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Chevy Tahoe | Upgrading The Daily Driver

Chevy Tahoe Bring Back that New, Modern Interior in Your Old, Antiquated SUV!

If you are a loyal reader or annual subscriber to Street Trucks magazine, you remember that in the later issue we headed over to Average Joe’s garage in our newly acquired ’08 Chevy Tahoe LTZ to remove the 13-year-old worn-out suspension.

We replaced the OEM shocks, springs, and sway bars with a completely new Belltech suspension kit. This kit is specifically designed for ’07-’13 Chevrolet/GMC Tahoe/Yukon SUVs. To make it look as smooth as it will now ride, a set of 22×9.5-inch Status Titan wheels. Eye-catching carbon graphite finish were bolted up using black Gorilla Lock lug nuts.

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We wanted something classy and affordable but with a name. That has been synonymous with high-quality standards for many, many years. Nailed It!

Tire choice was an important decision for us with this ’08 Chevy Tahoe project because this SUV will be a daily driver. It will hold families, friends, and, most importantly, truck parts. So, an inexpensive show truck-only tire is not an option. The Toyo Proxes ST III is a sport-oriented tire designed for trucks and SUVs with performance-minded owners. So, four 305-40-22 tires were ordered and installed along with factory replacement performance brake pads and rotors from EBC Brakes.

So now that our Chevy Tahoe rides better than stock and looks cooler than ever. The interior creature comforts are next on the list of upgrades.

’08 Chevy Tahoe LTZ

Aside from some dirty seats and carpet, this truck was all stock and begging for some coolness. Stanley’s original GM radio entertainment technology is over a decade old. We all know how fast technology evolves in today’s modern world. So, while we’re swapping out the seat covers, we will install a new Stinger Heigh10 infotainment system.

It’ll include Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, Android Audio and be SiriusXM and GPS Navigation. Fully customizable backgrounds and illumination colors. If that’s not enough, it’ll also have a built-in 15-band equalizer to get the most out of our music. From USB ports, multiple camera inputs for reverse- or blind-spot cameras. Lastly an HDMI port for any external video accessory.

Talk about modernizing this!

The LTZ package came with captain’s chairs and third-row seating from the factory. We could have spent some time deep cleaning and scrubbing the factory material, but we knew that Roadwire Automotive Leather Interiors made a nice seat-cover replacement kit.

So, we dropped Stan off with Shawn Brandow at Gainesville Sound Trim and Tint. To professionally install our Roadwire leather kit. Let’s follow along!

A side from some dirty seats and carpet, this truck was all stock and begging for some coolness. Stanley’s original GM radio entertainment technology is over a decade old, and we all know how fast technology evolves in today’s modern world.

Lowered Tan Chevy Tahoe

Raodwire leather interior
For professional installation of the Roadwire leather seat cover kit, we dropped Stan off with Shawn Brandow at Gainesville Sound Trim and Tint. For more than 20 years, this team has offered superior service and craftsmanship over an array of services for all types of vehicles. Check them out at www. gainesvillesoundtrimandtint.com.
First step in the process is to carefully remove the front seats from the truck. It’s easy to scratch paint with the seat frames!

Roadwire kits are laser cut and specifically designed to be installed over the factory cushions with absolutely no modifications or sewing required.
Upper and lower seat covers swapped out, the bottom cushion is reinstalled and we repeat the process on the passenger seat.
For the second-row captain’s chairs, experience has taught Shawn that he can swap the seat covers without removing the seat frame from the truck. Pretty slick!

The final third row simply slides out of the truck as a factory feature, so putting them on the bench to swap the covers is a snap. Roadwire offers kits for all three rows with or without captain’s chairs.
This Roadwire leather interior kit fits amazing and smells so nice!

For the headrests, there are plenty of ways to wrangle the new leather over the soft foam, but nothing works better than this! Air sucks the foam in, so the new cover can easily slide over.

Captin chairs in a '08 Chevy Tahoe

Chevy Tahoe with Roadwire interior
Finally, the front seats are bolted back into place, the plugs are all reconnected and the headrests are inserted.

Roadwire Leather head rest Chevy Tahoe

Roadwire leather kit on a '08 Chevy Tahoe

That’s a lot of scrap GM leather!

The final step in our interior update is a new Stinger Heigh10 infotainment system. The OEM radio interface extremely outdated. No Bluetooth audio, no Apple CarPlay and it’s just ugly!

'08 Chevy Tahoe

Tan Chevy Tahoe lowered with black wheels
So, we headed over to Ocala Car Audio in Ocala, Florida, to meet with Parish and the crew at AAMP Global. This team not only monitors all the top car audio trends, but they also design and manufacture a full range of mobile entertainment products under the Stinger brand.

The system we are having installed in the Chevy Tahoe is a Stinger HEIGH10. The display and main tuner box offer a modular design, bolstering installation flexibility in space-limited applications––and in some cases, even where no installation dash kit is available.

Featuring a full HD, high-resolution, 10-inch capacitive touchscreen. With 16.7 million colors for a full visual experience, HEIGH10. Designed to enhance screen size and infotainment features for drivers of any vehicle.

Stinger head unit intall on a 2008 Chevy Tahoe
The reason we depend on professional install shops like Ocala Car Audio is pretty clear when you watch them work. Fast, clean and knowledgeable are the traits that gave confidence in this crew.

21With the old equipment out, Mike Eckley put the mounting kit together and test fitting it into the OEM wood grain bezel. He’s a top Stinger rep for AAMP Global who works closely with dealers.

The amount of wires that plug into these factory head units is crazy. Easy to overwhelm, but rest assured that nothing needs to but cut, spliced or removed from the factory wiring system.
Wires plugged in and the head unit mounted, all was programming and updating the system. A quick download and transfer using a flash drive made it quick and easy.
Optima in a 2008 Chevy Tahoe
While we are working on the audio, it’s a great time to swap out Stan’s battery. That old Autocraft unit is nowhere near as powerful and dependable as a new Optima H6 Yellowtop.
With the interior and audio complete, we just want to drive! No quite yet though as we still need to swap out the steering shaft for a Borgeson replacement and fine tune the suspension. Almost there!

Roadwire Automotive Leather Interiors
877-762-3947
www.roadwire.com

Stinger Electronics
800-477-2267

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