automatic boot opening
- Thread starter george forbes
- Start date
can't understand the problems others have had as mine were dead simple. clean up the ball joints touch of lithium grease or suchlike and a thump with the heel of your hand or rubber mallet and there on, tip I did was to prop my boot open with an extendable ice scraper I had and replace one side at a time. as posted they are stiffer so might find yourself pulling down so far with the internal handle and then placing your hand on the outside to make sure you shut with enough force to latch as that is where the small spring is being compressed on the last 6 inches or so
I hate these things and still cannot get them installed.
One side went on with ease, they other side did not go so well and pressed so hard on the pins that they actually bent and are no longer usable.
I have emailed the company asking to call me as they dont have any telephone numbers and have not heard from them all day.
I wiggled the heck out of the struts and the pin would not go back into the ball.
I have now had to put my OEM ones back and if the company does not contact me I will have to raise a Paypal dispute.
Those pins are cheap and thin as paper and it beats me why they dont include spares just in case.
I find it funny that one side went in without any issue at all, but the other side would not budge, no matter what i did.
It beats me why they dont have a clip design like the oem where its a band instead of those stupid thin pins.
Its a very poor design as I have seen youtube videos of users putting them on with ease like I did on one side, but the other side, I now have 2 pins that are bent and are no longer usable.
I wish I would never have bought them
One side went on with ease, they other side did not go so well and pressed so hard on the pins that they actually bent and are no longer usable.
I have emailed the company asking to call me as they dont have any telephone numbers and have not heard from them all day.
I wiggled the heck out of the struts and the pin would not go back into the ball.
I have now had to put my OEM ones back and if the company does not contact me I will have to raise a Paypal dispute.
Those pins are cheap and thin as paper and it beats me why they dont include spares just in case.
I find it funny that one side went in without any issue at all, but the other side would not budge, no matter what i did.
It beats me why they dont have a clip design like the oem where its a band instead of those stupid thin pins.
Its a very poor design as I have seen youtube videos of users putting them on with ease like I did on one side, but the other side, I now have 2 pins that are bent and are no longer usable.
I wish I would never have bought them
sorry to hear you have had problems , the reason they do not have a clip design is if you look inside the ball joint cup there is a spring circlip inside which once pushed in past hold the joint . the wire clip you insert into the ball joint is only there as a safety measure. anyway glad to hear that the remap went better than my recommendation and hope your week hasn't been totally spoilt
Had a bit of a week LOL
First the lights, and now these boot struts, I really hope the company sends me new clips or returns them as no matter what I did the clips refused to go in, but its strange it was just on one side. I cleaned the ball joints so nothing was in the way.
My thumbs feel like they are on fire right now.
Yeah the Map went amazing, really nice guy and spent hours with my car.
First the lights, and now these boot struts, I really hope the company sends me new clips or returns them as no matter what I did the clips refused to go in, but its strange it was just on one side. I cleaned the ball joints so nothing was in the way.
My thumbs feel like they are on fire right now.
Yeah the Map went amazing, really nice guy and spent hours with my car.
yeah it makes a vast difference after a remap to how you feel about a car , haven't done mine as clutch is already protesting in 5th if I rag it but had my old mercedes A200 amg sport done and the difference was like night and day, it was only sitting at 156bhp and after the map only another 12bhp but the difference in torque was amazing . it just pulled
When I was joining the motorway the lorry was right beside me, and I thought to myself, lets see how this map is....
Dropped the hammer down to 4th and damn the thing just shot off and blew past the lorry.
From what people have been saying about wheel spin ect, I was expecting it all the time, but it has not happened once even though I pressed the car.
I cant even imagine having a S3 or RS3 with 400+ BHP, I am currently on 190bhp from 150bhp and think its great and more than enough, but I wouldnt say no to a free RS6 Ha Ha
I have never mapped a car before, but I would not hesitate to do it again.
My car had 3 faults, but he said not to worry about them as it looked like they were old or intermitent, he said only worry if they show on the dash.
1. was a fuel sensor, but the previous owner did replace the fuel pump
2. dpf sensor but has not been activated for a while, so he thinks its been resolved and not cleared.
3. Tyre pressure sensor, which I thought may be the case as it has went off even though my pressure has been fine.
He gave me the printout of the faults so if they come up again I can show my mechanic.
Either way sensors are not expensive and have not had any warnings come up beside the tyre pressure sensor, so I will ignore it for now.
He took it for a test drive after the map and checked again and the faults were not there.
Dropped the hammer down to 4th and damn the thing just shot off and blew past the lorry.
