Anyone tried these for their MK4?
You couldnāt fit them without removing the pedestrian safety system which is not something i would be prepared to do incase of any legal ramifications if something was to happen.
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I canāt see anything in their listing regarding UK Import charges, so it is very likely they will be subject to 20% VAT payable to HMRC at point of entry by the carrier and they will then charge you the VAT and their handling charge of around Ā£15.00.
If you look at the fitment pictures it appears the Deployable Hood System is maintained.
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Pretty sure the car pictured has the exploding bonnet feature. The bonnet has the plates where the rams hit. Looks like the bracket for the lifter fits around this. Yellow wiring for the system is visible in the video.
Iāll compare the picture of the brackets with mine in the morning. If itās compatible then I might get some. To be honest the ācarbon fibreā is probably a plastic sleeve over the ram. The plain black ones look more OEM to me. In which case what about these at Ā£19.51 including delivery.
Even if they put the full price on the packaging which the Chinese rarely do it should sneak in under the VAT threshold.
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The Amazon ones I posted are free delivery and you wonāt get clobbered with any other charged, they look identical to the AliExpress version.
If you can confirm they will fit got to be worth a punt at Ā£19
Probably worth it for the brackets even if you have to find high quality dampers to fit in the UK.
There might be a problem with the bonnet hinge āopening upā (as it is designed to do in the event of impact being sensed). Also, the pictures of the brackets that attach to the bonnet donāt seem to be right. The ball joint should be facing inwards. Maybe itās a āgenericā kit pictured?
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They may fit but they may interfere with the safety feature if activated and stop the bonnet folding as designed. If you order thru Amazon you could look at the bits and see how they may or may not be an issue and if not happy get a refund.
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I agree with others here. These must affect the ability of the pedestrian impact safety system to raise the rear of the bonnet. If God forbid you were to hit a pedestrian and the system failed to deploy correctly resulting in serious injuries to the pedestrian you might end up sh*t creek without a paddle. It may be seen as serious as de-activating the explosive bolts. Mazda are not being cheapskate by not fitting gas struts to the bonnet as they fit gas struts to the boot lid which is much lighter! Also the amount of force the struts are exerting must be immense when the leverage is so small, putting large strains on the hinge and the aluminum structure of the bonnet. Think you possibly need to ask Mazda before fitting such a device.
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Iām probably with you on the force being exerted on the hinge. Hadnāt really thought about that one.
However I donāt think it would affect the operation of the explosive bolts. If anything looking at the positioning of the ends of the strut and operation of it I would think it would assist in the raising of the rear of the bonnet.
Think we can all agree that the research and development work on this bonnet strut system will have fallen way short of the standards of the car.
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Good point.
However, the fitment on the ND bonnet is vastly superior to the usual kit offered for an NC. On the NC I was alarmed on seeing the bonnet beginning to flex when trying to close it; the kit struts were way too strong and the thin alloy bonnet is too weak at the strut fixing points.
On my NC I replaced the IL-M struts (20-30kg/200-300Newtons each) with 10kg/100Newtons struts from SGS but kept the brackets. If one strut can hold the bonnet up, then they are too strong. With mine even the 10kg/100Newton strut will just about hold the bonnet, so two guarantees it stays up.
The pair of IL-M struts might be OK for the heavier steel bonnet on my Mazda3, but no brackets, yet.
My NC struts experience here
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