boot lid strutts

K

kbee

Member
 newcastle upon tyne
Having fairly recently acquired my first E89 35is and have a question ………..the boot lid seems excessively heavy from closed but fine after half open , staying open without help. Is this normal or do the struts need changing it's a 2013 car thanks
 
kbee said:
Having fairly recently acquired my first E89 35is and have a question ………..the boot lid seems excessively heavy from closed but fine after half open , staying open without help. Is this normal or do the struts need changing it's a 2013 car thanks
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Hi, that sounds similar to my car so I’d say it was normal-you just tend to get used to it :?
Rob
 
Normal, so normal. I’ve been so used to such a heavy boot that I managed to give myself one cracker of a bruise with the new cars boot lid as I smashed it against my right arm pulling it too hard and forgetting it moves so quickly as it’s CFRP :headbang:
 
Refresher of an older thread.
Pretty sure my boot struts are knackered and I want to replace them. Any advice on where to buy at a reasonable price.
 
Hi - if it helps I've just changed mine last week to see if it improved things, alas it did not. Seems its just the design of them.
 
mkinternet said:
Hi - if it helps I've just changed mine last week to see if it improved things, alas it did not. Seems its just the design of them.
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My boot lid feels stiff to lift. I think the strut/s are partially siezed. It's not just the lid being heavy.
 
daveion said:
mkinternet said:
Hi - if it helps I've just changed mine last week to see if it improved things, alas it did not. Seems its just the design of them.
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My boot lid feels stiff to lift. The think the strut/s are partially siezed. It's not just the lid being heavy.
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Due to the age of the car probably the struts are on their way out. I changed mine when I bought my car 3 years ago and it did make a big difference, They are very expensive from BMW, Stabilus are the manufacturer for BMW and you can get identical ones aftermarket without the BMW stamp for a fraction of the price. I found some on eBay. I can’t remember the model numbers but if you Google Stabilus you can find the numbers on their website.
 
Did a little work on the car and looked at the boot lid. The struts are clearly on their way out. What I did find is that the boot hinge mechanism was stiff both sides. Put a tiny bit oil on the pivots and worked it in with the struts off and the boot moved more freely. Put the struts back but not enough power left in them to give that bit of lift. It's livable though until I can sort this and some other issues out.
 
I’ve ordered a pair this week from Autodoc on one of their 35% discount days..under £20 each side..I’ll pop them on shortly but will look at the boot lid hinge lubrication at the same time :thumbsup:
 
daveion said:
Did a little work on the car and looked at the boot lid. The struts are clearly on their way out. What I did find is that the boot hinge mechanism was stiff both sides. Put a tiny bit oil on the pivots and worked it in with the struts off and the boot moved more freely. Put the struts back but not enough power left in them to give that bit of lift. It's livable though until I can sort this and some other issues out.
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Im not sure how bad your struts are that you have but dont be expecting miracles if you fit new ones.
Im sure the struts are only there to keep the bootlid open once you have lifted it, they wont raise the bootlid on their own once its unlocked.
 
Nictrix said:
daveion said:
Did a little work on the car and looked at the boot lid. The struts are clearly on their way out. What I did find is that the boot hinge mechanism was stiff both sides. Put a tiny bit oil on the pivots and worked it in with the struts off and the boot moved more freely. Put the struts back but not enough power left in them to give that bit of lift. It's livable though until I can sort this and some other issues out.
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Im not sure how bad your struts are that you have but dont be expecting miracles if you fit new ones.
Im sure the struts are only there to keep the bootlid open once you have lifted it, they wont raise the bootlid on their own once its unlocked.
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I think that's about right. Even 570NM x 2 in that shallow actuation angle isn't going to cause it to fly up. Looking at the mechanism I think it goes over centre so once up the centre of gravity is behind the pivot and the lid stays up with or without struts.
I will have another look in the morning. I have the car up on stands at the moment having 2 wheels refurbished.
 
daveion said:
Nictrix said:
daveion said:
Did a little work on the car and looked at the boot lid. The struts are clearly on their way out. What I did find is that the boot hinge mechanism was stiff both sides. Put a tiny bit oil on the pivots and worked it in with the struts off and the boot moved more freely. Put the struts back but not enough power left in them to give that bit of lift. It's livable though until I can sort this and some other issues out.
Click to expand...
Im not sure how bad your struts are that you have but dont be expecting miracles if you fit new ones.
Im sure the struts are only there to keep the bootlid open once you have lifted it, they wont raise the bootlid on their own once its unlocked.
Click to expand...

I think that's about right. Even 570NM x 2 in that shallow actuation angle isn't going to cause it to fly up. Looking at the mechanism I think it goes over centre so once up the centre of gravity is behind the pivot and the lid stays up with or without struts.
I will have another look in the morning. I have the car up on stands at the moment having 2 wheels refurbished.
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This is correct the struts do not automatically lift the boot lid from closed position but they do assist once past a certain point, they also help a little on closing. New struts definitely did make a difference on my car, the old ones were way past their best and made lifting the boot lid that much harder. The bonnets struts are more noticeable, I changed those at the same time.
 
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