From what people have been saying about wheel spin ect, I was expecting it all the time, but it has not happened once even though I pressed the car.
I cant even imagine having a S3 or RS3 with 400+ BHP, I am currently on 190bhp from 150bhp and think its great and more than enough, but I wouldnt say no to a free RS6 Ha Ha
I have never mapped a car before, but I would not hesitate to do it again.
My car had 3 faults, but he said not to worry about them as it looked like they were old or intermitent, he said only worry if they show on the dash.
1. was a fuel sensor, but the previous owner did replace the fuel pump
2. dpf sensor but has not been activated for a while, so he thinks its been resolved and not cleared.
3. Tyre pressure sensor, which I thought may be the case as it has went off even though my pressure has been fine.
He gave me the printout of the faults so if they come up again I can show my mechanic.
Either way sensors are not expensive and have not had any warnings come up beside the tyre pressure sensor, so I will ignore it for now.
He took it for a test drive after the map and checked again and the faults were not there.
@george forbes
I spoke with emerald struts and they are sending me some new pins.
I advised the problems myself and the others are having. One goes on easy but the other one is a nightmare.
She advised to push the ball joint hard into the socket and then put the pin in .
How did you do it so easy, what was your method?
I spoke with emerald struts and they are sending me some new pins.
I advised the problems myself and the others are having. One goes on easy but the other one is a nightmare.
She advised to push the ball joint hard into the socket and then put the pin in .
How did you do it so easy, what was your method?
. clean up the ball joints touch of lithium grease or suchlike and a thump with the heel of your hand or rubber mallet and there on, tip I did was to prop my boot open with an extendable ice scraper I had and replace one side at a time. as posted they are stiffer so might find yourself pulling down so far with the internal handle and then placing your hand on the outside to make sure you shut with enough force to latch as that is where the small spring is being compressed on the last 6 inches or so
only input I can add really as it all went smoothly with me. the only thing i can add is when pushing one of the pins in on one side it ended up coming out of the ball socket opening instead of the guide hole. pulled back out and tried again and it lined up. if the socket is pushed fully onto the ball joint then there should in theory be nothing to obstruct the locating pin from pushing through enough to swivel onto the end of the ball socket and secure it
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I'm not having problems seating the struts, that's fine. But once they are seated the metal clips will not slid into the holes once the struts are in place.
One pin went in smoothly, but the rest refused to go into that pin hole no matter how much force I used.
One pin went in smoothly, but the rest refused to go into that pin hole no matter how much force I used.
love to be hands on to see where your issue is but Jaunt from sunny Scotland to Wales is a bit too far . I'm sure once the new pins arrive you will be able to take a step back and figure it out .
I am sure you are right.
It was a long day today and maybe was a bit flustered when I installed them.
Its just weird that the one side went on all ok, but when I went to put the pin back into the ball joint they just refused to go back in and I ended up bending the metal pin.
Will wait until the new pins arrive and try again.
It was a long day today and maybe was a bit flustered when I installed them.
Its just weird that the one side went on all ok, but when I went to put the pin back into the ball joint they just refused to go back in and I ended up bending the metal pin.
Will wait until the new pins arrive and try again.
I suspect but I could be wrong that the second one even though it seemed to be pushed on fully hadn't passed the inner spring clip so when you tried to insert the pin it was pushing against the ball joint instead of passing the thin neck behind it freely. once pushed on they do need a good thump to pass that inner wire clip. A good test is to make sure they swivel freely on the ball joint before inserting the pin .
@CanadaA3wales Exactly the same issue I had. One side went on fairly easy enough and then the other one would not go on for love nor money!
How did you get it on as I tried so much I ended up bending the pin so they had to send me out new ones.
Brute force. They certainly aren’t easy to put on! I think they have been quite badly designed tbh.
have to disagree with that but that's purely down to my own experience with the product.
Well there’s a few people commenting with the same issues, so there must be something to it!
I’ve put normal ones on before and never had a problem.....these though....right b*stards.
Seen them being fitted on youtube and people dont seems to have issues either.
Maybe its a A3 issue.
Maybe its a A3 issue.
Well they sent me 10 spare clips and not one would go on.
I find it funny that one side would go on with ease, but the other side refused to go on.
Do you know the holes where the clips go into, did one side face out and the other in?
I found that strange as well that the pins were facing out, and the other side the pins were facing in which made it harder to get to.
Anyway, after 2 hours and sore thumbs I have emailed the company and asked for a refund including postage as they are clearly faulty, or one side was anyway.
