Update!!

It turns out that Arnott may have had a bad batch of E53 struts where the crimp ring isn't to spec. They have since resolved the issue and are sending out new updated struts to me.

Their customer service has gone above and beyond, even received email updates from the CEO Adam, who personally saw that the issue was resolved in a timely manner.

The new struts are coming to me today, I will install and report back if all is well.

Kudos to AndrewWynn for suspecting the bad batch/defect scenario!