My friend has a 2007 550i and his hood won't stay up. He brought aftermarket hood shocks then he brought OEM and still no luck! Hood feels very heavy and was wondering if the hood on these cars came with aluminum or steel. The car's hood was replaced with an aftermarket hood due to an accident and we are thinking maybe its the wrong hood. Your thoughts please.

The original hood is made of aluminum,so you're right the aftermarket one will be made of other heavier metal's. :unsure:

They offer both a steel and aluminum hood aftermarket. If n hood struts aren't holding the hood open then the shop most definitely used a steel hood because it was quite a bit less money. Even the aluminum hood after market still costs some where around 500 dollars shop cost. The aftermarket aluminum hoods fit very well and are very similar in weight to e original and allows the hood struts to function as normal

My understanding of the V-8 e60s (545 and 550) was that everything forward of the A-pillar was aluminum, thus hood and front quarter panels. This was to compensate for the added weight of the V-8.

Just want to add...
Great way to identify what material your hood (or other parts) is metal or aluminum to use a simple household magnet. You will be amazed how many parts on the 5 series (e60) are aluminum to save on overall weight in the front.

Thanks!

After just having body work done, I can confirm that an 04 545i has aluminum hood, fenders, radiator support and just about anything else that is metal in the front end.

Hate to bring this back up. But what kind of hood strut can be purchase if the hood is metal?

What do you mean by metal? The hood the car came with is metal, just a light metal. Are you talking about a heavier metal? If so I would suggest looking into aftermarket struts.

It a heavier metal. What kind of aftermarket struts you have in mind? Any names? The one I got off eBay only lasted 5 months.