NoobExe

Hello,
ever since I bought my GS it had blown hood struts. Right around this time everything major was sorted and I went to my car parts dealer to get a new Hood struts. They said the OEM ones were 300$/each.
So I meassured them and did some searching on the internet. I ended up ordering Trunk struts for VW POLO, they are the same length and similiar spring force ( 360N for the OEM ones and 380 for the VW ones) YET,
the VW ones were 10$/each. It needed some "modifications". Here are my two cents:

You need:
12mm wrench
Table grinder or angle grinder
Pliers
Flat head screwdriver
Tape
Broom stick or buddy to hold the hood for you
New struts


1. Removing the old struts.
Get broom stick or buddy to hold the hood open for you and remove old struts by unscrewing the ball at the end from the body first and the from the hood with 12mm wrench. Dont try to pull the strut from the ball!! you will just bend the hood or damage the threads.

2. Removing the ***** from the old struts.
Now you have removed both struts, tape the ball to the body so it does not flap and hit the frinder when you grind away the ends of the struts. Start your grinder of choice and start grinding the head and check every so often how much you actually removed.

When you can see the retaining ring stop grinding to avoid damaging the ball itself.

Take pliers and remove the retaining ring from the head and the ball should come right off.

3. Installing ball on the new VW Polo struts.
The Polo struts have metal clips on the back side. Just take flat head screwdriver and move it slightly upward. Dont remove it completely it is unnecessary and the clips can fly off.
Insert the ball and push the clip back down.

4. Installing the new struts
reverse of removal

Those are the struts that I have used and are working wonderfully.

I hope this will help.

604GS400

$70 from Figs

Saveth

I was able to order mine off Amazon. They were direct fit and showed up at my house the next day for 20 bucks a pair.

Tuanville

He's doing this because he's probably not from the U.S and can't get aftermarket parts for his gs on Amazon? I didn't know what a VW polo was and it doesn't exist here in California. But if I wanted a VW polo, I know I can turn my GS into one now that I know how interchangeable the parts are with a little "modification" thanks to OP.