DIY spring install

[richardson]

anyone have a installation guide on installing lowering springs? i've never seen it done.. at least for the fronts

[KissMyWhtSS]

I'd recommend having someone with a spring compressor do that portion. The rest is pretty basic.

[richardson]

I'd recommend having someone with a spring compressor do that portion. The rest is pretty basic.

i'm going to go on base when i get to my hometown. there is a craft shop with a lift and all the tools you'd ever need for 5 bucks an hour.

i'm just not sure how to take the front suspension out except for the bolts under the hood.

[YZF]

You'll need to pop the 2 bolts off the master cylinder to access the torx head bolts underneath. Passenger side is a breeze. Undo the 2 bolts on the control arm on each strut and its easiest to take off the sway bar end links, rather than undoing the tie rod ends and such. Its gonna be a goober but its worth every penny (just a pun.)

[Greg Norris]

I sent this to a friend a few months ago when he did his:


an alignment shouldnt cost more than 100 bucks at most. i think mine when i dropped my car was about 75 but i also asked for them to give me negative 0.4 camber cus when the car is stationary it sits a lil lower than when you are driving. and plus a lil negative camber helps on the corners as well.

you can use the stock mounting bolts off your stock shocks. now the main problem lies in the fact that the pass side (i think) upper shock mount on the front, collects water in the rubber mount that has the 4 bolts that hold it to the wheel well.


also, just thought of this... are you getting relocation brackets for the lower control arms? they arent needed, but it helps recenter the axle and suspension on a lowered car.

ill see if i can give you a quick rundown of how to do everything.

jack the front of the car up and put it on jackstands on the jack pads, not on the a-arms. make sure the parking brake is set and the rear wheels are chocked, (unless you have enough jackstands to do the whole car at the same time).

fronts, begin by taking the front wheels off and setting them aside. then you can pull the 4 bolts (really 2 bolts and 2 nuts) from whichever side you start on. on the drivers side, you will have to deal with the abs/brake lines and on the pass side, you will have the ac lines in the way. be careful not to bend them too much (dont kink them) be mindful when you are loosening them all the way, its a good idea to have help if you can, if not loosen all 4 of them, and remove 3 leaving the 4th one still connected. this is to keep the whole front steering assy crashing down causing damage to your parts.
carefully loosen the last bolt/nut while keeping a hand on the wheel hub. you might get lucky and have a small amount of surface rust holding it to the wheel well. once the last bolt/nut is loose, work your way down while still holding the steering assy. then slowly pull down on it to disconnect it from the wheel well completely. you could also use your wheels to support the brake/steering assy or a block of wood, just keep the rubber brake line from getting pulled too far.
now you can move on to pulling the bottom two bolts that hold the strut to the lower a-arm.
once they are loose, you can pull the strut/spring assy out. you might have to work it a little bit to get it out.
now you take your spring compressor that you rented, and put one on either side of the spring. tighten each side down a little at a time so it doesnt curve the spring and pop off. once you have the spring compressed enough to seperate from the upper rubber mount, you can push it down and see the upper nut that holds everything together. like i said before, one side of the car usually collects water and rusts onto the shock. so you want to be carefull when pulling it so you dont strip it. once you have that nut off, you can pull off the upper rubber strut mount to transfer over to your new setup.
now slowly undo the spring compressors a little on each side to relieve the pressure on the spring. once it is off, you are done with the removal of this strut/spring setup.

basically repeat the steps in reverse to reinstall. one caution tho. the upper rubber mount can only go on one way and it is molded for the spring to fit perfectly. so a good idea now is to mockup the setup by putting the new spring on the new shock (dont press it into the cup yet) and align the rubber mount onto the spring. now take it to the car and rotate the spring and rubber mount till the mount lines up with the holes in the wheel well while keeping the strut lined up with the two bolts on the lower a-arm. once it is aligned properly, you can go ahead and push it into the strut cup. now you can put the spring compressors onto the new spring, making sure you will have enough room to remove them when you compress it. once you can get the shock nut back on with everything put together, put it on and tighten it down a good ways.
now you can put it back into the car using the reverse of the removal to put everthing back together.

repeat the above for the other side of the car.

words of caution for the front. depending on the mileage of the car, as ive said before, the nut may be rusted to the spring requiring you to either cut the strut shaft to get the rubber mount off or buy new rubber mounts (i did this, figured, i was in there anyway) if you cant get the nut off, you will need to get a new lock-nut (has the nylon inside to keep it from backing off) to fit.


as for the rears, they are pretty much self-explanitory. jack up the rear of the car, support the car on jackstands (the body, not the rear axle). once the car is up and balanced and safe to be under, take your jack and slowly jack the rear end up to put a little pressure on the rear. now you can unbolt the lower shock mounts on the axle. once they are unbolted, slowly lower the axle, the springs will just fall off or just sit there. now you can pull the upper shock mounts loose.

reverse for install, keeping an eye on the springs to make sure they are aligned in their pockets on the car and the axle.

the main problem is the nut on the strut that can get rusted or the rubber mounts are bad requiring replacement. any other questions, feel free to ask.

[BIGT94z]

You'll need to pop the 2 bolts off the master cylinder to access the torx head bolts underneath. Passenger side is a breeze. Undo the 2 bolts on the control arm on each strut and its easiest to take off the sway bar end links, rather than undoing the tie rod ends and such. Its gonna be a goober but its worth every penny (just a pun.)
u can leave the master cylinder on. i took mine off and installed the ds with it in :cool:

[ksmyss]

be warned that you should replace your shocks and you will most likely have to cut them off. the nuts on the top of mine were so rusted they had to be torched off.

i have new shocks anyway but if you are in a time crunch and don't have new shocks it would be a real bummer.

[richardson]

be warned that you should replace your shocks and you will most likely have to cut them off. the nuts on the top of mine were so rusted they had to be torched off.

i have new shocks anyway but if you are in a time crunch and don't have new shocks it would be a real bummer.

:( guess i'll just have to leave the stock setup for now if that happens..

really hope not. i'll know after this weekend

[KissMyWhtSS]

also, just thought of this... are you getting relocation brackets for the lower control arms? they arent needed, but it helps recenter the axle and suspension on a lowered car.
x2 on this.

I'd also just recomend having a mechanic compress the new shocks/springs if you've never done before. Better safe than sorry. ;)

[camarobird92]

X3 on the new shocks. The nuts on mine were so rusty that I broke them off...

[Greg Norris]

new shocks..... period.


revalved shocks when lowering the car. or your stock height shocks will be shot in about 6 months at least

[KissMyWhtSS]

new shocks..... period.


revalved shocks when lowering the car. or your stock height shocks will be shot in about 6 months at leastshocks should be matched with spring's springrate.

[richardson]

thanks for the advice
i've had to put off my spring installation anyways..
i have a pretty bad missing problem that i'm trying to run down..
if it shows up, i should be installing a new Opti tomorrow