Installing H&R's (or any other springs) 56k warning

[khan4rtist]

have you tried seeing if there is a difference?

[Ron-E-Babe]

I really don't notice a difference...the ride is stiffer, but it's hard to pinpoint what the shocks do...

but like I said..they're cheap enough...and it takes but half and hour to an hour to change them...

[Tacappa]

Great how to khan. I just got my H&R's today and I was going to install them, but I ran into a problem and I was hoping you or someone on here could help. I started with the front and I got all the bolts except the strut bolt in the engine bay. When I tried to loosen it, the strut rod kept turning with it. How do I stop the rod from spinning? Any help would be very much appreciated.

[khan4rtist]

you have to compress the springs first when they are on the strut then you can loosen the top bolt

[Ron-E-Babe]

You can boost your air pressure and it'll spin off.

OR

grab an adjustable wrench and an open ended wrench and use some of that elbow grease.

[mikedudley17]

so...

i put my eibachs on this weekend. the ride feels so much better, its amazing. now, this is my first time ever doing any kind of suspension work and i did the rears great but the fronts im kinda worried about. there is a rattling sound whenever i hit bumps coming from up front and there is a gap from the black disc to the frame in the engine bay. u can see it in the pic. so now im sittin thinkin, wtf? was that there? no, couldnt have been cus there is scrape marks in the paint so i dunno. i hope someone can enlighten me as to whats goin on. i did everything like this how to said and everything in the exact reverse order. another thought, is the popping noise related to the possibility of the the strut bottoming out due to the new shortness of the springs(friend suggested it)?
below is a photo of the black disc thing i was talkin about.

[khan4rtist]

yeah mine has a space like that too.....looks like you need to tighten that top nut a little more and you shouldnt get anymore movement, it happened to me too. but as for the popping noise, im not sure what to say about that...hope this helps.

[mikedudley17]

yeh, i think what i need to do is pop off that top black piece, and tighten the nut right below, i may not have gone far enough with it.

also, thanks for the write up, u saved me about 300$ lol.

[AutoXChris]

Thanks for this write up!
Springs on the way.. looks like a very strait forward install!

[petrified.rabbit]

its a very easy install i did it twice in two hours (but i am a certified mechanic)

once to install and measure ride heights, and then again to adjust height by cutting the dead coil.