Autobahn88 Hood Lift Support Install, Uninstall and Review

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2024 CX90 PHEV Premium Plus
I purchased the Autobahn88 Hood Lift Support (for 2016-2021 Mazda CX-9 Mark2 Skyactiv-G) through Amazon. They make hood lifts for tons of vehicles. Their hardware mounts without the need for drilling. Installation literally only takes about 15 or 20 minutes. The quality of the hardware itself seemed pretty good to me. Thick metal pieces attach easily to the body with supplied bolts, nuts & washers. The hood struts themselves were heavy and felt substantial.

However, after installing one side, I wasn’t happy with the end result. I had watched videos of the struts being installed on other vehicles and they had some pretty cool mounting hardware solutions. In particular, they had nuts on pieces of metal that you could thread under a fender so that additional hardware can be screwed down on top through existing openings in the body.

For the 2016 + CX-9, the mounting points gave me pause. The bottom mounting points attached to a thin fender support. The support itself was kind of weird. I’ve never seen anything like this. The top part of the front fender is mounted up on thin legs instead of directly to the unibody. I didn’t think it was a good idea for the hood strut to be pushing against it.

On the other end of the strut, the hood hardware didn‘t sit flush. The metal piece attaches to the hood by using the existing bolts that hold the hood to the lift hinges. The gap wiggles as the hood goes up and down. Over time, it seems like the metal might fatigue and bend or damage the hood or the OEM bolt. I compared my installation to the pictures a dozen times to make sure I was doing it right. There is a shim peace they include but it still didn’t hold the hardware tightly to the metal.

I would definitely try these again for another vehicle but for the 2016 - 2021 CX-9, it didn’t meet my expectations.

A few pics…

One shows the hood hardware. You can see how it’s not flush against the metal. The other 2 show the thin arms that the fender is attached to. One is a close up with the hardware installed. And another shot is pulled back where you can see two of these fender attachment points.
 

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Thanks for detailed review! I agree with you, and I probably wouldn't have installed these either after seeing the hardware. I wonder if there's another manufacturer that uses different hardware/mounting points?
 
The pictures of the MVMTVT strut kit show even less hardware than the Autobahn88 kit. The hardware needs to reinforce both the lower end at the body and the upper end at the hood. Mazda didn't build in the metal needed for the strength to handle the load of struts to save weight and/or money. If one bolts on one of these strut kits and part of the hood or body bends or kinks...the seller will gladly refund your purchase price.

I read about the reason for all the goofy brand names of stuff Amazon sells. A potential seller finds a product and invents the goofy name that is like nothing else so it will easily and quickly pass the search prior to the copyright being issued.
 

This kit actually looks to have a better solution. The strap in the pic … it has a nut on the end of it. You can thread the strap through a hole in the body so it’s underneath another existing hole. The ball for the socket piece then has something to screw into, Then you yank it out and the nut stays put. A saw a few such holes in the unibody this would work for.

The small “L” shaped piece is mostly likely for the upper mount on the hood. It looks like it would have much less flex than the piece from the Autobahn88 kit.

I’d be tempted to have another go at it with this kit but I’m focusing on the Prelude next.
 
But for the piece on the hood--does the hood itself have enough metal structure there to support its own weight when held up at these two points? Is there a risk of the hood bending due to lack of supporting structure? (I can visualize some doofus yanking down on the front edge of the raised hood and the hood bends before the hydraulic struts have time to compress.) Mazda made the nose out of plastic and the hood aluminum to save a few pounds of weight--strengthening structure in the hood frame can be lighter if it's not holding the hood there.
 
This kit actually looks to have a better solution. The strap in the pic … it has a nut on the end of it. You can thread the strap through a hole in the body so it’s underneath another existing hole. The ball for the socket piece then has something to screw into, Then you yank it out and the nut stays put. A saw a few such holes in the unibody this would work for.

The small “L” shaped piece is mostly likely for the upper mount on the hood. It looks like it would have much less flex than the piece from the Autobahn88 kit.

I’d be tempted to have another go at it with this kit but I’m focusing on the Prelude next.

The Prelude, you say.. would love to see a build thread on that someday! I'm a fan of older Hondas :)
 
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