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
Quote:
2 thing id like to touch on...........
1. as mentioned above..... be very careful when taking apart the front assemblies. the spring is very compressed and as joel said..... someone could get hurt if you take it apart to fast.......... the back is no problem though... but still be careful...
2.ummmm ya.......... make sure your turning all the bolts the right way. remember......... righty tighty....... lefty loosey. hahaha this could end up saying you up to and hour worth of work....... right joel and james.....haha
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