On my 12 I have the MRT struts which I kind of like due to the fact they sit well back and are not that large, however it seems like most people go with the Redline...why are those so much better?

 

I ask as I want to add hood struts once my 14 GT comes in.....

 

Not sure why one would be better than the other, but I have the Redlines and they look pretty much the same as what you have in the picture.

Easy install, too...

 

I'll probably get flamed for this but I wouldn't put hood struts on a car designed for a prop rod. Hoods are specifically designed either for a prop rod or for gas struts, and engineered and designed as such. Most likely, a car with a hood prop isn't designed to be held at those strut points, it could cause a lot of unnatural stress from the weight of the front of the hood.

It's not simply about having a strut strong enough to hold the hood, it's about having a hood that's designed and engineered to be held with a strut.

 

I wouldn't trash you it's a very good point and it's your car so...!

 

I wouldn't worry about hood struts causing problems with a factory hood. I have the redline struts on my 2014 GT and they work great. The prop rod rattles, scratches the hood, and marrs the plastic rad cover. With the struts installed, it takes little effort to close the hood. I wouldn't use the struts on a frameless fiberglass hood, but the Mustang hood, while light, has a frame on it that can handle the small amount of stress the struts exert on it. Besides - I'm sure redline and the others carefully engineer the struts so that they don't ever damage the hood. Any problems with damaged hoods would soon be all over these forums and much of their business would dry up.

 

They have been installing hood struts on these cars for years now and there hasn't been ANY hood issues with the properly designed sets.

As to the OP's Q about why Redline, they are simply the best, and look as if they had been designed by Ford as an original part of the car. Most all the others use brackets that bolt to the hinges or some such arrangement, the Redlines use very compact brackets that use existing holes and the whole setup is the lightest and most compact and EASIEST to install of all the struts that are available.

 

The main reason I went with the Redline struts are because they don't have the extra brace on the hood side.
Attached pic.

 

I'm a fan of sticking with the bigger/quality brand... so I'd probably save up for RedLines...

But about the engineering of the hood...
From an engineering stand point one can easily calculate the actual loads... stress/strain... yadda in each environment on the hood and mount... but it's all negligible since its static and there isn't much weight that it's supporting to cause a problem. Unless your hood is up all day for many years... then maybe. lol

 

Redlines do look better than my MRT's. I 'think' back in 2010 i went with MRT's on my 2011 was because you didn't have to drill a hole in your hood. You don't have to drill a hole in your hood with Redlines now? If not, the Redlines do look more factory

 

I love my Redline Struts, first thing I did to my car.

 

I have Redline's on both of my Mustangs. I did not like the bracket needed to attached the cylinder to the hood. Also like that the Redlines slightly open the hood, not certain the others do - my sons Mustang prop rods do not appear to open the hood. I believe there will be less stress on the hood since the cylinder mounts further up the hood.

 

I'll probably go with the Redlines then...thanks for all your input....

 

Not getting flamed, but you may not realize the 2013 and 14 have Aluminum hoods, so there is no stress. To the OP I have the Roush ones and like them a lot.

 

I like the simplicity of the redline struts, however, I like the fact the the mrt struts sit farther back and uses the hinges as a mounting point(less stress on the hood?) I also watched many videos and it seems with the redlines you have to push the hood closed at the end and with the mrts you just let the hood go and it closes. I dont know if anyone can confirm this but that is what they explained in the videos. I would rather drop the hood than have to push it closed.

 

10-12 also have aluminum hoods...




The redlines are cool in that you just barely lift the hood and the struts do the rest, lifting the hood full open on their own.

And as far as closing, you do push down but you do it as you close the hood and you barely have to apply any pressure, and you keep what little pressure you do use at the edge, not on the flat area of the hood, no worries.

 

The MRT's also lift the hood once you lift it up a bit, but you just bring it down and let go to close it. But it seems like the Redlines installation is a bit easlier....

 

Super easy install.

If it takes you longer than 15 minutes then you must have stopped for a beer break in the middle of it...

 

This.^

No issues with struts. Props are horrible on cars like ours and deserve to be on Kias alone.

2.5 years now, now no issues. I love MRTs because of sitting further back, plus body colored hinges, and hinges as mounting points.

 

My winter car is a 2005 Kia Sorento 4X4, and guess what? It came with hood struts