Mercedes GL Front Strut Replacement GL450 GL320 GL350 2007-2012

It is very common for the front struts to fail on a Mercedes Gl, some fail as early as 60K miles.  My SUV had 66K miles when one of the struts started making a knocking sound when going over bumps.  The nice thing is, the struts are not very expensive and are very easy to replace.  It took me under two hours to replace both of them.  Here are the instructions:

1.  Remove the air compressor fuse.

2.  Disconnect the air line.  For easier access to the air line I removed the strut brace.

3.  Disconnect the sway bar end link from the strut.

4.  Cut the zip-tie that holds the brake line and the wiring harness to the strut.

5.  Disconnect the upper control arm from the steering knuckle.  You will need a ball joint tool or an impact hammer to do this job.

6.  Unbolt the upper strut mount from the chassis.

7.  Unbolt the strut from the lower control arm and remove out of the car.

8.  Install everything back in the reverse order.  Here are the torque settings:

Strut brace to bracket: 50Nm

Sway Bar Link to Strut: 200Nm

Strut to Control Arm Nut:  265Nm

Upper Control Arm Ball joint:  20Nm and 90-degrees.

Upper strut mount nuts:  30Nm, Loosen completely, final torque 27Nm.