06 Cayman S Front & Rear Hatch Lift Struts

Looking for the collective wisdom, tips and tricks of the forum. I have the hydraulic struts that hold the "Frunk" lid and the rear hatch lid open on order and are due any day now. My problem is that in examining the attachment points on the now almost 17 year old struts I can't for the life of me figure out what is the proper tool for removal and then installation of the new replacement struts. My BIL who is a wiz in all things mechanical is arriving in less than two weeks and I would like to have any and all of the necessary tools on hand so that we can tackle the replacement of the 4 struts while he is here. Can anyone point me in the right direction on what I need and where I might acquire what looks to be a specialized removal tool? Any tips or tricks from anyone who has performed this hopefully minor replacement surgery? The car has just under 26k on the clock so it is certainly not a mileage reason or over use that they have lost their lifting capabilities, more likely they've just gotten old and are dried out or some such. The front hatch does have the underside hood protective black plastic panel, not that it should make a difference, but man when that front hood suddenly came crashing down on the back of my noggin it was a clarion call to replace both front and rear lift struts. Thanks in advance for any and all responses.

Very easy. All you need is a flat head screwdriver. The following video is for a 986 but it's the same procedure for a 987, both frunk and trunk.

I can't really see the clip so I can't see whether micro needle nose pliers would be a safer choice. I can tell you this, if you skid off with enough force with a flat blade, approach that silly painter's tape and believe that is going to be an effective deterrent to a scratch I see potential vivid disappointment in your future.

Yeah, that was a little overkill on the painter's tape. It's really not that difficult and unless you're manhandling it, there's little chance of damaging the car. Here's another video that shows the clip removal more clearly using a right angle pick.

Remove the clip and pull. Its like a plastic ball that fits into a half open ball shape… just give it a yank. Lay down a big towel over the fenders. I did anyway.. also If you want to save 10lbs, on the rear hatch there is a weight under the plastic surround, It’s bolted to the underside of the hatch. I bought some much stronger rear struts since I have a the GT3 wing… both made it much better

Thank you Searocko for both videos and your time in responding. I don't know why I didn't think to look on YouTube, everything seems to be on YouTube, duh. My local mechanic wanted $450 to replace front and rears struts, a quick peruse on Parts Geek landed all four struts for $118.00 including the shipping and what should be no more than 10 minutes of my time, maybe 15 minutes if I stop and have a drink mid replacement. Thanks again!

No problem! YouTube is my go to for everything. $450!?! That's a hefty Porsche tax! Good luck!

Very easy to replace as reported above. My front struts were done in under 20 minutes. I got OEM ones on line under $50 and they work fine. (Changed over 2 years ago!) $450 is almost like dealer repair robbery!

Now you know to cross Mr. local wrench right off the list of potential repair centers.

Status report: Front lift struts changed out in no time flat, perhaps 6 minutes total, could not have been easier. The rear struts however. . . removed the driver side rear no problem at all, easier than the front as the ball and sockets are at a much easier working height. Mount point on the hatch itself is right at eye level. Attached the socket over the lower ball that is part of the body itself. When I went to attach the socket over the hatch ball The hatch would not lift high enough to match up the socket with the ball and to make matters worse the socket opening points towards the ceiling and the piston rod extends a good two and a half inches past where it would mate with the ball. Attempts at compressing the piston back into the cylinder proved a fools errand. Suggestions?

Found a video (it's almost like I have a mental block on videos) and it appears that both struts need to be detached in order to life the hatch to "service" height and then attach. Not certain what will be the solution to bring the socket around to match up with the ball, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Thanks to one and all for your help and support. This truly is one of the best forums.

Here’s an old video I did for the hatch on my 987.2 . The front should be similar.

Thank you jonscardenas, it was your video on the rear hatch that I found prior to you posting it here. It where I learned about the "service height" aspect of the lift struts. I've done the front struts and they were super easy, less than 6 minutes total. My issue is that the lift struts for the rear when the "cup socket" is fitted over the mounting ball on the body, the "cup socket" that attaches to the hatch itself are facing upwards towards the ceiling rather than toward the hatch itself when I bring the strut up to attach it to the hatch.

Hmmm, so you mean the struts aren't angling towards the hatch? In my video at around 13 minutes, you have to lift the hatch super high before you can reach the proper attachment angle, almost completely vertical. I am having a little trouble understanding if this isn't what you mean. Could you post a pic or perhaps a video? I don't remember if I mentioned it in the video and don't have time to watch it at the moment, but I know that I originally went with the equivalent stabilus strut but ended up going with one directly from the porsche dealership (slightly different) as the oem equivlent does not have the stop for the mid tier; they only close or go directly to service mode vs the dealership ones will open to a reachable height (for me at least), and have to be "forced" to go to service mode. They could also be different sizes if perhaps the strut is too long? Which struts did you go with?

Update: Rear hatch struts that were sent by one after market supplier whom shall remain nameless, and which I was assured by them were the correct hatch lift struts (the Lesjofors brand) only lifted the hatch to the service height. Which as shown in jonscardenas video puts the center edge of the hatch beyond the reach of all but those in the Shaquille O'Neal range of physical stature. Returned these struts and after a whole lot of back and forth emails they made me whole with a full refund. Ordered the correct OEM Stabilius rear hatch struts from AutohausAZ which had the attachment cups at both ends in the correct orientation. They arrived within 3 days of ordering and popped them on in less than 3 minutes. Discovered on the incorrectly oriented connection cups at the end of the strut that a simple way to correct the orientation is to place the cup at the end of the rod into the vise on a wood working bench and turn the piston until the cups are aligned with the openings 180 degrees from each other at either end. The Stabilius struts work perfectly, lifting the hatch to the intermediate height for loading luggage or other sundry items in the rear of the vehicle as well as lifting and holding the hatch straight up and down in the so called "service height' position. Thanks again for all the collective help on one of the best marquee specific enthusiast forums.

Awesome man, glad that worked out.