Replacing Trunk Lift Struts

@OLDMNSX - I actually considered cutting out my old ball studs with a Dremel but I almost cut my darn thumb off with that thing once, and I hesitate to use it now unless I absolutely have to. :-) Found the aftermarket struts at a good price and when I discovered they included new ball sockets and studs, it was a slam dunk.
 
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In May of last year I replaced the original trunk struts on my '96 with Acura struts ($61.84 including shipping). I kept the original studs for the color, using the pick method to remove the studs. It took two picks, one to keep the wire ring from rotating and the second one to "peel" the ring out. I put the strut in a vise to hold it securely. First stud took forever (OK, 20 minutes), lots of cursing, etc. Second stud took about a minute.

When this set goes in another 11 years, I'd use the pick method again. :rolleyes:

Does anyone know how long the rebuilt ones last vs a new set from Acura? Does the rebuild cost less than $60?
 
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I just received my struts back from Frank at Strutwise. I probably shouldn't name a price as, in fairness to his business, all his services are likely not priced the same. But be that as it may, it was $20 per strut to recharge the OEM units, less than $15 for shipping, and the turn around was about a week.

Again, bravo Frank. :biggrin:
 
I bought and just installed a pair of the Cimota struts mentioned above.

A few words about these:

1. The engineering for fit is fairly poor. The upper portion that attaches to the trunk lid doesn't clear the trunk hinges well.

2. The gas cylinder is longer than the OEM strut and therefore the wiring assembly that's supposed to clip back on to the driver's side strut does not fit and has to be left just hanging in space.

3. The gas charge is surprisingly poor--not much stronger than that on my car's old struts which were failing.

In my opinion, these are a very poor solution for your failing trunk struts, and I'd strongly advise against these. I learned my lesson for trying to be cheap.
 
westernb4 said:
I bought and just installed a pair of the Cimota struts mentioned above.

In my opinion, these are a very poor solution for your failing trunk struts, and I'd strongly advise against these. I learned my lesson for trying to be cheap.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your experience. Frank really is the way to go for an inexpensive OEM solution.
 
I bought a pair of these for my car and felt they were a great product, so I ordered a few more sets to sell. I'm sorry you don't like them, but I really don't have a problem with mine at all. They have never failed to hold up the trunk, and the clearance is such that they don't rub or interfere with any parts of the trunk. In short, they do exactly what they are supposed to do, and they do it for about half what an oem set costs. I do realize the top part of the wiring clip won't re-attach, but I solved that by simply clipping the top part off. It only needs one connect point.

Are you claiming that your struts are rubbing against something, or failing to hold up the trunk?
 
I'm glad you guys all had good luck with Frank's services. I'll just post my one experience here with him to give another perspective. I had a pair rebuilt by him and they performed just as poorly as before. Given the time to send out, time to get rebuilt and send back, shipping charges, etc. I think it would have been a better move to spend the $80 to get a new set altogether.
 
Hey all,

I bought and just installed a pair of the Cimota struts mentioned above from Atomicmall.com They arrived last Friday and I installed them as soon as I got home.

To say the least I was disapointed. They do not even hold up my trunk! Installation was a breeze and they do not rub at all, but I open the trunk all the way up and it just falls down.

So I e-mailed the seller (77blanchard ) and he asked me for pictures of the install. I took a video and a still picure of the pass side ... and he how tells me he wants to see the driver side as well. What gives?

I am more then willing to give these another chance. I am in manufacturing so I know there are times new items fail. I guess I am going to have to take videos of both side?

I'm just a little upset I have do send yet another set of pictures and video. I just do not have time to mess around and "prove" that the set I have do not work. Not to mention the communication has been a little slow.

Here is the video I took;
 
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The trunk falls almost as if there is only one strut installed, or both struts have zero compression. Even failing oem struts wouldn't allow a trunk to fall that fast. Something's not right. Let's see a video with both please.
 
I'll take the video in the morning and send it to you tomorrow. I am not trying to get anything free here by no means.

I just want struts that work ... that's all!

If I get new ones an they work fine ... I will post the results and that is a promise. But right now, they are both installed and yes my cable bracket on the driver side is cut and zip tied to the new strut.

New video will be sent tomorrow.
 
ChopsJazz said:
Sure they will. I just changed a set that did exactly that same thing.
Click to expand...

That hasn't been my experience. Mine had been on since 91 and they still had enough compression that the lid would fall very slowly at first. It even managed to stay up on a few (rare) occasions. This guy's trunk falls almost as if there are no struts attached. These Cimota's cannot be compressed by hand -- they're that strong. If they're defective, I'll replace 'em no problem, but I haven't seen a bad one yet, let alone two.
 
NSX-Appeal said:
That hasn't been my experience. Mine had been on since 91 and they still had enough compression that the lid would fall very slowly at first. It even managed to stay up on a few (rare) occasions. This guy's trunk falls almost as if there are no struts attached. These Cimota's cannot be compressed by hand -- they're that strong. If they're defective, I'll replace 'em no problem, but I haven't seen a bad one yet, let alone two.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to knock your product, but that video is conclusive that the struts, for whatever reason, do not work. It happens.

