On 02/03/2020 at 08:54, lway said:

Anyone else's go really rusty over the winter?

 

Bought mine on ebay and was shocked to see the state they are in after just a year. Most worrying is the little clip that holds the ball in the socket looks well rusted and like it could snap then the bonnet would come crashing down.

 

Forgive the dirt of the car

 

Nope mine are still rust free since nearly 2 years on the car, might be because your's seem to be a chrome style or a cheaper form that seems to rust, where as the majority on here seem to be black bonnet struts & it's a good idea to even spray the M6 or M8 bolts with spray paint (Black) or what ever you want to stop the rust from happening etc. Personally I would check the link to a thread I posted above & order the stuff needed & replace as I would not like to leave them in that condition. 

 

Also at the same time give the engine bay a spruce up 

Edited 3 March, 20206 yr by BATVANVRS

As per ahenners post that he kindly did in another thread that makes it easier for everyone. 👍

 

No I went for Febi Bilstein ones. The Superskoda set came in about 50 euros including delivery and I read that they aren't quite as good. Would have taken longer to come too.

 

The Febi struts are perfect in strength, they can lift the bonnet unsupported after initially lifting it. They slow before they come to a stop at maximum extension too.

 

2x Febi Bilstein 27709 struts. About £14 each from an eBay motorparts seller.

 

2x M8 ball joints with a 10mm ball head and 25mm thread length: https://www.sgs-engineering.com/x4-ball-extension

 

2x M6 ball joints with a 10mm ball head and 12mm thread length: https://www.sgs-engineering.com/x2-ball-extension

 

Above ball joints came to a tenner with delivery.

 

2x M8 and 2x M6 washers. Bought from an eBay seller for a couple of quid.

 

You also need an M10 spline bit to undo the bolt on the bonnet which I didn't already have. 

 

Painted the washers and ball joint bolts with a touch up kit I already had to make them blend in and look more OEM.

 

Total cost probably about £42 but happy with the result.

Is there any cars that bolts fit m6 m8? OEM serial numbers of parts?

Gave my mechanic a list of the parts required, as i was getting a new battery , he could get them from the parts dealers cheaper than me, he got them and fitted them works a treat

On 02/03/2020 at 10:14, BATVANVRS said:

As per ahenners post that he kindly did in another thread that makes it easier for everyone. 👍

 

No I went for Febi Bilstein ones. The Superskoda set came in about 50 euros including delivery and I read that they aren't quite as good. Would have taken longer to come too.

 

The Febi struts are perfect in strength, they can lift the bonnet unsupported after initially lifting it. They slow before they come to a stop at maximum extension too.

 

2x Febi Bilstein 27709 struts. About £14 each from an eBay motorparts seller.

 

2x M8 ball joints with a 10mm ball head and 25mm thread length: https://www.sgs-engineering.com/x4-ball-extension

 

2x M6 ball joints with a 10mm ball head and 12mm thread length: https://www.sgs-engineering.com/x2-ball-extension

 

Above ball joints came to a tenner with delivery.

 

2x M8 and 2x M6 washers. Bought from an eBay seller for a couple of quid.

 

You also need an M10 spline bit to undo the bolt on the bonnet which I didn't already have. 

 

Painted the washers and ball joint bolts with a touch up kit I already had to make them blend in and look more OEM.

 

Total cost probably about £42 but happy with the result.

This is for sure the most proffesional way to do it. 

This is my next retrofit, along with correctly routing the rear dashcam cable. It currently loops between the headline and tailgate.\

Has anyone found a stainless steel version of the M8 10mm x 25mm ball extension? The BZP version should be fine, but for anything outdoors I prefer S/S. One of my little peccadillos when it comes to metal fittings.

Like this? https://www.sgs-engineering.com/g9-stainless-steel-ball-stud -  took about 2 seconds to find.

1 hour ago, inspectorman said:

Like this? https://www.sgs-engineering.com/g9-stainless-steel-ball-stud -  took about 2 seconds to find.

 

Except that's the completely wrong item.

 

A S/S version of this. https://www.sgs-engineering.com/x4-ball-extension

 

Completed this evening. Took about 20 minutes. Would have take 15 But I picked up wrong spanners. A little dab of copper grease on the balls should keep any corrosion away.

What is quality of ebay bolts? Could strouts brake them...? It arrived everything, must paint bolts and washers. I cant find those m6 and m8 bolts, only ebay.

Strouts are Stabilus 350N 50cm (hole to hole), bought them in local car parts store. 1 costs about 14€.

Fitted today. Couldnt find M10 spline. Thats not torx, something like VW set of bolts M10 size. Strouts are Stabilus 350N 50cm hole to hole. It works great. 350N seams realy just the right force. 50 cm length of strouts can be 1-2 cm longer. With 50 cm hole to hole is a bit lower ther with arm. Arm puls the hood even higher. Bolts and washer i painted whole with touchup kit, basecoat and clear. Basecoat peals easy, when I tightened up. So need to touch up more a bit. But overall is better when painted. Must put some greese to keep water away of inside bolts holes. Hood bolts needed 2 washers each. Plastic head of struts now are close to those hood metal holders. Bolts are long ones 25mm.

Thanks to all who advised on this mod.  Done mine today with the Febi 27709 struts, and ball bolts from SGS, as suggested.

 

As I’ve said on the thread I started, if I hadn’t dropped by socket handle into the engine compartment, and had to find a few washers, the job would have been done in just a few minutes.

 

Brilliant mod, definitely recommended.

Don't know if this mod went out of fashion, but when I did mine I thought it was a brilliant mod to do, made things so much easier to do things under the bonnet. 

If anyone's thinking of doing this, there's a pair of really good gas struts on the for sale site, complete with fixtures. 😉

So, the bonnet struts sold over the holiday. There's not much left in the for sale site of the bits and pieces I took off my Octavia when I sold it.

There's a kit I've just seen on FB, from Amazon...

 

Strut comes as a kit

 

 

Amazon Link

Image: Willie McPhelim

£30.99

Hi fam, MKIII pre facelift uses the same setup?
Anyone in Australia has found a good kit or should i just buy the stuff separately?

Hi B, I guess if you can get the bits where you are it would be better, but the kit that Dean posted looks a good deal. Alot depends on postage though. 

I know this is an old(ish) topic but, would the MK7 golf gas strut not fit? This would make it a very nice OEM+ upgrade, over the aftermarket bits IMO.

22 hours ago, IvanSK said:

I know this is an old(ish) topic but, would the MK7 golf gas strut not fit? This would make it a very nice OEM+ upgrade, over the aftermarket bits IMO.

No sadly not - the mounting points are slightly different. You used to get them from Kopacek but they've stopped sending these to the UK now.