Recommendation for rear springs 463
There is quite a bit about springs and suspension upgrades on here. Not surprising because I was just told a single spring for a 463 was £600 from MB !
I suppose there is better in the after market world. So what are the current recommendations?
Mine is a 463 G350, 2012. I don't need to firm it up. I like the current ride. The reason is one spring has broken right at the base. I think that is where they all go because that is where the mud and wet sits and they corrode there and break. Obviously I will replace both rear springs and tidy up (de-rust) the spring plate/mount..
Should I do the shock absorber struts also? Get adjustable ones? Standard oil?
Good info in previous thread here: http://www.gwoa.co.uk/forum/springs
And it seems the ORC brand is a long time favourite https://orc-shop.de/en/technics/suspension-kit/springs/?p=1
It says they are +40mm, but I think under load they sit at the same level as current, so they must be progressive loading. At 200 Euro each still not cheap but much less than MB methinks, and proven/quality?
Suplex coil springs - they do standard or H/d rears: https://www.suplex.de/produkte/?lang=en
Local motor factors should be able to supply.
Would not raise it , will mess up prop angles,cause vibration etc.
Koni shocks good, but really you will have to do all 4 or else they will " fight " with the old ones. Sachs also very good, go for the HD versions, can get at agood price. Germany much cheaper for springs, use the Spidan Catalogue through GKN to get the best replacement springs, comprehensive range, again good price in Germany. About 120 euros for a pair? Also progressive
I cracked a rear spring on my G320CDI a couple of years ago.
My local MB dealer supplied and fitted a pair of new rear springs (I didn't think the spring compressor we have would be up to the job). I'd have to dig out the paperwork but I remember the bill (inc vat) as 700 pounds or so
The "single spring" price sounds wrong to me
Mike
I broke quite a few rear springs on my GEL300 (it spent most of its time on rough forest tracks). I always bought replacement springs from MB to try and keep the correct spring rating. The rears were brown three stripe and cost about £275 each at the time.
If you ever look at the Mercedes G Wagon parts catalogue for springs you will see eight different colour codes each with three different subsets so thats 24 different spring rates. To make things more complicated the front and rear axles also have different spring rates, mine had yellow two stripes at the front.
The MB springs are progressive and have a compression range measured under a 2000N and 7000N load. For example Brown three stripe = 425mm to 175mm. The springs have a top and bottom which is marked so that you dont put them in the wrong way round and a good tip is to face the bottom tail (end of spring) in line with the axle towards the diff which stops them breaking at the base, I don't know why but it seems to work.
There is a lot of scope to alter the suspension with original MB or aftermarket springs and dampers but my thoughts were that Mercedes probably had a pretty good reason for selecting the original setup and changing those settings based on my limited knowledge was probably very unlikely to make it handle any better. If you ever watch old videos of a Mercedes test driver chucking a standard G 463 or 460 down the Shockel like it was a rally car then you would have quite a bit of confidence that Mercedes knew what they were doing in the suspension department.
Price sounds wrong to me also,, at least if you buy genuine you can just replace the one spring? You can check the state of the Shock absorber when you have removed it, top nut will need a lot of soaking in Oil, i expect your G is fitted with Bilsteins??
When I first bought my w463 swb, the rear spring were sagging badly, too soft I thought so I fitted springs from a lwb, these were white, & were supplied from a recommendation in the Club magazine. These are still on the car & have covered maybe 40,000 miles, have a bit of surface that but otherwise still sound, I probably have the receipt if anyone's interested, they weren't expensive either
White is very strong, probably 18mm in diameter, really lifts the back up beneficial if you carry a lot in a sub otherwise ride a bit harsh?
A bit yes
What setting did you put your Konis on?
Real drawback you have to remove to adjust, tho at least koni give you lovely rubber covers for the nuts, which makes them much easier to remove in the future, be very surprised if any G after 10 years didn't have a broken rear spring, not that you really notice.!
Have a weak set of thin springs! Possibly experiment with a few 25kg bags in the back? Also check your tyres are not over inflated? Easy to swap springs if your shocks undo and you have a good trolley jack
Have noticed with LC with the Tyre Pressure Monitoring, can go up from 2.1 bar to 2.4 after a run, 2.3 makes it much worse on tracks etc,