me though as I do not own a pair.

 

[bballr4567]

Our Malibu did the same thing with the wife. She is a little heavier than normal and always slid into the car. I started to use Lexol leather cleaner and conditioner to protect the leather and did it every 3 months. After 26k miles there was no cracks but there was plenty of wrinkles.

The reason they appear is because when you get in, you press down that bolster. If you dont move it back to the original position it will just be stuck under your leg.

Leather is not a durable material at all and vinyl leather is even worse.

 

[Terrain]

Our Malibu did the same thing with the wife. She is a little heavier than normal and always slid into the car. I started to use Lexol leather cleaner and conditioner to protect the leather and did it every 3 months. After 26k miles there was no cracks but there was plenty of wrinkles.

The reason they appear is because when you get in, you press down that bolster. If you dont move it back to the original position it will just be stuck under your leg.

Leather is not a durable material at all and vinyl leather is even worse.

I realize that real leather does wrinkle. I have high quality leather furniture at home and there is some 'character' but I do condition the leather every six months or so.

I think you are right in that I must be sitting off to the side a bit and pushing down on the bolster which is causing it to wrinkle. I will be more cognizant about that going forward.

 

[gearhead]

Don't worry, I'm not offended. I have the seat set as far down as possible and have the lumbar deflated almost entirely as it is positioned too low to be of any use to me. I'm 6'2" and built so there aren't too many different combinations I can try. As I said this wrinkling started almost immediately so I believe it to be defect in the seat cover. The cushion cover is replaceable though. I would have preferred to have had wider seats in the Terrain... I liked the shape and width of my Sierra's seats.

Interesting comment about wearing jeans... doesn't apply to me though as I do not own a pair.

I'd prefer a little wider seat as well, but alas, it is what it is.
Thanks for being a good sport and not taking my comments to heart.
8)
It may be a good idea to show this to the dealer next visit.
That doesn't seem like normal wear, I'll snap some pics of our leather seats and post them up next chance I get, hopefully tonight.

 

[gearhead]

I realize that real leather does wrinkle. I have high quality leather furniture at home and there is some 'character' but I do condition the leather every six months or so.

I think you are right in that I must be sitting off to the side a bit and pushing down on the bolster which is causing it to wrinkle. I will be more cognizant about that going forward[/color].

It's gotta be something like that, but I'd still show it to the dealer, JMHO.
It's happening too soon, IMO.

Our Malibu did the same thing with the wife. She is a little heavier than normal and always slid into the car. I started to use Lexol leather cleaner and conditioner to protect the leather and did it every 3 months. After 26k miles there was no cracks but there was plenty of wrinkles. [/color]
The reason they appear is because when you get in, you press down that bolster. If you dont move it back to the original position it will just be stuck under your leg.

Leather is not a durable material at all and vinyl leather is even worse.

Excellent info, thanks bballr4567 .

 

[Terrain]

It's gotta be something like that, but I'd still show it to the dealer, JMHO.
It's happening too soon, IMO.

I certainly will bring it up with the dealer when I go in for a tire rotation. It will be my first time with the service department of this particular dealership so I'm sure they'll be eager to keep me happy. I have a number of other issues that need to be addressed at that time as well.

 

[bballr4567]

The dealer will say that its normal wear and tear because they dont know any better.

Its sad but true.


The leather conditioner is a great product and will stop it from cracking if you use it right. One of my old friends has a 1996 GMC Sierra with leather. It has 230k miles and that is some of the softest leather I have ever sat on. He cleaned it every two months and used conditioner every month. Only problems with it was on the entry side bolsters that were starting to loose their color. Its amazing what proper care will do to prolong the life of leather seats.