gaww

Got the bilstein sports this weekend and will be installing them myself, just to give myself something to do and get more familiar with the car. The rear shocks look relatively simple to replace. The front struts however look a little ominous. Ive read on the web and it seems that the spring will be under cmopression when I take the strut off and if I dont have floorjack holding the control arm up, the spring will uncompress and fly out. Is this true? Does the strut connect the entire arm in place? If so, how exactly do I replace the struts in the front. Seems that I have to take off the wheel place a jackstand under the control arm and bring the car down on the arm to keep the spring compressed, and then take the strut out. Will I need to do this for the rear shocks? Thanks

CaliE320

Gaww,

Sorry can't hep you out there buddy. But good luck and hope everything works out.

~Cali

NorCal124

you can rent a spring compressor kit from your local auto parts store. Costs about $6 to rent plust the tool deposit. It's a lot safer to spend the six bucks than risk the spring going off in your face.

AMG_Fred

or you can just use a wicker basket to hold up the car instead of a jack. jk. the deposit will most likely be steep due to the fact that they don't want you to steal it. but you will be paid back once the product is brought back. you should definately rent a spring compresser

CDP

Umm...yes...that's what a deposit is for...so you don't steal the product.

oliverb

A simple job if you have some experience working on cars. Are you replacing springs with shorter ones? That was not clear in your post. If not, the "Sport" shocks have a shorter range of movement and will not allow full suspension movement. It would be better to use the "Heavy Duty" shocks, they still allow full range of movement but are firmer than "Sports".

Rear shocks are not difficult but you must remove inner side trunk panels to access top bolts, as well as pop off the plastic covers from the bottom of each suspension arm.

For the front struts, jack up the front of the car. I used a jack on each front side placed under the rubber jacking points. You could use one large jack under the front cross member. If so, place a 2X4 on the jack so as to spread out the contact point and not dent in the cross member. Once wheels are removed, place a jack under the outboard side of the "A arm" on the side you will start on first. Jack it up just enough so as to apply enough force to keep the "A arm" up once the strut is removed but not enough to lift the car off the main jack. I started by removing the top nut in the engine bay. You will need a metric allen wrench to keep the strut shaft from turning while you remove the nut. Then move to the bottom. Near the bottom of the strut, unclip the 3 or so cables from the clip assembly. With both front wheels off the ground, you can turn the rotor/wheel assembly to the right or left by using both hands to grab the rotor. This will allow better access to the 3 bottom bolts. With all 3 lower bolts out simply slide the lower part of the strut out of position -turning the wheels for better clearance. Once clear at the bottom, drop the strut to clear the top rod from the strut tower. Remove the plastic clip assembly from the old strut so you can put it on the new one. At this time I would replace, with new, the strut bumper and dust cover. Repeat the proceedure in reverse to install the new strut. I did not tighten any one of the lower bolts until all 3 were in place. Torque to 110 NM + or - 10 NM. Install top nut and tighten to 60 NM - not an easy job unless you have the proper tool to access the recessed nut while still using the allen wrench to keep the shaft from turning. I estimated the force based on years of experience and using less force than the 110 NM required for the bottom bolts. Remove the jack from under the "A arm" and move to the other side. Took me about 2 hours as a first time experience. Can be done much faster the second time.

gaww

oliverb,

i already have vogtland springs in, so the car is already sitting lower. in your installation are your wheels on the car at all times? are there any components i need to move over from the stock shocks to the sports? thnx

oliverb

No problem. In your post you did not state that your springs have already been changed. The wheel/tire is removed so you can get to the bolts, etc. Re-read my post about removing the plastic clip from the old strut (holds the cables in place) and putting it on the new strut. Hope this has helped!

gaww

oliverb,
thnx for the info. definitely has helped. by any chance have you done the rears as well? i tried attempting it tonight but since the stock shocks are pretty much new (<1k miles) i was unable to compress the shock out of control arm and and the trunk shock mount. short of having an olympic powerlifter compress the shock in place, looks like i need to compress the spring and drop the arm. any tips? thnx

cap'n jasper

If the back is on stands with a trolley jack at the end of the control arm, raise the jack a little to compress the shock then hold it there while somone else lowers the jack.
Failing that go to the gym :p

oliverb

gaww;
I did replace the rear shocks and yes they are very stiff to compress but with the help of another person (both of us are only 150 lbs. and not Olympic power lifters) we were able to remove/install the shocks. Never having done this with the "Sport" shocks, I can't comment. Perhaps there is even more resistance in those. I did not compress the spring. The car was jacked up in the rear usind the jack point bumpders and the tire/wheel removed, so each rear axle was hanging free all the way down to the bottom limit of travel.