Hello,

Seems the hood struts on my lexus are kinda worn. The hood won't stay open for long. Does anyone know any good, cost-effective aftermarket replacements for this vehicle?

Thanks!

 

The Monroe's or Strongarms are fine.

Go to www.RockAuto.com Pick your car, then body / exterior - then lift support.

Ebay has them too.

 

I got mine off eBay. 2.5 years already passed and all is well most likely because LS 430 is one of those cars where you don't open the hood much.

 

It's definitely one of those items you want to go aftermarket, unless you want to pay something like $100 a strut from the dealership.

Even the expensive OEM ones all go out eventually, it seems like every Lexus I buy, I eventually have to replace both the hood and trunk supports. And I've almost had a bad head injury as the hood lets go without warning. I prefer an old fashioned metal rod to hold the hood up.

The Strong Arm brand are about $18 a piece on Amazon.

 

Another good experience with strong arm. I used them on my trunk, still going strong.

 

Strong arm works great! I have them on my SC300's trunk and they're great.

I would also recommend them because they're cheap and you can get them off Amazon like BradTank said. I plan on replacing all my struts on the LS with these in a few months.

 

Awesome. Thanks to you all. I'll check those out as you suggested. A lot of people knock aftermarket parts, but I've had good success with them. I like the prices for the struts as well.

 

With our cars it really depends on the part. There are some parts that really all the aftermarket are very poor vs the OEM part. Most the suspension, sensor, and drive line parts are like this. Good to check with the community.

 

I totally understand. For electrical stuff definitely better to get the dealer part if possible. I have found with other cars, sometimes the dealer part is often cheaper than the aftermarket. Remember an oil pressure sensor that I broke on a pickup during an install. I bought the aftermarket one and my oil pressure reading was always low. When back to the dealer and their price was 60% lower. When I put it in my oil pressure reading was back to normal.
Makes no sense sometimes.

 

Maybe a dumb question here, but my car is Canadian. When I go to rock auto and select the Strongarms I get "Part is designed for US Market vehicles".

Are there any differences with Canadian vs. US Market vehicles? Seems the Rhinopac / World Car part is the only one with both the US and Canadian flag next to it.

Anyone had any luck with these? Seems to have the same part number as the Strongarms [6236]

 

I can't imagine there's a difference between the two, maybe there's some strange government certification?

I'd risk it and go with the cheaper Strong Arms, I just don't see Lexus making a unique hood strut for the Canadian market.

 

It must be different to hold up the snow load on the hood in winter :-)

 

I wonder why no other car manufacturer has never adopted the vertical hood opening like here on my 1987 Mercedes 420 SEL. I tell you it makes maintenance under the hood so much easier.
See attached photo.

View this info, very interesting: https://mercedessource.com/problems/...nd-maintenance

 

Until you get a strong wind and abused hinge locks? Then it's guillotine time

 

Yeah that's what I thought. Maybe I'll double check with Lexus if there are differences. I don't think so but it doesn't hurt to be safe.