Brabusx2

HI all,

so my hood strut and trunk strut might be failing on me, the hood kept on slamming my head while i was doing oil change, did a forum search didn't find any on 3GS, but on 2GS and some earlier LS,

anyone with 3GS did this yet? was told it could happen because of colder weather but with my car over 8 years and 100k miles i wouldn't feel guilty replacing them,

should i go back to OE? mylparts want $68 per side i think that's kinda steep, also found some forum search some member highly recommend "strongarm" brand and they are like $30-$40 a pair, anyone have experiences with them?

Thanks in advance

burny

it slips me now, but several folks were buying a brand off amazon a while back. Maybe someone remembers the brand and can post it

ibidu1

iTrader: (1)

Try your local auto parts store they should carry them in stock.

snkepit

iTrader: (1)

I got a set off ebay $23 shipped and they great.

Brabusx2

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Set-Hood-R...ZVuRjn&vxp=mtr

i been thinking about this, they are for light duty work, i don't think i would need to go OEM for these

Brabusx2

did the job, bought a set of "strong arm" for hood and trunk strut, only a flat head screw driver to pry off the "ring" off the old one and snap new one on will do, 2 mins job, love the result, kinda funny seeing people now days with bad trunk strut using a wooden stick to held their trunk open

tayslexus

How much is the OEM ones, do you guys have any idea?

burny

^This. the strong arms are the best I have seen. Did my 02 GS and 07 GS last year and there is still resistance when closing the hoods.

Sodium

MSRP for the OEM struts is $86.24 each. You can get them at lexuspartsnow.com for $64.92 each. Really, even $130 is a bit much to spend on the struts – a while back, my dad replaced the hood struts on his 2003 GS with some he got on Amazon (made by a company called Lift Support Devices if I remember correctly, the pair was around $40), and they provide a lot of lifting force, better than OEM in fact. Generally I find it worth the premium to buy OEM parts, but in this case I will be going with the aftermarket ones when it comes time to replace my hood struts.

tayslexus

yeah that's true. $130 is a lot but some people prefer all OEMs ( not me at all lol ). I hope I won't need to change them but I've the hood lock is going bad, it won't lock unless I slam the hood hard.

Sodium

How hard do you have to slam it? Mine has never been super easy to close either – I just close it until the safety latch latches, then I firmly press on the hood about a foot back from the "L" in the grill and the lock latches (I don't like to slam things on the car ).

tayslexus

Loool I don't like to slam anything either, but isn't the force when you press hard going to show on the hood eventually? I saw some cars with a bent on the hood area. I've to slam mine hard to the point I feel embarrassed sometimes closing it when people are around haha but I'll change the lock when I go for the next service.

Sodium

Nope, no dents yet! I push with both hands flat on the hood to distribute the force over a wider area, and the place I push feels like there's a crossbeam or some other support structure, so I'm not just pushing on sheet metal.

The hinge is actually cheap – I thought it would be part of some $600 assembly, actually it's only $75. Let us know if there's a big improvement!

brucelee1

iTrader: (2)

Rock auto.com.

They are the bomb.

Brabusx2

"you the bomb" "no you the bomb"

a compliment in America, an arguement in the middle east