We will see how good the company customer service is if they offer a full refund with delivery, as I dont see why I should have to pay £10,00 delivery when there is something wrong with one of the struts.
I find it funny that one side would go on with ease, but the other side refused to go on.
Do you know the holes where the clips go into, did one side face out and the other in?
I found that strange as well that the pins were facing out, and the other side the pins were facing in which made it harder to get to.
Anyway, after 2 hours and sore thumbs I have emailed the company and asked for a refund including postage as they are clearly faulty, or one side was anyway.
We will see how good the company customer service is if they offer a full refund with delivery, as I dont see why I should have to pay £10,00 delivery when there is something wrong with one of the struts.
Well after Emerald Struts sent me new heads and pins they still will not go on one side, the left passenger side.
The only difference is that the whole for the pins are on the outside on one strut but for some reason the holes on the other head are around backward and harder to reach.
I have had enough of emailing Emerald Struts, also refusing to provide a telephone number to try sort it out.
I have seen another member @Harvey bought Quicklift struts from poland and they look A HELL OF A LOT BETTER, if you look at the installation ends they are exactly like OEM ones with a metal clip on the outside.
It beats me why on earth Emerald Struts decided to go with these stupid pins that you need to wreck your thumbs trying to push past the mounting head, why not just put the end on like the OEM ones.
Anyway, I have now had to spend another £65.00, these ones from poland which look a heck of a lot better, also provide a nice screwdriver and microfibre cloth for fitment.
I dont think Emerald Struts will give me my postage back as they are clearly faulty, but they better give me a refund as I have struggled getting a hold of them, having to email them over the past month and them sending me out different fittings.
I have looked at my audi to see why one side will not go on, but both mounting points look exactly the same, I have cleaned them and there is nothing getting in the way of the pin going though the head.
I will be glad to see the back of these Emerald Struts and it beats me why others have not had problems and they get such good feedback.
I know @ScottishA4B9 had problems and he has the same car as me, but he managed to get them on in the end, but this has beaten me.
For anyone thinking of buying from Emerald Struts, I would consider these guys, as the end points look far easier and there are no razor sharp pins to try push through a hole past a mounting head.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/joabiel-m0?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
The only difference is that the whole for the pins are on the outside on one strut but for some reason the holes on the other head are around backward and harder to reach.
I have had enough of emailing Emerald Struts, also refusing to provide a telephone number to try sort it out.
I have seen another member @Harvey bought Quicklift struts from poland and they look A HELL OF A LOT BETTER, if you look at the installation ends they are exactly like OEM ones with a metal clip on the outside.
It beats me why on earth Emerald Struts decided to go with these stupid pins that you need to wreck your thumbs trying to push past the mounting head, why not just put the end on like the OEM ones.
Anyway, I have now had to spend another £65.00, these ones from poland which look a heck of a lot better, also provide a nice screwdriver and microfibre cloth for fitment.
I dont think Emerald Struts will give me my postage back as they are clearly faulty, but they better give me a refund as I have struggled getting a hold of them, having to email them over the past month and them sending me out different fittings.
I have looked at my audi to see why one side will not go on, but both mounting points look exactly the same, I have cleaned them and there is nothing getting in the way of the pin going though the head.
I will be glad to see the back of these Emerald Struts and it beats me why others have not had problems and they get such good feedback.
I know @ScottishA4B9 had problems and he has the same car as me, but he managed to get them on in the end, but this has beaten me.
For anyone thinking of buying from Emerald Struts, I would consider these guys, as the end points look far easier and there are no razor sharp pins to try push through a hole past a mounting head.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/joabiel-m0?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
I bought the last one, I only paid for it yesterday, so will let you know how I get on after Xmas.
The mounting points are the same as the OEM ones and look like a breeze to fit, unlike these emerald strut ones.
If you want to get one, I would personally never recommend emerald struts, so give the ebay seller a email to see if they are getting more in stock.
They even provide a screwdriver and microfibre cloth, that seems like good service to me. Also their ebay page looks very profesional and Customer Focused.
I find it very hard to believe that they have 5 stars all around there webpage, they obviously only accept 5 star reviews and no complaints on their webpage.
If they give me a hard time returning mine, I will be posting on their instagram page and other forums about the poor customer service, I am sure they will block me if I do.
I offered to pay for the postage even though they are faulty, just want to return to go smoothly.
I am probably getting a head of myself, they are probably a friendly place, but I have my doubts as they have refused to provide me a telephone number on several occasions, and I had to ask 5 times for them to call me which eventually they did, and sent me a bunch of heads to try, but they all fitted backwards into the car, but the ones that faced outside fitted fine on the otherside, why do they have different heads, its strange!
