Thanks for the reminder to follow up, yeah family comfort / daily driver still the priority for this vehicle. For exhaust I went with the “Chevy performance” cat-back made by Borla for the 5.3, includes the anti-drone valve and I’m quite pleased with the sound. (It was never about performance with this vehicle, I have a race vehicle if I want to have more fun and experiment and take risks etc.). Taking it easy with the family it just sounds like a strong v8 while getting up to speed, clearly audible but not obnoxious, and settles down nicely to a volume tolerable for my frequent 5 hr trips. Carbon fiber borla tips were an indulgence but look sweet. Got the borla intake as well, knowing that it makes zero difference (sound or performance) unless you’re standing on the throttle, and even then maybe not performance because I haven’t timed or measured anything and I don’t care to. Just saying, open the taps now and it’s a great soundtrack, and that’s all I wanted, for my v8 to sound like a v8 again. Tires have another year or so on them so waiting for them to wear out before doing shocks/struts and 20” OEM 5 spoke wheels. Thinking upgraded sway bar as well at that time, for slightly more controlled feel through turns, but have more research to do on that one.
The way my dad used his 99 Yukon, which I had bought from him and relied HEAVILY on this forum to help keep it running great, was like a family luxury truck. I love that concept of being those three things at the same time, and doing them all pretty well. With these changes I think I’m keeping with that intent, and it’s going well so far. At some point I’ll summarize everything I’ve done and post it for all.