Bruce In Philly

2009 C2S 168K miles

I got wacked in the head way too many times..... I am surprised I survived childhood. My hood was coming down at the slightest of breezes.... whack!!! ..... ENOUGH!

I got the exact replacement without the Porsche label from Amazon for $45 for the pair: "Stabilus 987 997 Hood Strut Front Left and Right (set of 2) OEM"

To remove the old: Slip a tiny, thin screwdriver blade under the retaining clip and twist it out... the strut will pop off the ball.
Clean the *****.. not too much you may get caught... and I put a super tiny touch of grease on them.
To install the new: Just press it on, it will snap on... no need to dick with the clips. Stupid easy.... and yes, I jabbed my finger with the screwdriver and did cuss.

The old, Porsche part (with the P logo) actually had the maker's name on the cylinder: Stabilus. Pic of old and new below (don't Google the odd part number on the Porsche tube as it will bring up all kinds of makers).


Wow, I forgot how significant the struts are to holding up the hood. I should have done this years ago.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

Emc2design

Thanks @Bruce In Philly - on my to do list also
Mine started to fail just recently. Helped along by the cold weather also.

Petza914

The strong-arm ones from Auto Zone are actually a little stronger than the OEM versions. I upgrzddf to those when I added a Das Schild hod protector because of the extra weight it adds to the hood. They also have a lifetime guarantee and lift the hood slightly higher.

sandwedge

Thanks Petza. Do you know if those work on 997.2's as well or is that a different part? Been banged on my head enough now where it's time to act.

Petza914

I think the 997.1 and 997.2.are the same with respect to the front hood struts. To verify, you could go onto one of the parts website and do a search for a .1 and a .2 and see if you get the same part number.

sandwedge

Good idea. What about the replacement/install? Difficult and time consuming or easy? Can't imagine it would be in the difficult category.

doclouie

Yes they are the same for both the .1 and .2. I have the same hood shocks on my 997.2, but I purchased them on rockauto.com really cheap.

jakekit

Thanks Bruce! Just picked up a new to me 07C2 and this was the first item on my TODO list. Saved me the search!

sandwedge

Thanks doclouie. Is it an easy DIY job or more involved? Got my hands full with work now and don't need any downtime with the GTS which is my daily driver. If it's a project I'd rather take it to the dealer, get a loaner and be done with it. Looks like it would be a fairly easy job though.

doclouie

Doesn’t get any easier than this.

Petza914

This.

It's 3-5 minutes, literally. Helps if you have someone to assist in holding and positioning the hood once you pull the first support off, but you can contort yourself to be able to hold the hood up and swap the strut if need be. Do one side at a time.

Ironman88

This may help...

EMC2

Thanks @Bruce In Philly

Got mine today. Was the p/n on your packaging the same?

Bruce In Philly

Same blue bag but, no.... mine was Stabilus SG302063 however it was blacked out with Sharpie scratches.... The parts were the absolute exact same as what I removed... length etc.

That SG number is a Sachs number for BMW.. really odd. Some websites say Sachs and Stabilis are the same..... I dunno....I am going to remove that part number from my post as I am not sure what the heck it was doing on my package. I suspect it is the same part but for different markets.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

vg247

Great thread as always , thanks Bruce and gents for the info. An Indy where I went for a quick oil change wanted $300 to replace these on my 997.2 with 40K miles and I don’t even use the frunk often.. another indy scammer , he also claimed I needed a new horn when my dealer replaced it just months before under warranty.