An FYI on E30 hood shocks

[Eric Giles]

So a hood shock is a hood shock, right? Well not quite....

The '87 325iS that I purchased a few months ago is now undergoing a full respray. During the process of repairing all dings and dents, we noticed that hood had a number of outward dings, all in symmetry with each other. From what I can recall there was a line between each point where the hood bolts to the hinges at the leading edge, and one at each side of the hood where the internal bracing was glued at the factory to the underside. The following picture will how you the two areas I am talking about. Disregard the two larger dents at the edge of the dome in the middle-those were just plain ol dents!


The reason behind these outward dents? An aftermarket Meistersatz hood shock. The Meistersatz had very stiff resistance, which made the closing of the hood harder than any of my other E30's I have owned. This extra resistance eventually led to the hood bowing and flexing at the points mentioned above. Note the hood shock was installed at some point by a previous owner, not me.

Last night I installed a hood shock that I ordered from the BMW dealership. MUCH easier and smoother to close the hood now, and also doesn't have the annoying sounds that the Meistersatz made. Note that the true OE manufacturer of the BMW hood shock is Stabilus, so if you are trying to save a few bucks make sure this is the brand that you get. For me, it only cost $4 to get it from the dealership so that is the way I went.

It's possible your aftermarket hood shock doesn't have excessive resistance, but from searching on different forums I have found others complaining of the same excessive force and extra noise that I have. It's cheap insurance to keep from possibly damaging your hood.

Mods, if this isn't in the correct forum please move it.

[k_wakasugi]

Damn it all. I just bought a Meistersatz hood shock from pelican, and I paid $12 for that crap!

I wonder if it's too late to cancel...


EDIT:
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 08:34:17 - Order Placed On-line
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 08:45:25 - Parts order sent to our Northern California warehouse for processing and shipment.

I just got an e-mail saying it's been shipped. Damn they move fast... Oh well...

[elsabor67]

Good info to know. Thanks.

[nando]

my car still has the original hood shock. Anything stiffer would probably crack my hood in half. good to know!

anyone else here reaaaaly hate cheap japanese/american cars with the stupid prop to hold the hood open?? those things drive me crazy, I always seem to end up hitting my head on the hood or something.

[kamotors]

i'm 90% sure i have an after market hood shock, when i pull the lever to open the hood i launches forward and makes a really loud noise, all my hoods i've had(3) have had an outward dent above the hood hinge, its kinda like a crease in the hood. I'm guessing all the hoods I've gotten have probably been used with aftermarket hood shocks, or maybe e30 hoods are weak in that spot. I purchased a new aftermarket hood about a year ago and it came with the a crease already in that spot so I threw it away.

[Axxe]

my car still has the original hood shock. Anything stiffer would probably crack my hood in half. good to know!

anyone else here reaaaaly hate cheap japanese/american cars with the stupid prop to hold the hood open?? those things drive me crazy, I always seem to end up hitting my head on the hood or something.

I hear ya on that, it's almost as bad as having the hood open the wrong way ;). Seriously though, the only thing that makes working on my civic bearable is that I never have to work on it.

[Jand3rson]

Disregard the two larger dents at the edge of the dome in the middle-those were just plain ol dents!

That's the thing, they're not! I see those dents on SO MANY E30s, and people never know what they're from.



These 2 dents are caused by the hood slamming down on the car, when the shock is either too weak to hold the hood up, or the wind or something slams it down. I've seen them in the EXACT same spots on dozens of cars, and even my first E30 had them.

They happen because when the hood slams down, the shock travels into the dome because it's raised, and the bracing causes the sheet metal to flex at those points and dent. Jordan and I actually tried it on a parts car he had, and it made those exact two dents.

[gearheadE30]

That's interesting, because I've seen 3 or 4 other e30s around here that also had those dents. Good to know!

[Eric Giles]

That's the thing, they're not! I see those dents on SO MANY E30s, and people never know what they're from.
These 2 dents are caused by the hood slamming down on the car, when the shock is either too weak to hold the hood up, or the wind or something slams it down. I've seen them in the EXACT same spots on dozens of cars, and even my first E30 had them.

They happen because when the hood slams down, the shock travels into the dome because it's raised, and the bracing causes the sheet metal to flex at those points and dent. Jordan and I actually tried it on a parts car he had, and it made those exact two dents.

Ahhh-I had never thought of that before, but it makes perfect sense. The hood shock on my M3 is getting weak, and it too has fallen down a couple of times with a slam when the wind picked up. Looks like I will be ordering a new hood shock for it very soon.

[nando]

E30 hoods are pretty thin metal, mine had all sorts of dents. Somebody kicked the corner of my hood the first year I had it. then I had it fall down onto the AFM, the throttle body, and a 17mm socket (3 sperarate incidents). I managed to push the dents out with my thumb so you couldn't see them. Then a recycle bin blew across the street and nailed my car, leaving a big crease right next to the roundel. and 6 months later i rear ended somebody which put the final nail in the coffin.

Nothing is going to dent my current hood though :)

[Jand3rson]

I thought your damn hood was going to fly off the car the first time I popped it.

[CleanAzzE30z]

Damn I didnt even know there was an aftermarket hood shock. Thanks for the info.



Mariano

[Ben Carufel]

Amazing. I was just looking at that line of dents on my '91 318i this weekend and wondering what they were from.

[downernsp]

Good info thanks I will keep that in mind for the future.

[MR 325]

I thought your damn hood was going to fly off the car the first time I popped it.

Indeed! The CF hoods have quite the "launch" effect.