I paid for them on paypal so hopefully I have security, but it was done through my bank account through paypal
They emailed back and are happy to accept the return, but will have to pay for postage which will probably be around £10.00
I like my quickLIFT struts as they look virtually OE except for the ikle assessor springs. I'm glad I took the punt with them, as I've said previously I'm really happy with them.
I've used struts with the tiny metal retaining pins & had issues but they have never beaten me.
I've used struts with the tiny metal retaining pins & had issues but they have never beaten me.
I had so many issues with these pins I had to give up after 3 tries.
I still find it strange that on the one strut the pins were on the outside facing towards me and easy to reach obviously, but the other strut had the pins on the inside facing towards the vehicle which made it harder to reach.. Why make one side easy to reach and the other side harder, why not have all the pins facing the outside.
I dont think they put much into the R&D as they should have just done the standard OEM style clips, they are easy to install, cheap and rubust as I have never had a pair break, maybe I have been lucky who knows.
I bet these metal ones would rust over time as well, as even stainless will rust and corrode.
Lesson learnt, if I am ever to buy struts again, ensure they have the OEM type clips.
I still find it strange that on the one strut the pins were on the outside facing towards me and easy to reach obviously, but the other strut had the pins on the inside facing towards the vehicle which made it harder to reach.. Why make one side easy to reach and the other side harder, why not have all the pins facing the outside.
I dont think they put much into the R&D as they should have just done the standard OEM style clips, they are easy to install, cheap and rubust as I have never had a pair break, maybe I have been lucky who knows.
I bet these metal ones would rust over time as well, as even stainless will rust and corrode.
Lesson learnt, if I am ever to buy struts again, ensure they have the OEM type clips.
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Just got round to attempting to fit the struts. The struts themselves went on fine. Pins went in with no issues. Only to realise I've ordered the 3 door version and my car is the 5 door. Idiot that I am. Boot will not close with these fitted. Old ones back on. See if I can exchange them. 5dr are typically out of stock.
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I am selling mine for £40.00 if you can make it to Bridgend SW
They are for a 5dr A3 S3
Brand new, never fitted with extra pins and heads given to me by Emerald
All still in box
I could not be bothered with the Pin System and ordered the ones from Poland, but they are now out of stock, but £68.00
£40.00 is a bargain considering they are £70.00
They are for a 5dr A3 S3
Brand new, never fitted with extra pins and heads given to me by Emerald
All still in box
I could not be bothered with the Pin System and ordered the ones from Poland, but they are now out of stock, but £68.00
£40.00 is a bargain considering they are £70.00
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I was not aiming it at you LOL
I am sure they will exchange them for you.
Despite them not having a phone number which I think is bad, they do answer emails very quick, like within a few hours.
I am sure they will exchange them for you.
Despite them not having a phone number which I think is bad, they do answer emails very quick, like within a few hours.
Where do I begin. I recently bought a set for my A3 sportback. They were a pig to fit, the feeble pins are useless & when they finally do go in you need muscles of steel to close the boot lid and unless you want to get filthy hands at this time of year or Mark your paint you have to resort to pressing on to the rear wiper arm or window glass which isn’t ideal.
When the boot lid is closed I found it sat proud at one side, almost like one of the struts was causing a resistance. From the two struts provided it was impossible to get them mixed up as they only fitted either left or right due to the angle of the ball joints.
It did make me wonder how much damage was being done to the actual boot hinge itself and didn’t fancy ending up with twisted boot hinges, which if you read about online there’s a lot of people moaning about exactly this. Just on Instagram and Facebook where they do most of their advertising they seem to be cleansing these channels of all negative posts and reviews.
I emailed them to raise a return and got a rather rude response (attached to this post!). Unless he was standing over my shoulder in spirit form whilst I was fitting them... how the hell would he / could he even begin to suggest I had fitted them wrong. Ball joints were firmly seated, pins in location and boot lid opening and closing (with force).
Perhaps at the end of the day he’s maybe just sick of Audi A3 owners complaining about the same thing!!
I would advise if anyone is returning to them to use a recorded / tracked service otherwise if your parcel goes walkies you won’t get anything. Also they were impossible to get a hold of, and absolute rubbish at replying to support tickets & there are no phone numbers. The actual returns address is actually a freight forwarder, so if you use a cheap company be prepared for returns to be left at a desk in an unoccupied building & for no progress on your return to be communicated.
