DUTCH

I've never had this happen in over 120k combined miles on both cars.

The only one where the air suspension was less than satisfactory was on the Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia; but it never sagged on one corner over night.

Amnaggar

Thank you for this info Dutch. It does add another view of the GL. Coz I've been reading horror stories about the GL on forums like benzworld and all I got from fabbrisd1 the MB salesman is an underplay of everything negative posted about it. He hates MY underplay of it so much he subjectively calls me ET haha what a funny kid! Certainty not an objective source, though, being a salesman/employee at MB! My very recent purchase of the G55 was indeed a sway away from the GL, a love story if you will that took barely a month since circumstances, really, introduced me to the G... I'll be changing my wife's car soon and may certainly think of either the ML or the GL (which I think may be too big for her style). So I still have the GL in the back of my mind (less in my heart, though).

Edulg500

Yup i have 2003 g500 and shocks are the most importent part of suspention and it is not to expensive

Taghkanic

First time poster...

I recently bought a 2003 G500 (138k miles), which has a broken left rear spring. Apparently it rusted out.

After some discussion among the service techs at the nearest dealer, they agreed that they would only have to replace the two rear springs, not all four.

But they say the spring is on backorder -- and they can give me no date when they could get the springs from Mercedes. Could be a week, could be months. Problem is, I need this vehicle almost daily to navigate a large farm property (with about 5 miles of rugged trails).

The dealer also says they don't think they can use third-party springs. I expressed surprise at that, and said that at least maybe I could find some salvaged ones.

I’m going to take it to an independent mechanic and see what he says... But my question is, what third-party springs are best to use on this vehicle?

Thanks for any guidance people can provide!

Taghkanic

Here are two types of rear springs supposedly used in G500s:

“LWB, Yellow Orange”:

http://www.eurotruck-importers.com/i...6d21f08c19109c

“White”:

http://www.eurotruck-importers.com/i...6d21f08c19109c

No idea which to buy (if either one).

grane

If you clean off your present springs you can usually find taped on color codes. It would seem that if you have two tapes the yellow orange is the one you want. Note that the "heavy duty" white spring maybe too stiff for your needs for a comfortable ride. If you do serious offroading or carry heavy loads regularly the "white" might be preferred.

Perhaps you can call the vendor with your VIN and they can advise you.

Taghkanic

Thanks for that advice... I took the G500 in to my local mechanic today, who said that the existing ones are yellow/orange. (He did not charge me to look, unlike the official dealer... And says that he can’t count the number of rear springs he’s had to fix in various “newer” Mercedes built in the past 10-15 years.)

So I ordered springs online, and he’s going to install them in the back at a fraction of the dealer’s price, without delay...