Quote:
Originally Posted by NitrousZ34
One of my struts shattered when i closed the hood down. I got the hood closed, a couple seconds later i just hear a loud pop and the bottom of the strut was broken off.
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I think I know why.
I installed mine this morning, and took them off 5 minutes later.
As I SLOWLY closed the hood, I noticed that it sounded like the dampeners were contacting something. I checked everything again, and repeated with same results. I watched as I closed the third time and the dampeners were contacting the plastic trim that the battery and brake service lids snap into. Also, just after contact as the hood was lowered the last couple inches the inner part of the strut (the lower end that goes into the upper part) actually started to flex and BEND as it contacted the plastic trim cover.
So I attempted to make adjustments to the plastic trim to see if it could be moved any so the strut could clear. No luck. The contact is not minor. Pics below show the amount the struts are having to push the plastic trim out of shape so the hood would close. Once closed there is still a hood bulge.
It is likely that in your installation that you too had a bit of flexing going on in the dampener, and after a few minutes under that stress the end cap just gave up.
While I really do appreciate the effort that went into putting this together for the community, I just cannot leave them on with this much of an issue with the clearance upon closing.
Open to show the plastic trim and weatherstrip along the top edge of the fender.
Closing to show how the contact of the dampener with the plastic trim pushes it out of shape as the hood is closed.
And just a little bit more closed. I could not get any pics showing the flex of the dampener as it was just too dark under the hood and the pics just did not come out well.
At least for me, there was just not enough room for the dampener and the plastic trim under the hood. The plastic gave as far as it would go, and the dampener flexed as much as it could, and the hood still had a bit of a bulge in it.