Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community - FT86CLUB - Redline Tuning Hood Strut Kit! Installation and Review

Heya guys! It's been a long time since I wrote a review on anything but it's winter time which means mods must commence!

This is going to be a simple review, there isn't much to this kit and the install takes all of 20 minutes if you are going slow. So here we go!

Preface!

I bought a Redline Tuning "QuickLIFT Plus" Hood Strut kit for my Toyota Tacoma years ago, it was one of the first and best mods I ever did to the Tacoma and the struts are still working flawlessly after 6 years. When I got the BRZ and found out it didn't have hood struts I immediately knew I wanted another kit for my BRZ. I was tempted by the Group Buy a few months ago with Hood Struts from a different company but I emailed Redline and they said they had a kit coming out soon so I held out. I had such a good experience with the previous kit on my Tacoma I wanted the same kit on my BRZ even though it was more expensive. The Redline kit is made in America, right in Michgan and the quality is top notch. These kits are OEM fit and finish or better and they try to avoid drilling as much as necessary. On the BRZ there is NO drilling or cutting needed, on my Tacoma I had to drill 8 small holes for rivets and self tapping screws as the Tacoma's hood and fenders don't have any good mounting points.

Before:

http://i.imgur.com/MG72B22.jpg

The Kit!

http://i.imgur.com/fajywK1.jpg

The Kit comes with everything you need other than a 10mm and 12mm ratchet, preferable with a 2" extension.

6 x Washers
4 x Brackets
2 x Gas Struts

That's it!

I purchased the QuickLIFT Elite struts because I wanted the full 316L Stainless Steel struts. I have the QuickLIFT Plus kit on my Tacoma and it comes with Black E-Coated Struts. Both kits come with black powder-coated brackets and the Basic/Value kit (Which isn't available for the BRZ) comes with Galvanized/zinc coated brackets.

The Basic Kit is $70

The Plus Kit is $90

The Elite Kit is $120

The Installation!

The Install gets a 1 out of 5 on the difficulty scale. This is possibly the easiest mod you could ever do.

Step 1: Remove upper support bracket bolt and install upper strut bracket with said bolt so that the empty hole is the lower of the two holes. Hold strut bracket parallel with hood support bracket and tighten bolt back into place.

http://i.imgur.com/wkpCPbl.jpg

Step 2: Remove the bolt from the top of your front quarter panel between the word SUBARU and your VIN sticker. I forgot to get a picture of exactly this, but you can see in this picture what I mean, it's the bolt where the two black washers are sitting in the following picture.

http://i.imgur.com/ATV5BTX.jpg

Step 3: This step is not included in the real instructions that come with the kit. I think they forgot it but I am including it here. This step is ONLY necessary for the drivers side bracket.

Remove the white clip holding the hood latch cable from the fender as it gets in the way of the strut bracket and is extraneous. I used pliers to remove it...it's a pain, be careful you don't scratch any paint. You can compare the above picture to the one below to see which white clip I mean, also it will be obvious when you try to install the bracket.

Step 4: Place TWO of the supplied washers over the bolt hole. Redline supplies 6 washers, 4 thick ones and 2 thin ones just in case you need a bit of extra thickness. These washers are important and prevent you from damaging the ridge on your panel. If you need a bit of extra height to make it over the ridge then install 2 of the THICK washers and remove the thin one.

http://i.imgur.com/s9yRd7X.jpg

Step 5: Bolt lower bracket into place making sure it' parallel and flush with the inner fender. I forgot to grab a picture of the lower bracket installed...but I'm sure you can figure it out!

Step 6: With the cylinder on the top and the piston on the bottom, snap the strut into place over the ball joints. Start with the piston side and press it on firmly it should snap into place. Then take the cylinder side and do the same up top, you may need to grab and lift the hood with one hand to get the upper ball joint to line up, this is normal as the hood prop only supports one side of the hood and therefore the drivers side sags a bit (which is another issue these struts fix.)

Congrats the Drivers side is done!

http://i.imgur.com/OP2oYWt.jpg

Step 7: Repeat the entire procedure on the Passenger side while omitting Step 3 as it is not a problem on the passenger side.

Step 8: As always BASK IN YOUR OWN GLORY!

http://i.imgur.com/HiKjfuk.jpg

The Review!

Not much to review here. The product was ordered on 12/22/13 and arrived on 12/24/13, pretty awesome shipping if you ask me!

All the parts were supplied as needed and no parts were missing from the kit!

The only tools you need are a 10mm and 12mm ratchet with preferably a 2" extension to prevent paint scratches but can be done without the extension as long as you are careful. I'm pretty sure even the most lackadaisical car guy has a 10mm and 12mm ratchet sitting around their house.

The fit and finish is flawless, the brackets lined up and the strut snapped on firmly and securely. You do not lose the ability to open your hood fully with this kit, you just have to pop off the struts and you can open the hood to full swing with the hood prop no problem. The stainless steel is SAE Grade 316L which is "Marine Grade" Stainless the kind of stainless found on boats, in food processing plants and in nuclear reactor vessels, it wont rust even in the saltiest of northern winters.

The only thing I can fault this product on is the missing step from the instructions. The instructions did not include the need to remove the clip in my "Step 3" but the picture in their instructions obviously show this clip needing to be removed in order to properly fit the kit. Other than that the instructions were very simplistic and maybe needed a few more steps to make it more clear. That being said they were easy to read and understand for the average car guy and in all honesty you barely need the instructions to be able to install this kit.

The function of this kit is flawless, I have not used any other kits so I cannot compare but the cylinders in this kit are three stage cylinders. They open quickly for the first 90% of their travel and then slow the rate of ascent to a gentle finish speed for the last 10% until stop. They DO NOT slam open your hood with full force when they open, this prevents damage to the cylinders and your hood. The third stage is used when lowering the hood, where when you get to about 50% to 60% closed the struts release their pressure and allow you to close the hood with minimal effort. You do not have to fight the pressure of the gas struts to close your hood properly. It also prevents the struts from causing your hood to bow when closed due to the pressure of the struts.

Video of the function of the hood struts for anyone interested below.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpFVCZ7fnX8"]Redline Tuning Hood Struts '13 BRZ: Opening the Hood - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq-EN__tf5c"]Redline Tuning Hood Struts '13 BRZ: Closing the Hood - YouTube[/ame]

I would highly recommend this product to anyone who is looking for hood struts for their FR-S or BRZ. It's a great kit and the install is a cinch!

They can be purchased here!
http://www.redlinetuning.com/QL-SUBA...SCION-FRS.html

and that concludes the review!

Thanks!
-Trev A.K.A. Sony

P.S. Yes I do know the pictures are enormous. I do that on purpose so people can see detail. Don't ask me to make them smaller, Firefox, Dolphin Browser for Android and Chrome resize the pictures automatically. If you aren't using one of those browsers then you're SOL.