I’m about to replace the struts on my 2020 vRS hatch with some OE struts.

 

Are there any tips, tricks or issues I should know before I begin?

 

To me, it seems as though you unclip one end of one strut, then the other, remove the strut, replace it, and repeat! Obviously with someone holding the boot up. Would the ball joints want greasing - any particular grease?

Edited 9 August, 20241 yr by BluevRS245

Yes.  Confirmation that you shouldn’t expect one strut to hold the tailgate up while you change the other one.  Don’t ask me how I know.  As it is heavy, I wouldn’t even rely on an assistant holding it up, I would use a broomstick or the like.  Apart from that, it’s an easy, quick, and satisfying job!

 

on a similar track, there’s a brilliant how-to on this (Octy 3) forum about replacing the bonnet stay with gas struts.  It gives part numbers etc.  I did mine a couple of years ago, again, an easy, and cheap mod, which raises the standard of the car imo.

Edited 9 August, 20241 yr by Baxlin

12 hours ago, Baxlin said:

Yes.  Confirmation that you shouldn’t expect one strut to hold the tailgate up while you change the other one.  Don’t ask me how I know.  As it is heavy, I wouldn’t even rely on an assistant holding it up, I would use a broomstick or the like.  Apart from that, it’s an easy, quick, and satisfying job!

 

on a similar track, there’s a brilliant how-to on this (Octy 3) forum about replacing the bonnet stay with gas struts.  It gives part numbers etc.  I did mine a couple of years ago, again, an easy, and cheap mod, which raises the standard of the car imo.

Thank you for this!

 

I’ll tackle this tomorrow or Sunday, as my car time today was spent dealing with the mess of a bird somehow decorating my driver seat through the open window…

The existing struts seem alright, until the boot is open for a long time, or it gets hot.

Morning 🫡 - presuming that the replacement project went alright, @BluevRS245? 

 

I'm also investigating replacing the boot struts for my 2016 230 hatch. I already did the gas bonnet strut update years ago, and used Febi Bilstein equivalents (unless OEM is also the same...?) which worked brilliantly.

 

Anyone aware of part numbers - or Febi B equivalents - for the boot struts for the 2016 hatch? 👍 Not sure if the 2020 model is the same as 2016, though likely might be...

Check  this out. I changed tired ten year old original struts to these.  There is a Youtube installation video how to do it. Also i calibrated the boot to not open full lenght of the struts so they will last longer.

But the issue of the original struts having too short wires is non-existent in the linked struts+they are more robust in my opinion also.

 

https://power-tailgate.com/electric-tailgate-actuators-set-skoda-octavia-2012-2020-deffner-s52-left-right

@Ads230 Apologies for the delayed reply. Yes - the Mk3 and mMk3.5 use the same boot struts.

 

The parts I used were genuine 5E5 827 550 S from the ever-useful Skoda Parts here. You can see the full parts no list on the site.

 

I can't find any part numbers for FB or Stabilus, weirdly - only some Chinese copies. I ended up going for genuine as the boot on the hatch is pretty huge, and I couldn't be bothered to replace them again anytime soon.

 

The actual swap was very easy, and went perfectly (aside from a small scratch on the inner boot paint, whoops! I did use a bit of Moly grease on the ball joints too.

 

Happy to send photos and stuff if you'd like, however you do literally ping off the clips, and the strut just pops off the joint. You'll need someone to help so it doesn't fall on your head, and you might find you need to manhandle the boot lid a bit to get the new struts on - just go easy, but it'll be fine.

Remember to be careful when taking off the old struts (electrical boots), some of them fail so that they shoot the inner rod out with enough force to cause injuries (fingers, eye/face) or paint damage to the car.

If it’s a power tailgate you’ve got then don’t bother with OEM parts - each strut is about £500 IIRC.

Check my post above, i can recommend those what i linked earlier, if you have electric boot.