BRZ/FR-S Hood Struts - Any Interest?

[zinzan]

Originally Posted by stockysnail

Got my replacement bracket last night. Took about 1.5 hrs to install. Most of which was retrieving the 10mm bolt I dropped into the frame of the car and going to the auto parts store to get a magnetic telescoping screw retriever. Probably only took about 15mins or so of actually install time. Works great and thank you for selling it at a good price.

F*%#, even after reading this, I managed to drop the 10mm bolt into the engine compartment. I can't even see it.

Is that engine pan difficult to remove? How likely is it that the bolt will stay in there or fall out?

[2point0]

Originally Posted by zinzan

F*%#, even after reading this, I managed to drop the 10mm bolt into the engine compartment. I can't even see it.

Is that engine pan difficult to remove? How likely is it that the bolt will stay in there or fall out?

You mean the undertray? It's easy, just put the front on stands or ramps or if you're really skinny drive up on some wood boards and get under there. One of the vendors put up a nice how-to but I forget who it was. Check the DIY section if you want pics.

[DaJo]

Just bought these hood struts and they came in what looks to be like normal metal ball cups (where the ball joint is) instead of the "black zinc"... @GrimmSpeed, can you please explain the reason?

Don't get me wrong; I absolutely LOVE these, but I can't figure out why these are not as advertised... :S

[Jive Turkey]

any one upgraded hardware? mine are pretty rusty...

[DaJo]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

any one upgraded hardware? mine are pretty rusty...

How bad and on which parts?

[GrimmSpeed]

Originally Posted by DaJo

Just bought these hood struts and they came in what looks to be like normal metal ball cups (where the ball joint is) instead of the "black zinc"... @GrimmSpeed, can you please explain the reason?

Don't get me wrong; I absolutely LOVE these, but I can't figure out why these are not as advertised... :S

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

any one upgraded hardware? mine are pretty rusty...

These two posts will go hand in hand:

So we love the all black look, it looks pretty awesome. But, it does NOT look awesome when it starts to rust. There was an unfortunate miscommunication from our supplier which caused us to make the change. The ball cups (the part that is attached to the rod on the gas spring) were black zinc, the ball studs were black phosphate, and the nuts were black zinc. We were told that the ball studs were black zinc, which is where the miscommunication was.

What does this all mean? Well, in our experience black zinc coating is far more durable and long lasting than black phosphate, and this is a perfect example of that. After some time we had a few customers complain that the hardware was rusting, and we ourselves experienced the same problem on our shop car (harsh winters hurt bad), so we made a change and upgraded to clear zinc hardware all around (ball cups, ball studs, and nuts). Which is why you see the change, and we haven't changed the info on the website yet. Thanks for the reminder, we'll make that change right away.

As far as upgrading the hardware, the ballstud is the lowest common denominator, so on our car we just cleaned it and the nut up with a scotchbrite pad, and used some black touchup paint. This is currently the only way to keep your hardware black, as we will no longer be stocking it anymore. If you absolutely do not want the black ballstud and nut anymore, give us a call, and we'll send you the new clear zinc'd ones. You'll still keep the black ball cup though, since there are no corrosion issues with it.

We apologize to people who really wanted the all black hardware, but if we would have known that the ball studs were black phosphate coated in the first place, we would have never used them, and thus would not have offered all black hardware.

Chase
Engineering

[Jive Turkey]

i personally dont care what color anything is under the hood, i just dont want things to rust. home depot stainless hardware it is!

[GrimmSpeed]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

i personally dont care what color anything is under the hood, i just dont want things to rust. home depot stainless hardware it is!

I agree, even if the rust is purely cosmetic. The main offender is going to be the ball stud itself, which you can only get through the company that manufacturers our gas springs, so feel free to contact us if you want us to send you the new clear zinc ones. We can send the nuts as well, but if you prefer to pick up your own stainless ones, the thread callout is: 5/16-18

Chase
Engineering

[Jive Turkey]

oh snap.

if you're willing to send me hardware to replace this, i'll gladly take that route. if not not a big deal, still a kick ass product.

[DaJo]

Originally Posted by GrimmSpeed

These two posts will go hand in hand:

So we love the all black look, it looks pretty awesome. But, it does NOT look awesome when it starts to rust. There was an unfortunate miscommunication from our supplier which caused us to make the change. The ball cups (the part that is attached to the rod on the gas spring) were black zinc, the ball studs were black phosphate, and the nuts were black zinc. We were told that the ball studs were black zinc, which is where the miscommunication was.

What does this all mean? Well, in our experience black zinc coating is far more durable and long lasting than black phosphate, and this is a perfect example of that. After some time we had a few customers complain that the hardware was rusting, and we ourselves experienced the same problem on our shop car (harsh winters hurt bad), so we made a change and upgraded to clear zinc hardware all around (ball cups, ball studs, and nuts). Which is why you see the change, and we haven't changed the info on the website yet. Thanks for the reminder, we'll make that change right away.

As far as upgrading the hardware, the ballstud is the lowest common denominator, so on our car we just cleaned it and the nut up with a scotchbrite pad, and used some black touchup paint. This is currently the only way to keep your hardware black, as we will no longer be stocking it anymore. If you absolutely do not want the black ballstud and nut anymore, give us a call, and we'll send you the new clear zinc'd ones. You'll still keep the black ball cup though, since there are no corrosion issues with it.

We apologize to people who really wanted the all black hardware, but if we would have known that the ball studs were black phosphate coated in the first place, we would have never used them, and thus would not have offered all black hardware.

Chase
Engineering

Thank you so much Chase for such detailed explanation. It all makes sense now. Cheers!

[GrimmSpeed]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

oh snap.

if you're willing to send me hardware to replace this, i'll gladly take that route. if not not a big deal, still a kick ass product.

Of course. You're not happy, we want you to be happy, we'll make you happy That's how this works.

If you could be so kind as to email us at Sales@GrimmSpeed.com, and ask them for the updated clear zinc hardware for your BRZ hood strut kit we'll be able to make this happen for you. You can even say "Chase told me to email you," and I'll make sure you get the right stuff when one of my sales guys asks me about it.

Originally Posted by DaJo

Thank you so much Chase for such detailed explanation. It all makes sense now. Cheers!

Hey no problem, it was sloppy of me to not take care of this sooner. Unfortunately it's a lot of work to redo the pictures, but it's less work to redo the description on the website. If I had an excuse it would be that we're swamped with EVERYTHING right now, but we're always swamped it seems, so I have no excuse :P

Chase
Engineering

[Wonderbar]

So, I finally got my Grimmspeed hood struts, and I must say that it is my favorite practicality mod, with my weather tech floor mats being second.

Why doesn't this come this way from the factory?!

I don't like that the brackets are so heavy, so if @GrimmSpeed would be alright with it, I would like got have a set cut and formed out of 5052 aluminum

[chanomatik]

Well a hood prop rod is lighter, but I agree, the struts/dampers are much nicer to deal with on a continuous basis. Glad you finally got your set!

[boredom.is.me]

Originally Posted by Wonderbar

So, I finally got my Grimmspeed hood struts, and I must say that it is my favorite practicality mod, with my weather tech floor mats being second.

Why doesn't this come this way from the factory?!

I don't like that the brackets are so heavy, so if @GrimmSpeed would be alright with it, I would like got have a set cut and formed out of 5052 aluminum

That would be nice. Aren't they currently steel?