Traveling isues
Tire overheating
I guess it's a problem of G 400D (Diesel version) and only in hot countries.
While driving in Namibia, after 30 minutes we received a tire overheating alarm.
I checked the car several times, and you couldn't touch the right rear rim, it was so hot, you cook an egg on it.
We first thought we had broken bearing. We reached Windhoek (Namibian capital) after a very long and slow journey. Several stops were necessary.
After a long check, Heiko our Mercedes specialist found the explanation:
- The air temperature is 35 degrees Celsius up to 45.
- Gravel roads are hotter than the air temperature,
- AND the exhaust on the G400 Diesel version is down behind the right rear wheel!
All this added together overheated the tire so much that the exhaust had to be modified by adding side exhausts like on the AMG 63 version.
Springs
To be honest, we were very angry with the Mercedes sales team. We ordered the car with all the options,
and I specified that I wanted an AUTOLEVELING system for my trailer. If you ask for this in a Toyota store, it means an airlift to level the car due of weight variation!
(I have this on my Land Cruiser build 2004)
But at Mercedes they just think about adjusting the angle of the LED beam.
You can see it on our first trip to Algeria, the car is lower behind. The car was not full loaded.
So even with the strongest reinforced springs, the car is "hanging" at the rear. This means less ground clearance
Again Heiko, our mercedes genius, found a solution by adding "Air Lift Helpers". We installed the basic model, we have to inflate them manually with our compressor to level the car, depending on the weight.
And it works absolutely great
Electronic too much electronic
The car has so many electronic sensors, they run out very often.
So never go on such a car and trip without a ODB2 controler.
We had to order one in emergency, without we would be cooked.