FAO Greenmantle - GL content
Discussion
Hi Greenmantle
I tried replying to your PM but your receiving email address "cannot be found" so I hope it's OK to reply here. It may interest others anyway.
Congratulations on the purchase on your GL350.
I have just been to France for 2 weeks in mine and it was faultless. It makes travelling long distances an absolute ease. I have a huge roof box on top into which we put all the "big and light" stuff, and the bikes
go on the back leaving us all wafting along in comfort.
On Sunday I drove 630 miles to return home and I loved every minute. It's such a capable long distance machine, and the OM642 engine brings a sense of "inevitability" to your journey.
... And as we were returning from France, we brought back some supplies:
70-litres in total (not all shown in the pic) which ought to last until the weekend, I hope.
To your questions:
Tyres...
I'm on Continental Cross Contacts which offer a little more tread for fields and light off-road duty than the Sport Contacts. They worked in the snow last year but they were not confidence inspiring so I bought another set of wheels that I intend to fit winter tyres to.
My problem, if you can call it that, is that my GL has quite enormous front brakes and I don't think I'd get away with 19" wheels. On my previous Merc, an ML, I had 19" wheels and ran General Grabber AT tyres all year round. Those are epic in all weathers, and particularly stood out in the snow. Mine were 255/55/19 so a little narrower than what you're looking for but maybe they could be an option for you?
When I was looking for another set of wheels for the GL I found a "copy" set of the AMG 21s I already have on eBay for only £450 so I went with them however that ties me to the stupidly expensive winter tyre sizes. That said, I believe there are a set of Nokia winter tyres that will fit them. When I previously had a Subaru, Nokians were my absolute favourite.
None available yet though. Maybe towards the end of this month.
Bike racks...
I have a 4-bike Thule towbar mounted rack but whichever you choose, make sure you can tilt it away from the car WITH the bikes on, so that you can open the tailgate without having to remove the bikes.
There are some recent bike racks that fold up when there are no bikes on board too, which reduces the overall length of your car without having to take the rack off.
They're all bloody expensive though.
Regards.
I tried replying to your PM but your receiving email address "cannot be found" so I hope it's OK to reply here. It may interest others anyway.
Congratulations on the purchase on your GL350.
I have just been to France for 2 weeks in mine and it was faultless. It makes travelling long distances an absolute ease. I have a huge roof box on top into which we put all the "big and light" stuff, and the bikes
go on the back leaving us all wafting along in comfort.
On Sunday I drove 630 miles to return home and I loved every minute. It's such a capable long distance machine, and the OM642 engine brings a sense of "inevitability" to your journey.
... And as we were returning from France, we brought back some supplies:
70-litres in total (not all shown in the pic) which ought to last until the weekend, I hope.
To your questions:
Tyres...
I'm on Continental Cross Contacts which offer a little more tread for fields and light off-road duty than the Sport Contacts. They worked in the snow last year but they were not confidence inspiring so I bought another set of wheels that I intend to fit winter tyres to.
My problem, if you can call it that, is that my GL has quite enormous front brakes and I don't think I'd get away with 19" wheels. On my previous Merc, an ML, I had 19" wheels and ran General Grabber AT tyres all year round. Those are epic in all weathers, and particularly stood out in the snow. Mine were 255/55/19 so a little narrower than what you're looking for but maybe they could be an option for you?
When I was looking for another set of wheels for the GL I found a "copy" set of the AMG 21s I already have on eBay for only £450 so I went with them however that ties me to the stupidly expensive winter tyre sizes. That said, I believe there are a set of Nokia winter tyres that will fit them. When I previously had a Subaru, Nokians were my absolute favourite.
None available yet though. Maybe towards the end of this month.
Bike racks...
I have a 4-bike Thule towbar mounted rack but whichever you choose, make sure you can tilt it away from the car WITH the bikes on, so that you can open the tailgate without having to remove the bikes.
There are some recent bike racks that fold up when there are no bikes on board too, which reduces the overall length of your car without having to take the rack off.
They're all bloody expensive though.
Regards.
Wow
Thanks for the reply and the pictures. I will have to get some pictures of mine to put on the "show us your mercedes" thread.
I never thought about the size of disks. That might be a problem. After I bought the car I asked my local dealer to quote me for a set of winter wheels and tyres. They came back and said they couldn't quote so I left it.
This week I saw a new set being advertised 265/55/19 I think with Pirelli Scorpions. I think I will have to get in touch with Mercedes Milton Keynes to get an answer since I know my current set will be useless in the winter.
Your bike rack looks great. I have an engineering background so it amazes me to think of the turning forces that keep it upright. Yep you are right about the tilting mechanism and yes they are very expensive I think a good price is around £600+.
Never thought about the roof box. I have one but I only ever used it on the B-Class and even that I needed a small single step ladder.
Thanks Again for your response
Thanks for the reply and the pictures. I will have to get some pictures of mine to put on the "show us your mercedes" thread.
I never thought about the size of disks. That might be a problem. After I bought the car I asked my local dealer to quote me for a set of winter wheels and tyres. They came back and said they couldn't quote so I left it.
This week I saw a new set being advertised 265/55/19 I think with Pirelli Scorpions. I think I will have to get in touch with Mercedes Milton Keynes to get an answer since I know my current set will be useless in the winter.
Your bike rack looks great. I have an engineering background so it amazes me to think of the turning forces that keep it upright. Yep you are right about the tilting mechanism and yes they are very expensive I think a good price is around £600+.
Never thought about the roof box. I have one but I only ever used it on the B-Class and even that I needed a small single step ladder.
Thanks Again for your response
The turning force on the towbar is often misconstrued as being focused on the ball itself when in fact the neck of the towbar is used to strengthen the up/down moment. It's very sturdy and exerts far less force onto the towbar than the 1800Kg caravan I used to tow.
Side to side is all friction on the ball but the forces associated with that are minimal.
Not all the GLs have the huge front brakes so you might be OK with the 19" wheels. For sure, there are far better options for tyres on 19s than anything larger and I wish I could take advantage of that. They all ride better on higher sidewalls too.
Side to side is all friction on the ball but the forces associated with that are minimal.
Not all the GLs have the huge front brakes so you might be OK with the 19" wheels. For sure, there are far better options for tyres on 19s than anything larger and I wish I could take advantage of that. They all ride better on higher sidewalls too.
There are various wheels issued for MLs and GLs, and each seems to have different offsets. They will all have 112mm PCD so will bolt on (ever those from the W/X166 ranges), but clearances within wheel arches and over brakes will need checking. I am not 100% sure but I think the 19s might be too tight over my front brakes which appear significantly bigger than those I had on my ML (both W/X164).
19s offer the best variety of tyres though, and with higher sidewalls will ride better.
I might see if I can borrow some/one to try. The 21s I have are a nice design but restrict tyre choice and size.
19s offer the best variety of tyres though, and with higher sidewalls will ride better.
I might see if I can borrow some/one to try. The 21s I have are a nice design but restrict tyre choice and size.
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