I recently bought an 08 GL450 with 75,000mi. After purchasing I realized the first large bump on I40 that the rear end was really bouncy and dangerously unstable. I was concerned to let my wife drive it on the freeway it was so loose.
I inspected the rear shocks, and both had oil residue all over them, a sign they were leaking. I also did the bounce test by pushing the bumper down and it continued to bounce.
I did a search online and PartsGeek had Bilstiens (OEM) listed for the GL at $235 each. Dealer list was $690 each in my crash book. I purchased a pair for a total of $427.00. It only took a few days to receive. They even had some of the same manufacturing decals as the original shocks.
The upper two nuts are hard to get to. You must remove the rear interior panels. I noticed the rear arm rests look to be detachable and I pulled really hard and they actually, came off, even though they are designed not to with the melted plastic tabs. They seemed to snap back in place after I was through, even though they can still be pulled off again, which I figure is a plus.
I had to cut through the padding over the rear wheelwells with a razor to get access to the 13mm nuts. I used a long extention and deepwall socket to get them off.
The lower bolts were easy to access but very tight. I used a breaker bar to lossen.
I used two floor jacks, and jack stands. One jack to lift the body by the rear rocker pad, and the other jack the control arm where the air bag sits. I had to remove the wheel to make access easier and used the two jack to get the load off the suspension to make room for the shock to come out.
During reassemble I used blue locktight on all the shock fasteners for safety sake.
The book said it takes 1.4 hours per side, I did the whole job in just over 2 hours.
The ride in the rear is now very nice and it feels so much more stable.
I noticed on the car fax it had the front struts replaced at 66,916. and they had tried to align it many times. I assume the rear shocks were part of the drivability issue the whole time.
I just purchased the repair CD online and plan to all the future repairs myself on this GL. I feel like I will be an expert on these by the time we have it worn out. I do have professional repair experience and many connections in the business, so hopefully I can figure everything out as it happens.
I still have a headlamp out of sink, which created a headlamp inopperative signal on the dash. I hope to have that figure out soon.
I don't want to invest in a set of GL550 AMG wheels until I know all the bugs are worked out.
I inspected the rear shocks, and both had oil residue all over them, a sign they were leaking. I also did the bounce test by pushing the bumper down and it continued to bounce.
I did a search online and PartsGeek had Bilstiens (OEM) listed for the GL at $235 each. Dealer list was $690 each in my crash book. I purchased a pair for a total of $427.00. It only took a few days to receive. They even had some of the same manufacturing decals as the original shocks.
The upper two nuts are hard to get to. You must remove the rear interior panels. I noticed the rear arm rests look to be detachable and I pulled really hard and they actually, came off, even though they are designed not to with the melted plastic tabs. They seemed to snap back in place after I was through, even though they can still be pulled off again, which I figure is a plus.
I had to cut through the padding over the rear wheelwells with a razor to get access to the 13mm nuts. I used a long extention and deepwall socket to get them off.
The lower bolts were easy to access but very tight. I used a breaker bar to lossen.
I used two floor jacks, and jack stands. One jack to lift the body by the rear rocker pad, and the other jack the control arm where the air bag sits. I had to remove the wheel to make access easier and used the two jack to get the load off the suspension to make room for the shock to come out.
During reassemble I used blue locktight on all the shock fasteners for safety sake.
The book said it takes 1.4 hours per side, I did the whole job in just over 2 hours.
The ride in the rear is now very nice and it feels so much more stable.
I noticed on the car fax it had the front struts replaced at 66,916. and they had tried to align it many times. I assume the rear shocks were part of the drivability issue the whole time.
I just purchased the repair CD online and plan to all the future repairs myself on this GL. I feel like I will be an expert on these by the time we have it worn out. I do have professional repair experience and many connections in the business, so hopefully I can figure everything out as it happens.
I still have a headlamp out of sink, which created a headlamp inopperative signal on the dash. I hope to have that figure out soon.
I don't want to invest in a set of GL550 AMG wheels until I know all the bugs are worked out.