All in all, waiting for set to turn up from EBay seller, as friend has a set of those ones on his 1 series and they are perfectly fine. No where near the resistance the emerald junkers had & slightly cheaper to buy too!! So a +1 for the polish ones before they have even arrived
When the boot lid is closed I found it sat proud at one side, almost like one of the struts was causing a resistance. From the two struts provided it was impossible to get them mixed up as they only fitted either left or right due to the angle of the ball joints.
It did make me wonder how much damage was being done to the actual boot hinge itself and didn’t fancy ending up with twisted boot hinges, which if you read about online there’s a lot of people moaning about exactly this. Just on Instagram and Facebook where they do most of their advertising they seem to be cleansing these channels of all negative posts and reviews.
I emailed them to raise a return and got a rather rude response (attached to this post!). Unless he was standing over my shoulder in spirit form whilst I was fitting them... how the hell would he / could he even begin to suggest I had fitted them wrong. Ball joints were firmly seated, pins in location and boot lid opening and closing (with force).
Perhaps at the end of the day he’s maybe just sick of Audi A3 owners complaining about the same thing!!
I would advise if anyone is returning to them to use a recorded / tracked service otherwise if your parcel goes walkies you won’t get anything. Also they were impossible to get a hold of, and absolute rubbish at replying to support tickets & there are no phone numbers. The actual returns address is actually a freight forwarder, so if you use a cheap company be prepared for returns to be left at a desk in an unoccupied building & for no progress on your return to be communicated.
All in all, waiting for set to turn up from EBay seller, as friend has a set of those ones on his 1 series and they are perfectly fine. No where near the resistance the emerald junkers had & slightly cheaper to buy too!! So a +1 for the polish ones before they have even arrived
Attachments
I just fitted the polish ones today, so so easy to fit.
You do get a bit of resistance but nothing too alarming.
I still need to return mine from emerald.
Oh and the polish ones are so much better quality than emerald.
You do get a bit of resistance but nothing too alarming.
I still need to return mine from emerald.
Oh and the polish ones are so much better quality than emerald.
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If anyones looking for the 5dr version
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Automati...-/283607339632?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Automati...-/283607339632?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292
Same as mine, the Polish branded quickLIFT are superb quality and a breeze to install with an OE look and feel
The thing I did not like about the emerald ones I am returning is that the mounting heads are metal, so you will have metal on metal which is not that great.
The polish ones have rubber / plastic heads so its not grating metal on metal.
I am surprised Emerald did not use the OEM type heads that are rubber and easy to intall, it seems they put no effort into R&D
The polish ones have rubber / plastic heads so its not grating metal on metal.
I am surprised Emerald did not use the OEM type heads that are rubber and easy to intall, it seems they put no effort into R&D
I haven’t seen any negative reviews of the emerald struts or anything about any damage they have caused! You are right though, they do need a VERY firm slam to close the boot.Where do I begin. I recently bought a set for my A3 sportback. They were a pig to fit, the feeble pins are useless & when they finally do go in you need muscles of steel to close the boot lid and unless you want to get filthy hands at this time of year or Mark your paint you have to resort to pressing on to the rear wiper arm or window glass which isn’t ideal.
When the boot lid is closed I found it sat proud at one side, almost like one of the struts was causing a resistance. From the two struts provided it was impossible to get them mixed up as they only fitted either left or right due to the angle of the ball joints.
It did make me wonder how much damage was being done to the actual boot hinge itself and didn’t fancy ending up with twisted boot hinges, which if you read about online there’s a lot of people moaning about exactly this. Just on Instagram and Facebook where they do most of their advertising they seem to be cleansing these channels of all negative posts and reviews.
I emailed them to raise a return and got a rather rude response (attached to this post!). Unless he was standing over my shoulder in spirit form whilst I was fitting them... how the hell would he / could he even begin to suggest I had fitted them wrong. Ball joints were firmly seated, pins in location and boot lid opening and closing (with force).
Perhaps at the end of the day he’s maybe just sick of Audi A3 owners complaining about the same thing!!
I would advise if anyone is returning to them to use a recorded / tracked service otherwise if your parcel goes walkies you won’t get anything. Also they were impossible to get a hold of, and absolute rubbish at replying to support tickets & there are no phone numbers. The actual returns address is actually a freight forwarder, so if you use a cheap company be prepared for returns to be left at a desk in an unoccupied building & for no progress on your return to be communicated.
All in all, waiting for set to turn up from EBay seller, as friend has a set of those ones on his 1 series and they are perfectly fine. No where near the resistance the emerald junkers had & slightly cheaper to buy too!! So a +1 for the polish ones before they have even arrived
