ok so i have been looking at some Tokico shocks and struts to put on my S4... how hard is it to do by yourself with just a basic jack and hand tools? the shop wants 300 bucks to put them in... thats bs... is there an easy way? or a write up perhaps???

 

Its easy. Take off the wheel, jack up suspension to support weight. Make sure you use a spring compressor or a chain or some **** on the spring when removing the parts unless you wanna die.

 

its very easy.

you should be able to rent a spring compressor at your local autoparts store for a deposit

besides that, you will probably need to reuse your stock mounts unless you bought new ones to go with your new stuff.

don't forget to get an alignment when you're done.

 

i have never used a spring condencer before... but im mechanicly inclined so i should be able to figure it out... what does one look like?

 

It compresses the new spring so you could fit them onto your new struts.

something like this:


I was going to do it a few months ago. But it was cold out and I was too lazy and I ended up paying a little bit more than 300 dollars for the job. I definitely regret it seeing as so how I could have used that money for something else.

 

This is true but the more important use for this item is to compress the old springs that are on the strut assemblies so that there is no tension on the assembly as you take it apart. Imagine if you tried to take the top mount off the strut assembly without first compressing the spring... serious injury could occur.

 

gotcha, thanks guys for your help, i am off to go buy a bottle jack and and spring compressor... there is no way in hell that i am paying 300 bucks for that..

 

When I removed my old setup and installed my KYB AGXs and Racing Beat Springs (GREAT setup for the street and for the price) I was able to get the rear suspention off without compressing the springs. The rears are a piece of cake to get off but the fronts take a bit of finesse.

 

it is very basic for the most part make sure you do one at a time to see how the other one looks when putting back together..just extra comfort. . make sure you torque all the bolts back to spec of the manual..dont **** around with suspension components. if you half *** it then off into a ditch you go. allow yourself about 4-5hours for your first time to do all 4. if you dont already have one get a haynes manual lik 13 bucks from auto store

 

i thought there was one online that we could all look at?

 

its a pretty straight forward process. just keep your wits about you and hopefully you wont lose your head like my friend did..........JUST KIDDING! but seriously though. i'd buy a paperback book from my local autoparts store for under 20 just to have for fast reference.

as always good luck. make sure to post back after your done so we know you didnt go and do something stupid with highly compressed stored potential energy.

 

hahahaha.... ok, well maybe i will be cool and do a write up so this question wond be asked a million more times! thanks guys for the help

 

you can rent them at Kragens or something.

 

my write-up, including troubles and dumb things I did
https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/installing-struts-my-experience-431698/
if you can, lift the whole front of the car instead of doing one side at a time
makes life much easier
but i didn't have that option
everything was done in a gravel drive way with hand tools, with the exception of the disk grinder which saved my ***