VF boot sedan meant to fully spring open?

[The91kwbeast]

Hi guys next question for the brains trust - is the VF sedan boot supposed to fully open when the open button is pressed (keyfob or button on drivers door)? I've spent 20 minutes googling this and can't find an answer, hence the question.

Have a VF Calais V sedan, which has a SS lip spoiler for some reason also, and it just pops when opened, the gas struts won't lift it at all.

Appreciate any help?
Thanks!!

 

[VF Sleeper]

My 2014 Calais used to open fully. Now it barely cracks open 100 or 200mm. Is it soft springs or struts?

 

[Ron Burgundy]

My 2016 SS used to open all the way. Now opens half way. I suspect struts are an issue after a while

 

[VT2Commie]

Lubricate ALL the hinge points of the boot hinges with a NON penetrant spray lubricant.

INOX or a silicone based lubricant.

DO NOT use CRC or WD40 type type stuff or they WILL make things worse than they are.

In the case of the boot spoiler fitted to the boot when it shouldnt have one, lubing the hinges will help a little but stronger gas struts from a model that has a spoiler will work as these are fiited if the vehicle has a spoiler.

 

[hademall]

Can’t help with the sedan, but we have a VF2 wagon and the tailgate struts are p15s poor. I wouldn’t mind but we had them changed at the first service because they were poor then.
I just reckoned they were all the same so didn’t bother complaining again, although I must say if the struts were stronger I think my missus would have a job pulling the tailgate back down.

 

[Skylarking]

There are places that can regass struts which gives them a new lease of life. They can also inject higher pressure into them thus turning them into heavy duty struts so they work better with the weight of a spoiler.

Generally if the struts are old and gas has slowly leaked, they are a great candidate for regassing. If they are new and have don't work, then something has failed so usually not a great candidate. Don’t confuse normal struts that don’t work well with spoilers as failed struts though…

Strut Re-Gas

strutregas.com.au

Regassing older struts works rather well but newer stuff isn’t made as robust as stuff was a few decades ago. So I’m not sure how good regassing todays cheap strutts works these days.

 

[Sir Les]

Also, as struts age and lose gas pressure, their effectiveness changes with the ambient air temperature. Cold winter temps means less lifting ability, warmer summer temps increases it. My sedan bootlid (no spoiler) just pops open in winter, but will open fully on a hot summer's day. When it was new the lid opened fully whatever the weather, but now -- like me -- it slows down when the weather turns chilly.

 

[The91kwbeast]

My 2014 Calais used to open fully. Now it barely cracks open 100 or 200mm. Is it soft springs or struts? assuming it is me

Well that answers the first question, it is supposed to open fully! I thought I read years ago something about the VF boot being able to fully open when the VE couldn't due to lightweight materials!

Judging by others replies strut issues are pretty common as the cars age.

 

[Forg]

Can’t help with the sedan, but we have a VF2 wagon and the tailgate struts are p15s poor. I wouldn’t mind but we had them changed at the first service because they were poor then.

That's interesting ... ours is a Series I, and at 8 years since it was built, I was thinking about how well the gas struts had held-up while I was washing the car on the weekend. It's always been the case that once you got the tailgate past about 1/3 of the way up, the struts would do the rest of the job & either hold it (for the next third-ish) or push it open all the way. They're juust starting to be a bit less holdy-uppey now, I think we now have to lift it a little further than we used to.
Wonder if the struts are a little random in terms of their holdey-uppeyness, or whether they changed suppliers & the later batches weren't as good? (lots of car parts suppliers went out of business after initial VF production started)

Judging by others replies strut issues are pretty common as the cars age.

You prompted me to check eBay by saying that ... and yeah there are heaps of sellers offering even just wagon ones ... and wagons would have to be the least common body-shape for VE & VF.
They must be something that's purchased relatively frequently for that many sellers to exist.

 

[The91kwbeast]

There are places that can regass struts which gives them a new lease of life. They can also inject higher pressure into them thus turning them into heavy duty struts so they work better with the weight of a spoiler.

Generally if the struts are old and gas has slowly leaked, they are a great candidate for regassing. If they are new and have don't work, then something has failed so usually not a great candidate. Don’t confuse normal struts that don’t work well with spoilers as failed struts though…

http://[URL]https://strutregas.com.au/

[/URL]


Regassing older struts works rather well but newer stuff isn’t made as robust as stuff was a few decades ago. So I’m not sure how good regassing todays cheap strutts works these days.

Thanks I'm not too far from Penrith so will give their contact there a call