Hello all,

This is my first MB post. I used to dislike MB quite a bit being a very aggressive driver. The BMWs were and still are much more suited to my driving style and preferences. A little background: I drove a 560SEL in the 90s. Nice car but then I got a 740i sport in 2001 and that was just incredible. 4 BMWs later I decided to try a 911 as a daily driver. I had an 09' 997.2 and now drive a 13' 991. So...

Now that I have a sportier car than a BMW and I'm much older....I got a used 08' GL 2 years ago and I loved it! I had a lot of the analog, traditional Benz qualities that the 560 had. Steering was very light but accurate. The suspension was soft but was clearly capable of handling autobahn speeds and spirited jaunts on country roads. Bottom line - it was 250% more of a driver's car than the Escalade or any other super sized SUV in its class.

So b/c I loved it so, I decided to trade up to a CPO 13' GL450 with the appearance package. Back in 2002 I refused to buy the new 7 series because technology sucked the soul out of the BMW chassis, and I fear that a little of that has happened with the X166 GL. The electric steering (as in the 991) has taken a little bit of life out of the wheel. Not fatal. But combine that with a suspension that seems designed for runflats (another thing I avoided - at great cost with a few of my BMWs) and now the new GL, as beautiful and comfortable as it is, seems much more like an Escalade behind the wheel. Bigger and sloppier with less feedback.

I bought a 2007 550i sport right before BMW refreshed the car. My car came with 18 inch wheels w/runflats. I didn't like the ride, so I bought the 19 inch M wheels from the 08' 550i sport - gorgeous wheels - along with the OEM non runflat Continental tires and made the 18s my snow wheels with winter tires (it still sucked in snow). What do you know the ride was still not right. I had test driven the refreshed 550i sport and its ride was perfect - perfect. So - I went to the parts catalog and ordered 4 new shocks from a 2008 550i along with 4 new bump stops. And then my car was heaven. Fast forward to the GL, it needs slightly stiffer dampers/shocks that are designed for conventional tires. I don't think that exists. I'll check the aftermarket, but apparently through OEM the only other shocks are for the adaptive system which I don't have and can't retrofit.

I know this is a bible, but I have been amazed by some of the replies to in depth posts I have gotten over the years. So if anyone has any comments - fire away.

Thanks,
DRP