submitted by Sound Xtreme
Ok, first off. You are going to need a decent air compressor and a GOOD impact gun to make things go smoothly. You will need a good metric socket set also. You really dont need a spring compressor if you have a friend handy. You will also need a hammer and probably a punch.

And for safety use jack stands please.

First lets start with som basics. Open the hood. In the 2 corners near the windshield there are 2 bubble lookin things, these are your strut towers. They have 2 nuts and 1 bolt on the outside part and on big nut in the center. The center nut is compressed pretty good and you may need to spray them with some PB blaster and any rust inhibitor. You can go ahead and do this right away and let it soak while you get started on some other things.

Alright, now jack the car up in the center to a decent height(really, it just needs to be high enough to get the wheel off). Put 2 jack stands up front(you can see little indentations where they can go) on each side. Lower the jack so the car rests on the jack stands. Go ahead and take both of the wheels off(also you arent supposed to use an impact gun to put them back on but can be used to take them off, I used it to put them back on anyways though)


Next, you should have your hood open. You will need to take off the 2 small nuts and the small bolt on top off of the strut tower from the first assembly you want to do. Just use a rachet for these and have at it


Alright now go look down on that assembly by the brake assembly a little above and behind that also there are 2 bolts with nuts on the other side. Take the impact gun and have at it on both of the nuts till they come off. You again may need to use some PB blaster on them.


Now you may have noticed already that those bolts dont exactly come out on there own. they are grooved makin it a tight fit. SO, just grab a hammer and pound them till they come out. You may need to use a punch if they dont fly out. Dont worry these are pretty tough bolts, but still be careful with them.


Ok, now the cool part. Push in towards the car on the assembly. It should pop off of the brake assembly and kind of fall out. It can be kind of hard finding the way to get them out of there but there is ONE way to get them out without unhooking anything else.

Now you have the whole suspension assembly in your hands, cool huh?


Just stand it on the ground and have at that center nut with your impact gun. BE CAREFUL THOUGH! The front springs are quite compressed and if you go fast things will fly away and could injure someone or even worse, you could lose that part. :lol:

The very top piece of the assembly is called the bearing plate, the next rubbery peice is the boot, then the spring(which you need to take out and replace with your new one), and then the strut.


When you change the springs make sure you place the new one in just like the stock one was in there. There is a notch on the boot assembly that need to go on the end of the spring. AND MAKE SURE TO PULL THE STRUT ALL THE WAY UP BY HAND.


Next might take a little skill. You have to kinda have to carefully compress the spring a little (if you dont have a spring compressor) without pushing the strut down at all, then try to slid the bearing plate on top. You should be able to see threads on the strut, if you dont you pushed the strut down some, try again. Once you see threads get that nut on there.


Once you get the nut started tighten it down with the impact gun.


Now you are ready to put the car back together. Make sure the bearing plate is positioned correctly before you wiggle it back up in there.


Here is a pic of a good way to get everything aligned


Finally start putting all the bolts and nuts back in. DO NOT FORGET TO TIGHTEN ANY!

NOW, go do the other side the same exact way.



Now that you got the front done time for the back! YIPPEE!! :roll:

You will not be able to use jack stands very easily. so just be careful. there is a place right in the center of the rear in the middle of the crossmember. Go ahead and take the wheels off again.

The back suspension is a little different. Pop your trunk and unscrew all of the little plastic things holding you carpet to your car. Then pull back the carpet in the corners of the middle of the car towards the rear exposing the rear strut towers. Instead of having 2 small nuts, 1 small bolt and one big nut on top of the strut tower, there is one small and one big nut on top and 2 small bolts you have to get from under the strut tower. But the bottom 2 bolts are the same as the front so I am not going to explain that again.

Remove the top small nut first



Next, go look up from under the car and you should see the head of the 2 bolts you can see in the last picture. Have at em.


After that have at the 2 bottom bolts and nuts. Once those are out it might take some wiggling around and there is only one way to get these in/out too. And this is the only way I have found.


The assembly once out of the car is basically the same as the front. just take off the center big nut and be careful and go slow again. take it all apart and put it back together just like the fronts. Put the suspension back in just the way you took it out. but for the bottom 2 bolts and nuts, you have to get the bottom one in before you can put the top one in. Put the whole car back together.

And there you have it, you are done lowering your car. The springs will settle with time, some take longer than others(settle means you will get a more noticable drop with a little time)


submitted by SweetAlero99

How much of a drop are those springs and do you have picture of the car completed???

I believe the intrax drop is like 1.75-2". Do a search for intrax on the site you should be able to find the answer you're looking for.

I am planning on using 18 in rims in the summer with my summer tires and put my factory 16in back on in the winter. (this is to keep my nice rims looking good b/c of the bad winters we have in winnipeg). what is the most i can lower my car so it will look good with the 18's on but also not be to low with the 16's on in the winter. we also have bad pot holes in the spring.

thanks
justin

Nice walk thru...
However do i notice that you are using NON IMPACT sockets/exentions with an impact?? or at least it looks that way...
not too cool.... :rolleyes: lol
Dont do like them kids :P

Oh and btw cold45... your car will be the same hight with the stock rims as it would be with the 18's... unless you go with REALLY low pro tires...
Most likely the 18's will be close the same rolling stock as the factory rubber... otherwise your speedo would be out.

we've never had a problem......... and weve had suspensions on and off cars prolly 50+ times

Thats all well and good sweet... but with my experance, and my dads... (hes a HD mechainc/VI etc...) its not recomended... your sockets will eventually become rounded out/cracked etc...
Besides i have had non impact extentions explode, it aint cool... but mind you that was using more torque than the struts would requre... but i think you can get the point..

congrats.... u do things ur way.... i do them mine. now piss off

hehe, ya i've used the non impact sockets with that impact gun all the time. never really had any probs, i broke an extension also....BUT i have also cracked/broken sockets and extensions using the regular ratchet so ya piss off.

like this

Wow you 2 must be smarter than me :rolleyes:

Thats great you do it your way.... and I will do it mine... but i thout maybe it would be smart to note that to ppl who don't have the HUGE and AWSOME knowledge of Sweet, and Sound_Extreeme... and may be stupid enuff to use regular 1/2 inch drive sockets with an impact and end up hurting themselfs...

Dont jump down my neck asswads... keep your stupidity in the uncencored forum.

Oh and Sound_extreeme you have broken 1/2 inch drive extentions using just a rachet? you must have HUGE arms.... that or you once broke some 1/4inch drive wallmart poop and are getting confused with air tools...

no, they were craftsman bud.

1/4?, 3/8?, 1/2?

i could squash ur head like a melon with my 24 inch pythons....

1/2. i've cracked more 1/2 then anything else, but i think i've broke just about every size. maybe you just dont use tools very often. lol

wooo

B4 we end up :offtopic:... i call....















BULLpoop! lol
My arms are 19inch.....
lets see the 24's... is that with or without Spinnazz? :rolleyes: :P :D lol

Um... are you talking about the size of the socket? or the size of the drive? cus im talking about the size of the driver...
just so we're clear.....

omfg, you think im a bunnyin retard or something. yes the god damn size of the stupid driver. enough already dippoop.