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Frunk: soft close?
- Thread starter Protect1989
- Start date
I guess I need to rephrase.
I’m thinking of a mechanism similar to how Mercedes or Bentleys have, where the door sort of latches and then it pulls itself closed.
basically I don’t care about lifting or shutting the frunk part myself, I am just thinking about eliminating (or significantly reducing) the amount of force I need to put on the frunk to latch it
Those are powered. If you few going to add a motor to close you might as well go all the way.
You can replace the spring with a weaker one for $1. It greatly reduced the pressure required, but also reduces the reliability (occasionally it might not pop up enough to get you fingers in)
I don't think a partial power option makes much sense. It would probably cost as much or perhaps even more than the full power lift kit and would take just as long to install.
I don't think a partial power option makes much sense. It would probably cost as much or perhaps even more than the full power lift kit and would take just as long to install.
The difference would be replacing one component as opposed to 3
If there was just a powered latch that can be replaced vs having to replace/power the struts as well, it would be a far simpler install
Have you done the install? Replacing the struts took me 5 minutes total. Replacing the latch took me 2 hours and then a week of troubleshooting when it wasn't working right. Cutting out the struts would not have made the installation any easier.
And the struts are off the shelf parts that probably cost less than 10% of the value of the kit compared to the custom electronics and latch motor. So you are not going to significantly reduce the cost either.
Also the struts function as sensor to trigger the latch. So without the struts you would need something else to function as a trigger. Whatever that looked like, it would probably eat up at least half of the meager savings from cutting out the struts.
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Although I see why some people might want a powered latch-only system, the majority would rather have a full power kit than partial so probably wouldn't be worth anyone's time to engineer, develop, and market such a kit. Go for the full kit and get the TeslaOffer one.
I dont know about mercedes or bently, but for BMW, what you are describing is soft close DOORS (as in driver or passenger doors). The BMWs I have had with soft close doors (driver and passenger) also had powered trunks, but the truck was ALWAYS fully powered unlike the doors.
So, I doubt you will find what you are looking for as I doubt it exists on any manufacturer for a TRUNK (which by extension covers the front trunk). Every door I have seen this type of powered latch on a vehicle on, the door swung side to side, not up and down.
boiler81
Member
There are several videos on YouTube explaining how to retrofit the M3 frunk closure spring, for easier closing. Not Tesla approved of course.
JCtx
Member
I was surprised not to see a manual latch on the frunk of our M3s. That means the spring has to be strong enough to pop the hood beyond its safety latch. A weaker spring would not do that, and without a manual latch, you wouldn't be able to open the frunk. I also didn't like how flimsy the hood is; you can feel it bending when pushing it closed, even with both hands open, and with the minimum force required. And finally, I've read of so many electronic issues with anything connected to the 12V battery, that it's just not worth messing with anything electrically powered on this car IMO. So I'll leave it alone, and continue closing the frunk manually when needed. But yes, it'd had been nice to have an electric frunk as well as the trunk my 2021 car already has. Oh well.
It is not steel but made of aluminum to save weight. All cars with aluminum hoods (that I have seen) have this same "flimsy feel" and use the same basic method of closing softly and then double hand push (NEVER on one side or one hand) to close to avoid bending. This just comes with the design.
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JCtx
Member
All other aluminum hoods I've had closed under their own weight, so not an issue closing them. The only exception was the Porsche, which was not as flimsy as this car... but not a big deal 
. We're not going to use it that often anyway.
. We're not going to use it that often anyway.
JCtx
Member
this is super easy and a necessity imo - but make sure the spring is just right, length+stiffness
but only works on pre '21 I believe
Yup, the latch in the 2021 is different. I posted pics in this thread.
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