Bear_H

The server had some problem when I tried to post my question.

Anyway. My 97 Max SE OEM hood support arms failed after about 3 years which the hood was seldomly opened. I found a lot of people here had the same problem. I followed some of their suggestions to swap out the arms with the ones from Partsamerica.com. Another another 2 years of which the hood was seldomly opened, and almost never for extensive hours (except during service at a Nissan dealer), the shocks failed again.

What shocks should I get?? Should I go back to the OEM ones? I thought the shocks are supposed to last the lifetime of the car. Please provide the price and place to get if you have some good experience with other hood support shocks. Thanks. I just don't get it why Nissan would not use a simple steel bar to support the hood.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

'Cos a simple steel bar would be "beneath" target market level/audience the maxima is aimed for... ..hmm... I see Parts america has another brand available.. maybe try that... for the price of OEM replacements from Nissan, you'll be able to replace your struts from Autozone every year for the next 10 years - or close to that...

maximus_96

iTrader: (5)

autozone wants $20 each. i will be getting a set this weekend too.

Bear_H

Mighty Lift?? I think that's what I used to repalce the OEM hood lifts. They don't seem to last a life time though. It's $19.99 each at AutoZones. I thought this is a common problem to 4th Gen Maxima. Yes/No?? There's no other choice other than OEM and Mighty Lift?

May be I should carry a little broom stick under my hood.

jguillory

I've had the Mighty Lift replacements from AutoZone for about a year now, and they're still working well. Not bad for $19 each.

Jatan

iTrader: (3)

If you bought it from partsamerica.com 2 years ago, didn't it come with a lifetime warranty? You'll get a new set for free, but you'll have to pay the shipping.

If it didn't have a lifetime warranty, then there is no point in you buying new ones since you rarely use them... Just get a vise grip and put it on the strut piston when you open the hood. No point in spending another $40 on a set when you don't do much work under the hood.

I got the Strong Arm hood lifts from a local store (didn't want to pay for shipping from partsamerica.com) and it has a lifetime warranty on it so when they go bad in like 1-2 years I'll just go back and get new ones. I think they changed the warranty to 1 year now.

The going price is around $20/each at most stores and usually they last 1-2 years.