Grimmspeed hood strut review

[JazzleSAURUS]

Originally Posted by GrimmSpeed

I'd have to strongly agree. My FXT loves those hood struts too, with the amount of time I have to spend under there :P

Yep, I just built a 4awg charge and ground harness for the PC925 after chasing a grounding gremlin. These hood struts honestly made a world of difference working back by the starter area!

Only issue I had was the drivers side fender bolt snapping, I ended up having to drill it out, and helicoil it. It wasn't super stable, so I shortened the helicoil on the backside and added a washer and nut to distribute the force since they don't have a larger bracket like the BRZ does. I'd like to see them updated with a longer bracket to a second hole to avoid this, but the other side does seem very rigid, (and even held the hood no problem while doing the helicoil work!)

Suffice to say, I love how the BRZ has a long bracket, I'd like to see that implemented on your other kits!

[GrimmSpeed]

Originally Posted by JazzleSAURUS

Yep, I just built a 4awg charge and ground harness for the PC925 after chasing a grounding gremlin. These hood struts honestly made a world of difference working back by the starter area!

Only issue I had was the drivers side fender bolt snapping, I ended up having to drill it out, and helicoil it. It wasn't super stable, so I shortened the helicoil on the backside and added a washer and nut to distribute the force since they don't have a larger bracket like the BRZ does. I'd like to see them updated with a longer bracket to a second hole to avoid this, but the other side does seem very rigid, (and even held the hood no problem while doing the helicoil work!)

Suffice to say, I love how the BRZ has a long bracket, I'd like to see that implemented on your other kits!

Trust me, if there had been any room for a larger bracket I would have done it. We're already pushing the limit of what we can put in that area. With the hood closed I think there is about an eighth inch of space above and below the strut, which was already a pain in the butt to get in there in the first place :P

But I'm comfortable with the choice of the fender mount. We have had nearly the same fender mount design (and ball stud) out for the GD chassis for about 3-4 years before we released the SG hood struts. The GD chassis design even requires higher force struts due so of the GD cars having steel hoods heavier hoods, putting more force on the ball studs. Not a single failure to date either. The reason the bolt snapped (very common unfortunately), and some other companies fender mounts snap is that they corrode and weaken/get stuck. Tein's design was very well known for this. That is why we manufacture our own ball studs for that connection, cut from billet stainless.

We literally try and think of everything, and test stuff out for months before anyone can get their hands on it.

BTW, I'm jelly of that 6speed. Mine is an 04, and the 4.44s on the highway get old fast!

Chase
Engineering

[JazzleSAURUS]

Originally Posted by GrimmSpeed

Trust me, if there had been any room for a larger bracket I would have done it. We're already pushing the limit of what we can put in that area. With the hood closed I think there is about an eighth inch of space above and below the strut, which was already a pain in the butt to get in there in the first place :P

But I'm comfortable with the choice of the fender mount. We have had nearly the same fender mount design (and ball stud) out for the GD chassis for about 3-4 years before we released the SG hood struts. The GD chassis design even requires higher force struts due so of the GD cars having steel hoods heavier hoods, putting more force on the ball studs. Not a single failure to date either. The reason the bolt snapped (very common unfortunately), and some other companies fender mounts snap is that they corrode and weaken/get stuck. Tein's design was very well known for this. That is why we manufacture our own ball studs for that connection, cut from billet stainless.

We literally try and think of everything, and test stuff out for months before anyone can get their hands on it.

BTW, I'm jelly of that 6speed. Mine is an 04, and the 4.44s on the highway get old fast!

Chase
Engineering

I noticed the quality of the ball stud, it's wicked! That makes sense about the room. I've thought about a thin plate between the frame and fender to fake it. If that helicoil fails I'll redo it all nuclear option like, (weld a nut to the underside.)

It's obvious how much thought goes into it, and I appreciate the effort. It makes sense that there isn't much room left!

Mine is an 05, so it had the same 4.44 FD stock. It made it a total stoplight rocket, but I got a great deal on a blown motor full STi swapped and built RS with the 04 STi trans, R180, etc. Love me some 1-2 shifts

[whataboutbob]

UPDATE: Well after more than a decade, the hood struts lost their spring. Ordered a new set and received it today. Should be good for another 12-ish years.

