Looking for some advice. I need to replace the front struts on my 2014 GL450 with about 58K miles. On the left side there is a visible tear in the rubber baffle, and overall the car has become very, very 'bouncy". Even a small speed bump taken at 5 mph feels like a roller coaster ride. I am also going to replace the airmatic air filter and relay, but not the compressor pump or valve block, because I hear the pump running so I think those are probably fine. Finally, I am also going to replace the rear air bags only

I purchased 2 Arnott struts (remanufactured) struts for the front on Black Friday, but turns out they are actually out of stock (they don't have any cores) and don't know when they will get them. I preferred to go remanufactured due to the cheaper cost (I will upgrade to new GLE in 1 or 2 years at most), but having said that I don't want to go with poor quality stuff which may break down or cause the ride to back to being bad.

1. Since I can't get Arnott remanufactured, what is another remanufactured brand folks have used and recommend? I have seen Suncore and RMT online, but don't know anything about the quality or durability. Just FYI, I did call Arnott and they said if I send them my struts, they will rebuild them, but it is 2 or 3 weeks turnaround, which maybe difficult for me to manage without the car working so I am looking for a "comparable" alternative.

2. On the rears, is it enough to just replace the bags if the car is bouncy or would you recommend the struts. I was going to replace the bags only and then if the car was still bouncy in the rear, I would do the struts. But maybe someone already has experience on this.

3. Anything else that you would recommend to get the ride back to its original state?

TIA

 

 

So an update after my online research today. I could not find any air struts on fcp euro. Only rear air bags.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/Mercedes~Ben...14&m=20&e=4260

Arnott and RMT also have none in stock, only option is for me to remove my struts and send it in for rebuild (car would be out of commission for 2 to 3 weeks depending on which vendor I select). Arnott is around $1,020 to rebuild both, but RMT is about $775 and neither could tell me why their rebuild is better than the other. I have not checked with Suncore and others. That is why I posted to see if there were other remanufactured brands people recommend. The only available aftermarket struts that I can find are Chinese made which I think I want to avoid.

Maybe I'm missing something?

Apurva

 

 

 

Not available. I emailed them via their ebay store today. They are just reselling the Arnott product and Arnott is backordered. I actually placed an order with shockwarehouse.com on Black Friday, and same thing, they called me and told me that it is on indefinite backorder until they have more cores. They told me to call Arnott directly and Arnott is the one that told me that I could remove my current strut and send it in for rebuild.

Did you use Arnott on your replacement? Are you happy with the performance?

 

 

 

how many miles when you replaced? I have about 58K.

I am finding OE at some of the mb dealer sites, but not all (don't know why).

https://parts.mbfm.com/p/Mercedes-Be...663204966.html

It is about $815 which is over double of what remanufacturing mine at RMT will cost. So that is why I'm seriously considering figuring out how to make due with my other vehicles for 2 weeks while they rebuild mine.

 

 

Not a bad idea...the issue is that here in Austin we only have 2 dealers and so it is not a competitive market and the dealers do little negotiating. I was going to try to DIY this one - it actually does not look very complicated from the youtube videos. But I would hate to spend a weekend replacing these just to find out they only last me a year or 2 because I bought cheap aftermarket parts. I will call FCP Euro tomorrow as well as a few other places and then make a final call.

On a side note, the other part that seems to fail regularly on these cars is the drivers side motor mount. I need to replace that as well (which really means both sides) and my passenger CV boot is leaking. So that is why I'm trying to DIY as much as possible or at least buy the parts cheap online and then get my local indie to install it all.

 

 

 

Sadly no, I tried that route, because you don't have to be military for some of their products and services, but for the ext warranty you do have to be.
I got a quote for another extended warranty and it is around $5-6K for 3yr/36K and I don't want to keep the car that long, so I figured it is best to pay out of pocket for these repairs and then sell the car in 2 years. Right now all the parts are running me around 1750 and hopefully I can DIY the struts and CV joints and I will pay my indie probably around 500 to install the motor mounts.

 

 

You make a good point. Will see what the dealer SA says to start.

 

If it wasn't for the fact that we are probably going to downsize to the new GLE in 1 or 2 years, I would be doing an ext warranty for sure. My youngest will go off to college in 18 months and then we definitely don't need the large 7 seater. And the new GLE has a "smaller" 7 seat option anyway like the Q7. I had a Carchex warranty on my 2009 BMW 750i. In case you don't know, I think the 2009 BMW 750i maybe the worst luxury vehicle of all time. My 3K carchex warranty paid out over 20K in 2 years until I finally got rid of the car because it was at the dealer more than it was in my garage.