grunner58

The swap is very, very easy. 5 - 10 minutes max with tools in hand. That fast and that easy.

Here's how:

1. You need a narrow and thin flat head screw driver.

2. A bright flashlight could come in handy.

3. Open trunk to full upright position and hold in place.

4. Using the flathead screwdriver place it between the metal clip and the plastic socket on the stut. The location is on the backside of the plastic socket NOT facing the shiny strut arm.

5. Pry the clip away from the socket. Easy, not much pressure required.

6. Do the same for the other end of the strut.

7. With the trunk lid held open, use a rubber mallet or the side of your fist and hit the shiny metal rod towards the inside of the trunk.

8. Once disengaged remove the other end by slighting prying it off. Easy.

9. Take the new strut and tap it into the the existing socket studs on the vehicle.

10. If the strut is too long, there is a plastic tab mounted on the hinge assembly of the car that can be easily removed for that extra bit of length.

11. Put the plastic tab back in place after strut installation

12. That's it. Seriously. This is an easy one.

I bought the Strongarm stuts 4(6415) from Amazon.com and via LiftSupportsDepot.com.

My observations:

The Strongarm struts have clearly much small diameter extension arm rods than the OEM (KYB) struts.

They do not lift the trunklid but simply disengage the trunklid latch when opened from the cabin of the car.

Once you pull up on lid past the 1/3 mark and let go they will rock the hinge assembly several times before stopping. You must hold onto the trunk lid thru the entire path of travel in order to save your hinges.

They trunk lid will no longer fall on your head as they hold tight in the upright position with quite a bit of force/tension. My wife is not happy about the "work" needed to open and close the trunk lid with the Strongarms.

Probably should have sprung for the OEM KYB's instead at around $95 each vs $56.5 delivered for two.

The S-Class MB is like butter and this combination is like cinder blocks. Crude

grunner58

I've tried the trunk several more times and I strongly advise against buying these struts.

You must hold the trunk lid through its entire path of travel on the up-stroke. Otherwise, it aggressively rocks the hinges. Not happy.

In closing, keep those fingers out of the way. These struts are not fine tuned for the LS430. So, keep that in mind.

I will buy factory next time.

Bdragon007

Thanks for the information, I will use it to make a decision buying the replacement for mine (banged my head twice already)

DRWChicago

Preach on, brotha. Ordered the same ones, same results. After I saw this post, of course. I'd probably buy the factory ones again as well if I had someone else who was driving the car. For me and the amount of times that I open the trunk, I'll just be careful. Probably worth the $150 if you use the trunk more often than I do.

The do the job; keep the trunk from falling on your noggin. Worth the $50 shipped from Amazon.

BradTank

I recently installed the StrongArm lift supports and I'm happy with them.

They are too "strong" when you initially put them on, but I've noticed they settled considerably. I moved the trunk up and down several cycles after I installed them and about a week or two later, they were fine. Much less effort to close and didn't go up with as much force. I think the hinges will be fine, they were made to handle a heavy trunk lid.

My understanding is the OEM ones worked in the same way, the trunk still had to be pulled up just slightly before it would retract to the top?

Are you saying when the car was new, when you pushed the trunk release, the lid immediately opened all the way to the top without anyone touching it?

Regardless, I think the OEM are WAY overpriced, I'd have a hard time plunking down a few hundred dollars for trunk struts, and the Lexus ones aren't exactly high quality considering they almost all fail in a short amount of time. My wife's GX struts went out for hood, and my old ES also had them go out on the hood as well.

For $50 bucks total for the pair, it's a huge improvement over the clapped out original ones that were in the car.

joerogan

I also have strong arm and they are great. At first they were stiff but now they are better. I paid $35 for the pair on eBay.

AlexusAnja

No, the LS trunk was not designed to open once the release was pressed. The strut angle and such, there is no way that any strut would open the trunk. The strut is just to keep the trunk open.

warminwisc

183k still strong.

LS430Lexus

The OEM work the same way when new. I had new ones installed under warranty a week ago. They were very tight for the first few days but have loosened up a little. My service advisor said it would take a few weeks.

I have used the strongarm brank for my LS400, they worked great.

KAHUNA

I put strong arms in and very happy with them from what I recall they were 35 bones on eBay. Why put the OEM junk that failed so quick back in?

dclk

Thanks!!!!!!! after years of living with worn out oem lifts on my '04 ls430, just replaced them with the strongarms. super easy following the instructions here; didn't even need to use a rubber mallet, just pulled with a slight twist and they can right off! worst part was paying about $60 for the pair at the local store but i was ready to get this done and my wife pissed me off so parting with the cash was easier this time around. yep, i'm that cheap.