ML55 sitting low at front end.

[el romeral]

When driving over large bumps or sleeping policemen, the front end of my 2002 ML55 kind of bottoms out on the suspension. It dives down on the front end and does not handle said bumps well at all, even at very modest speeds. I have had the car 2 years and just prior to my purchase, the previous owner fitted 2 new Sachs front shock absorbers. I have always wondered if this was done to try to resolve the issue? I checked the part numbers on the shocks and they are correct.

Today I was on youtube etc and heard about adjusting the front torsion bar (the ML does not have front springs) as a way to raise the front end. Anyone done this or know if this could help?
Best pics I have to try to illustrate things. Top of front tyre to wheelarch is definitely less at the front. Have better ones but are too large.

Edited by el romeral on Sunday 10th November 22:48

[Watchman]

Are you sure it doesn't have front coil springs?

It has a torsion anti roll bar but that's not the primary suspension spring.

[el romeral]

Could be wrong but have not seen any springs at the front? Have got info now from ML forum about adjusting the torsion bar to raise ride height at the front end. Am doing some trials now.

[sbk1972]

I have a 2003 ML55. Front is made up of shocks and torsen bars. Your one is low, very low, i recently had to have a new front cat on mine and to do so meant that the torsen bar was removed. it didnt look that difficult to lift / adjust the bar so perhaps get this looked at. Failing that a set of new shocks isnt big monrey and simple to fit too.

I love my Ml55. Great cars. Genrally hated across the internet, but Ive had mine for 4 years now, love it :-)

[el romeral]

sbk1972 said:

I have a 2003 ML55. Front is made up of shocks and torsen bars. Your one is low, very low, i recently had to have a new front cat on mine and to do so meant that the torsen bar was removed. it didnt look that difficult to lift / adjust the bar so perhaps get this looked at. Failing that a set of new shocks isnt big monrey and simple to fit too.

I love my Ml55. Great cars. Genrally hated across the internet, but Ive had mine for 4 years now, love it :-)

Sorry, just seen this. Thanks for the reply. I did some adjustments to the torsion bar which made only a very small difference to the ride height, but definitely improved how the front end behaved on large speed hump type bumps. I can definitely live with it now the way it is. The front shocks were brand new when I bought the car 2 years ago. I checked the Sachs part number and they are correct.

I too really enjoy my ML55 and always look forward to using it. The hatred for them is very noticable though and generally comes from people who have never owned one.