Lift on Mercedes G500 2003

[jackajm]

I have seen different suspension kits online for my car. I think my suspension is starting to go bad because my vehicle has over 210000 miles on it and also the fact that its over 12 years old. Recently I got a new G550 2015 and it rides amazing compared to the old one. What would would work best? Do I need a whole kit or just something minor to make my ride smoother? I would like to raise the ride height by about 4 inches also how can I do that? Spacers or is that not enough for height? I saw a kit online that was $14900 but that seems too much. Let me know what I need. Thanks!

 

[safariguy]

4 inches? Are you sure you want to go that tall? What about some slightly taller tires and a 2" or 2.5" lift?

 

[jackajm]

4 inches? Are you sure you want to go that tall? What about some slightly taller tires and a 2" or 2.5" lift?

I just put new tires on, but I also don't want to have the wheels rubbing when I turn.

 

[NYCRover]

What size tire did you mount and where is the rub? If you're using the new tires on your OEM setup, I doubt you need a 4" lift and depending on the size a lift might not solve your rub issues.

I agree that a smaller lift would be better as a 4" lift typically brings a whole other set of variables into the equation that you need to keep in mind.

 

[mk216v]

Will you be loading your G500 with any gear, if so how much?
G's don't subscribe to the typical truck lifts of 4-8", maybe 1-2" depending on susp choice.

You could look at;
I went with factory Mercedes heavy duty springs and massive Koni HT Raid shocks as I loaded up my rig to the hilt with gear/people. With 33's I may have raised it under 2".
A friend here has Old Man Emu's susp which lifted his more; http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/133006-2005-G500-build-by-MG-Metalworks
Vlad at FourbyFourClub.com's(G vendor) Fox setup.
I think King susp has a setup too.

 

[jackajm]

I haven't run anything bigger than the stock wheel size but I generally don't want to change the size of my tire because I might run into issues like rubbing.

So maybe 4" lift isn't feasible for me due to the problems it might create.

Im not going to be loading up much gear as of now, but if I want to later on then yes.

Thanks for the suggestions! Much appreciated!

 

[mk216v]

I haven't run anything bigger than the stock wheel size but I generally don't want to change the size of my tire because I might run into issues like rubbing.

So maybe 4" lift isn't feasible for me due to the problems it might create.

Im not going to be loading up much gear as of now, but if I want to later on then yes.

Thanks for the suggestions! Much appreciated!

I can tell you that at full articulation with my setup I had very very minor rubbing on the plastic wheelwell liner. Of course I wasn't at full articulation but only a handful of times so the minor abrasion it made on the hidden plastic was no big deal to me.
Factory Mercedes Red3stripes and Brown2stripes springs w/ Koni HT Raid dampers
285/75/16(~33&#8221 BFG All-Terrain's 126/123Q LoadRange E's on 16x7.5 37et Hutchinson/RockMonster WA-1207 beadlocks
Truck weighed over 7000lbs fully loaded.
Without gear in it this setup lifted the truck ~1" over stock.

 

[jackajm]

Okay great! Thanks.

 

[otiswesty]

With your high mileage, it is not unreasonable to replace all 4 shocks. Alot of people like the Koni Raids or an external reservoir expensive shock. I have used the OEM Bilsteins for G500 and they have held up well on thousands of mles of washboard roads. If your springs are not broken in the rear (check them carefully) I would raise your truck using a 30mm or 50mm polyurethane spring spacer. 50mm will give you two inches, maybe more if your shocks are bad. You need to pull off the shocks to install a spring spacer anyways. I have the 30mm version. Spring spacers will raise the Gwagen body off of the axles but will not inprove your diff clearance, aka actual ground clearance.

To raise the axle, you need bigger tires. The easiest and almost as good as best option is a 33" tire on the original 18" rims. I recommend a 275/70/18 AT tire. From a stock 30.5" tire, a 33" tire will get you an additional 1.25" of both diff and body clearance. If you do this in conjunction with a 30mm spacer as I have, you will end up with almost 3" of "lift." No rubbing with this tire size either.

Higher center of gravity will effect your ESP and make it potentially much more more active. This is a problem if you routinely drive tight turns on your commute.

 

[otiswesty]

Oh yeah, I recommend a load range D tire, rather than E, as the stiffer side wall heats up more when aired down resulting in premature side wall failures.

 

[jackajm]

Oh yeah, I recommend a load range D tire, rather than E, as the stiffer side wall heats up more when aired down resulting in premature side wall failures.

Great! I will take note of all of this. Thanks for the help! This will be my next upgrade once I get some funds set aside. I just ordered a new bull bar with a winch mount on it.