leechungsr

In the market for a new GLK350..

My wife is 5ft tall and can't reach the rear hatch when it is open all the way.
On the manual open rear, can the open height be adjusted down at all? Are there any quick mods to manually stop the hatch from opening up all the way?

I know I can get the premium package with power lift gate, but I tend to buy more simple optioned cars with less parts to fail.

107123210

Agreed - simple is better! I bought our GLK250 that way and I am glad that I did.

I just went out and had a look at the tailgate. It goes quite high. It seems like they made it go that high so average person doesn't hit their head when accessing cargo area.

It is a problem for us and likely for many others that park in a garage with overhead door. If I let the door go, it would just hit into the metal frame of the door.

There is no provision to change the opening angle on the manual version.

In your case, simple solution, would be to make up a small hand strap and install it on one or both of the pull down handles.

For us, and others with same height of door, I don't see an easy solution. The telescopic strut would need to be modified or a cord installed that would limit how far the hatch opens. For now, I just put a cleaning cloth between the hatch and the door. But that's not a good solution!

leechungsr

Heehee I thought about the pull down strap, but I imagine my wife driving around with a strap hanging out from the trunk.

Yea, I thought the strut could be modified to limit its travel. I couldn't find anyone that has tried to do something like that. Maybe if they need the lower open height they just buy the auto open anyway.

107123210

The handles are well inside the door - the strap wouldn't hang out.

kozak79

You don't need to. Just press the tailgate button on the FOB and it will close.

dmbolp

Doesn't want to pay for power lift gate

leechungsr

Yea, because I'm so poor.

Looks like I'll have to get the premium pack. The pano roof is supposed to be problematic too, right? Guess we'll just deal with it.

NVGLK

Got a 2011GLK350 the car is still solid no problem after almost 3 years. when opening lift gate just use the FOB or the switch on the tail gate to the height you want it to go. If you are worried the car breaking down then just buy a cheaper Toyota which is cheaper to fix.

fabbrisd1

There is no "problem" with the Panoroof except that the roll-away fabric cover is either open/both or closed/both - a different operation than the single sunroof sliding cover - roll-away is done that way so as not to lower/decrease rear roof height - competitive models roof height by and large is "squeezed"..

ble2716

You made me laugh.
A poor man is buying a MB ??? LOL

mtbmarc

With the power tailgate, you can actually program the opening angle, so it will always open to the height you want.
This feature will be very useful for what you need.

107123210

Looks like many of those responding didn't read your first post IOW, how to limit opening angle or reach the manual opening tailgate that those of us who are poor have to buy.

After you check the price for the premium package, maybe a nice custom 12" leather strap attached to the pull down handle(s) will look more attractive? But it doesn't solve my problem of hitting overhead door.

By the way, tailgate straps are available as accessories for a number of car that have same problem. Here is one for a VW:
.

I believe some Mercedes vans had them as standard equipment (at least in Europe)

Regarding the sunroof. I imagine the ones on GLK work well enough. It is down the road that there could be a problem if you are out of warranty. On the E-Class the dealer repair is to change out the entire sunroof cassette which can cost thousands of $$. Being poor too, I did a DIY repair on our E320 On two of the Benzes we own, rust developed around the sunroof opening. The crevice and the felt inserts are a trap for salt. I especially didn't want same on our GLK.

leechungsr

Well you know, people live up to the MB owner stereotype...

Thanks for the picture, I'll have to look into those later on. Looks like my wife is pretty set on the GLK. She was looking at the GL, but I'm trying to steer shorty away from the giant SUV.

PS: You worked on your MB yourself? Wow, you really must be poor. Only a poor moron would find their own solutions and work on their own cars.

107123210

You got that wrong.

It's when you DON'T work on your own MBs that you become poor!

cindyclk

I don't believe that a manual door can be limited. The power one does have that feature. The strap sounds like a good solution for your wife.....or high heels.

koalatm

Just do what we did and order the alternative premium pkg without the panoramic roof. It's not listed online, but I assure you it's in the system as an option. It's about $1,000 less without the roof.

107123210

Our problem is not one of reaching the tailgate handles, but rather that the tailgate hits into our overhead door when opened.

I had a look at it, and I believe it will not be difficult to limit the opening angle. I at first looked at straps, but hard to find a good place and didn't want to drill holes for attachments.

Another solution, that I tried in rough way, is to make up small wedges out of hard rubber and adhere to one side of the tailgate hinges. The wedges will be about 1" wide, a couple inches long and maybe 3/4" or so at thick end. Exact dimensions to be determined. Only trying to limit opening so tailgate will be about an inch or two lower when fully opened.

balticgreen

I always back in to my garage for other reasons. Backed in, the hatch opens behind the overhead garage door where the garage ceiling is much higher instead of opening under (and into) the overhead door. So before you drill holes or try to rig something with wedges, try backing in to your garage.

107123210

From experience with my older benzes, backing into garage is not a real good idea. You basically fill the garage with exhaust fumes both backing in and when starting up. BTDT.

Besides, when unloading, I want to take stuff OUT of garage and unloading where door is, is better than the alternative.

I have already tried the wedge idea and it seems like a simple answer. Just need some better weather to do a permanent job. (Spring!)

balticgreen

Fill the garage with exhaust fumes during the three seconds it takes to back in while the door is open and providing significant ventilation in the form of a humongous hole in the wall?

107123210

Because this discussion has gone way off topic, I was going to let in die. But just be careful and maybe read these links.

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&...,d.b2I&cad=rja

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/...umes-out-house