OV9

drcarlos wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:13 am Hope the read end is in good condition as lots of these seem to have a really cambered, possibly worn out look on the rear suspension.

Yep. Lower arm inner bush. Curiously this passed an MOT - with the air spring charged it puts enough load on the bush that you can't move it, so no detectable play and that was good enough apparently ! Let the air out and you can waggle it around very easily.

Everytime I see one of these I come out in hives wondering how much the tyres cost - they're fookin massive! What did you pay for it?

Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:38 am

drcarlos wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:13 am Hope the read end is in good condition as lots of these seem to have a really cambered, possibly worn out look on the rear suspension.

Yep. Lower arm inner bush. Curiously this passed an MOT - with the air spring charged it puts enough load on the bush that you can't move it, so no detectable play and that was good enough apparently ! Let the air out and you can waggle it around very easily.


IMG_0367.jpg

So not a hard thing to repair then, just not done by people running them on a shoestring.

Whole arm kits are pretty reasonably priced, and afaik none of it is model specific. I’m definitely expecting to have to replace bushes / joints at some point.

tim wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:39 am Everytime I see one of these I come out in hives wondering how much the tyres cost - they're fookin massive! What did you pay for it?

I was curious and pleasantly surprised, £884 for a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 fitted via blackcircles. I guess 20s are more common these days.

The sole reason I got the ML over the 4.8 was the rear tyres and what it felt like they did to the handling, with narrower tyres though they look ridiculous. I think it was 305s on the one I drove.

Dave!

I’ve been getting used to the lofty driving position and enjoying it on some more familiar roads. It’s actually the way it gets moving from a standstill which is more surprising than the outright pace.

I haven’t felt the need to manually use the gears, but sport feels far more sporty than in the merc. It’s very keen to change down and gives you proper engine braking.

Way more nimble than it has any right to be, but also feels like you could have a spectacular accident quite easily

I assume it's the 6-sp ZF auto? That was the biggest improvement from my E39 540i which had the old ZF 5-sp to my E61 545is with the 6sp. Massively improved simply because it locked up so much earlier, and stepped off the line faster.

tim wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 11:39 am Everytime I see one of these I come out in hives wondering how much the tyres cost - they're fookin massive! What did you pay for it?

315/35 20 they do look absurd

£5.5k I’m not going to pretend it’s an immaculate minter, but happy with it for the cash.

I did see some lovely looking 4.4s for less than half that which struck me as an awful lot of car for the money.

Jobbo wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 5:17 pm I assume it's the 6-sp ZF auto? That was the biggest improvement from my E39 540i which had the old ZF 5-sp to my E61 545is with the 6sp. Massively improved simply because it locked up so much earlier, and stepped off the line faster.

Yeah, 6 speed zf which is one of the reasons I was set on a 4.8 over the 5 speed 4.6.