Reply to "Sticky #2: Rear Deck Lid (Bonnet) Struts"

Yeah, my Autozone Mighty-Lift D95004 finally gave out, even in hot weather. They do hold up only when nice and hot after running the car. After buying a few sets of these, it seems the life on them is about a year or two. I even used heat reflector on them when I drove the car, as I thought the heat was ruining then, but that didn't seem to help their life. I would consider going back to those sold by some vendors labeled "Detomaso" as described here earlier, but I measured the pressure as stated here before and it is up to 160lb under compression Seems way too much to me. I have found 110 is the sweet spot for non wing car. So for now just using the manual strut clamp to keep it open. I think George posted a source to build some custom struts, so I may try that. Pain in the butt, as it isn't really that easy to change them out without overextending the hood or screwing up the hinges.