I bought a pair of these cool stainless struts from SOS. They didn't work. I wrote an email (after a year because I was so lazy) and he asked for them back, with virtually no questions asked. He sent me another set that works much better. They're not like OEM, but they work.

If this is your product, replace them. You may have sold him a bad set.
 
RE: Frank and Strutwise.
Two and a half years after recharging my old OEM struts, both the hatch and the trunk stay up like a champ.

Note that some people put channel locks on the shaft of the strut to hold up the trunk or hatch. When that happens, you score the shaft, there cannot be a good seal, and recharging won't work.
My car came with a tomato stake to hold up the trunk lid.
 
NSX-Appeal said:
The trunk falls almost as if there is only one strut installed, or both struts have zero compression. Even failing oem struts wouldn't allow a trunk to fall that fast. Something's not right. Let's see a video with both please.
Click to expand...

NSX Appeal,

As requested in your earlier post, here's the video with both struts. As you can see... the trunk lid still falls just as fast as the first video shows. Let me know how you want to proceed from here.



Send me out a new set and I will install them and the hopefully post a video of them doing what they are supposed to do. I might have gotten a bad set?

I appreciate your help and getting this resolved.
 
I got a set of the same struts from NSX-Appeal. They arrived last Friday. I installed them immediately to fix my failed trunk struts. I will say that my OEM failed struts *DO* fall just as fast as the video(s) show.

I will also say that I have a painted fiberglass Type-R rear wing and with only ONE Cimota strut installed, it will NOT hold up the trunk. I had to install both and now my trunk stays up like a champ. Very happy :) I can't say if it's strong enough to hold up a trunk with an OEM wing, but I will say that it *is* very VERY hard to try to compress the strut by hand.

My only gripe is the plastic wiring clip doesn't fit like OEM on the Cimota strut.

Also, the Cimota body DOES clear and has no rubbing issues, although it is a fairly tight clearance.
 
C-speed said:
I got a set of the same struts from NSX-Appeal. They arrived last Friday. I installed them immediately to fix my failed trunk struts. I will say that my OEM failed struts *DO* fall just as fast as the video(s) show.

I will also say that I have a painted fiberglass Type-R rear wing and with only ONE Cimota strut installed, it will NOT hold up the trunk. I had to install both and now my trunk stays up like a champ. Very happy :) I can't say if it's strong enough to hold up a trunk with an OEM wing, but I will say that it *is* very VERY hard to try to compress the strut by hand.

My only gripe is the plastic wiring clip doesn't fit like OEM on the Cimota strut.

Also, the Cimota body DOES clear and has no rubbing issues, although it is a fairly tight clearance.
Click to expand...

C-Speed

Thanks for the post. I have no doubt that these Cimota struts will work and I am not downplaying them at all. I might have just got a bad set and I guess I was upset that I was being questioned of my install. All I am asking for is a new set to be sent and I can hopedfully post that these work fine.

They fit fine, look good and install very fast. I appreciate you confirming that the Cimota struts do work ... I just need to have a new set sent to me and I'll send these I have back to the seller.
 
C-speed said:
I will also say that I have a painted fiberglass Type-R rear wing and with only ONE Cimota strut installed, it will NOT hold up the trunk. I had to install both and now my trunk stays up like a champ. Very happy :) I can't say if it's strong enough to hold up a trunk with an OEM wing
Click to expand...

Glad you like them c-speed. As for holding up an oem wing, they do indeed (at least in my case). These are the 60 lb struts shown here:

trunkstruts-3.jpg


Also, the Cimota body DOES clear and has no rubbing issues, although it is a fairly tight clearance.
Click to expand...

Mine show about 3/32" ~ 1/8" of clearance between the loop end and the upper mounting plate. I've sold a few of these now and not a single person has shown that they rub when fully installed and operated normally.

@xory - I'll be happy to swap those out for you. Just return 'em to the address in your Paypal notice. Still very weird that the trunk would fall so fast like that. Are you able to compress them by hand?
 
Hugh said:
Those are engine glass struts. This thread is about trunk struts. :)

I have the SoS glass struts and they work like a charm.
Click to expand...

Yes, you're right. Sorry.

But the story remains the same: Bad struts, email conversation, struts exchanged without hassle.
 
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NSX-Appeal said:
Glad you like them c-speed. ....

@xory - I'll be happy to swap those out for you. Just return 'em to the address in your Paypal notice. Still very weird that the trunk would fall so fast like that. Are you able to compress them by hand?
Click to expand...

NSX-Appeal,

Thanks for offering the exchange. I will send them out to you tomorrow via USPS. I appreciate the service. You can send the replacement struts to the same address you have on file.

I'll post the outcome when I receive and install the new struts. I was able to compress them by placing each end in the palm of my hands and forcing it to close, but I have to say ... it did hurt my hand!:eek:

Thanks again
 
NSX-Appeal:

Here's a suggestion for resolution of my Cimota strut problems:

You donate the $57 that I paid you for them to NSXPrime, and I submit a video of me throwing them in the trash.

Deal or no deal?
 
Why don't u guys just buy them from Science of Speed? I don't think they are listed on their site but that's where I got both my hatch struts and trunk struts..... works great and have had no issues since installation! :biggrin:
 

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