I think the mit ones came from Taiwan. might be the same ones with a different vendor name on them.
It's a one man operation. You only need to remove one bolt to install it. You will need to prop the hood with a shoulder though while you seat the strut. Having a helper is useful but not necessary. Some of them have different designs, a flat bracket and an angled bracket. the flat bracket may apply more of a bending force on the hood when it is pulled down (especially when the struts are new), so keep this in mind. The angled bracket helps to mitigate this. You will understand once you install it. Don't yank on the hood when you pull it down.What seems to be the best method to install? Did you have a helper? It appears you almost have to remove the hood to attach the rear brackets.
...Or can you leverage the use of the existing prop to do one side and then another? Any hood alignment issues when you tightened things down? Sorry.. lots of questions I know
Don't see how you won't have alignment issues when you just added a plate under the hood mounting bracket. When you attach the bracket it will add the height of the bracket to the hood. It is not very noticeable, but you can tell the difference from inside the car if you look at the seam. That's something that is expected with that type of installation on many cars though.