Originally Posted by whataboutbob

I upgraded from some generic hood struts that are available for our cars to the GrimmSpeed ones recently and thought that I'd write a little review.

Once I saw that hood struts were available for our cars I knew that it would be an upgrade I wanted. The hood prop is functional, but is really something that I felt needed to be upgraded.

Here's some photos of them installed on my car.






2013-02-01_15-08-56_95 by adventures with bob, on Flickr
2013-02-01_15-09-05_951 by adventures with bob, on Flickr
2013-02-01_15-09-11_538 by adventures with bob, on Flickr
2013-02-01_15-09-15_780 by adventures with bob, on Flickr
2013-02-01_15-09-23_989 by adventures with bob, on Flickr

They worked ok for holding the hood up while I worked in the engine compartment, but the mounts didn't really look as finished as I would have liked.

The other issue with them was that their spring rate was too high for the hood on this car. If you released the hood and didn't control the rise with your hand the hood would accelerate while rising then suddenly stop moving causing the mounts to flex and make a pretty decent amount of noise as seen and heard in the following videos.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4QSdJoJuG8"]generic_fr-s/brz_hood_struts_lower_mount_movement_on_lift_video _0 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt8XOd25gu8"]generic_fr-s/brz_hood_struts_lower_mount_movement_on_lift_video _1 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg6u8y1hElU"]generic_fr-s/brz_hood_struts_upper_mount_movement_on_lift_video _0 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI3aHBVtM18"]generic_fr-s/brz_hood_struts_upper_mount_movement_on_lift_video _1 - YouTube[/ame]

Given all of this I was thinking that I'd keep my eyes out for another hood strut product in the hopes that someone else would design a better part for this task.

After a while @GrimmSpeed started a thread (http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22658) stating that they were trying to guage any interest in a hood strut product from them. Given the quality of the oil cap, battery tie down, and master cylinder brace parts that I had already purchased from them I watched the thread to see what they might come up with.

After a bit of discussion in the thread, I decided to commit to buying a set for my car. A bit later they announced that the parts were ready to ship, and I got more excited.

A couple of weeks ago my struts had arrived, and after a bit of waiting I had all of the necessary parts.

Last week I made some time in the afternoon to install the new struts, and took a few pictures and some videos during the process.

Here's some shots of the struts pre-assembled.


2013-02-01_15-24-21_431 by adventures with bob, on Flickr


2013-02-01_15-24-13_887 by adventures with bob, on Flickr


2013-02-01_15-23-45_415 by adventures with bob, on Flickr


2013-02-01_15-23-39_971 by adventures with bob, on Flickr


2013-02-01_15-23-33_551 by adventures with bob, on Flickr

The mounts and damper are of high quality, and you can see that they were designed for this car. Note the rubber grommets in this photo 2013-02-01_15-24-13_887. I mention these as they are part of what makes the GrimmSpeed product superior to the previous product I had as they keep the upper mount from deflecting during movement.

Here's a video comparing the two different products, passenger's side is generic unit, driver's is the GrimmSpeed part.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Z2ehBmYks"]Grimmspeed hood dampers compared to generic hood dampers - YouTube[/ame]

Here's a final video showing the GrimmSpeed parts on both sides. Notice how the movement is controlled and there is no clunking at the top end of the travel from the mounts shifting.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLIUqV3ZKiE"]YouTube[/ame]

Overall I'd say that this part is well designed, has an excellent finish, and is superior in performance to the other part I had on my car. I'm pleased.

[cmiovino]

Originally Posted by whataboutbob

UPDATE: Well after more than a decade, the hood struts lost their spring. Ordered a new set and received it today. Should be good for another 12-ish years.

Given I check my oil before every autox event, there's 30 per year then. Plus maintenance, suspension adjustments up top, and at events to cool the engine in grid after every afternoon run (~3 times an event, hot events, 90 more opens), I wouldn't doubt I open my hood 150-200 times a year.

These might be a wear item in my case
But they've been holding strong after 3-4 years of this use, so I can't complain. I will complain that when I bought them, one of the brackets was already missing powdercoating. Within a year they were starting to rust... and I don't even drive the car in winter.