To those who plan on putting springs on their car....

[Griffin]

OMG what a f-ing nightmare job it was. Whoever said they had it done in 1.5 hours is completely full of chit. I had me and 3 other guys working on my car, one of which is a ASE Certified Tech and it took us 6 hours to do. We took breaks in between so it was actually a total around 8 hours. If you don't have a spring compressor don't even bother. And if you do make sure it is a good one. I'm still f-ing pissed off it took so long.

And now my car makes a noise when turning like a rotor is scraping something...:bash:

the car looks good though:beer:

 

[03yllwguy]

Took me 8 hours to fail, and another day to bring myself to take it somewhere else... You are correct, 1.5 hrs my ass.... Pro shop took an hour each spring and they did three in the last month.

 

[Griffin]

The fronts are actually very easy. Four or five bolts and apry bar to do it. The back ones took us about 2.5 hours each.

I'm sorry, but there is no way in hell you can do this job in 1.5 hours. I don't care who you are. It would require you to drop the IRS and that in itself woulf take 2-3 hours with a lift....

 

[SouthFlaSnake]

Griffin,

I had the same problem with rubbing. I found two spots. One was the passenger front fender well, the tire was rubbing the fender well a little bit so I had to dremel out a hole in the fender well about a quarter in size, which im going to patch soon, and the 2nd thing I found rubbing was my E-Brake cable on the rear wheels. It kept popping off, so check it.

-Mike

 

[Silver10thAConv]

I agree. I haven't put springs on my 03 yet but I put them on my 01. It took me @3 hours to figure out the driver side rear and another 1 1/2 hours to do the other side. 30 -45 minutes for the fronts. I was a little pissed because it took so long for a "simple" spring swap but the results put a smile on my face.

 

[Narcosynthesis]

I just took 4 hours to install one C/C plate. Still have to do the other side. I'm slow

oh, if you put CC plates on, junk the stock bumpstop and use the urethane one supplied my MM. The stock one interferes with the new plate on the bottom.

 

[missile man]

Took me a day for the rears and a day for the fronts. Rears didn't need a spring compressor, but had to get a spring compressor for the front and modify it to go through the hole in the top of the strut tower. Whew!!! Glad that is over. Looks good though. LOL.

 

[ADR]

Its all in the tools, Mobil Motor Sports is one guy, came to my job and installed them in the parking lot alone, Took him about 2hrs
I think I have some pictures somewhere to.
http://www.mobilemotorsports.com/pages/938980/index.htm

 

[03InThe11s]

hey guys, if 'yall want to place bets, i did mine in three hours. if anyone wants a witness, contact aol member yep8383. he helped me. i put the car on jackstands all the way around and went to town. now, i was using an impact, and for the spring compressor i used an air ratchet.

 

[03InThe11s]

Originally posted by missile man
Took me a day for the rears and a day for the fronts. Rears didn't need a spring compressor, but had to get a spring compressor for the front and modify it to go through the hole in the top of the strut tower. Whew!!! Glad that is over. Looks good though. LOL.

no compressor is needed up front. remove the two bolts that hold on the strut, then the sway bar, and then the tie rod. after these are removed, the lower A arm can be pushed down far enough for the spring to "pop" out. putting it back in, you just push the spring in, and jack up the A arm till it gets in place to bolt everything back up. Out back, i just put the spring compressor to it, along with the air ratchet. i compressed it till it wouldnt compress anymore. and it just came out. i dont think i had to unbolt anything in the rear end. i have heard its easy to unbolt the entire rear end (only 4 bolts) but the way i did it seemed easyer to me.

 

[JohnsDSGVert]

Springs

I did the H&R Sports Springs.......If I had it to do over I would have went with coil overs from the get go.....regret it now....not being able to fine tune the height plus, plus weight advantage, plus another bonus on reducing wheel hop.....however....I fixed my radical wheel hop......(after bushings, hard launch brace, diff bushings still hopping with Nitto DR's).....all I did was switch to BFG Drag Radials.....no more hop.

With my springs....my front is perfect.....the back I wish I could drop it another 1".

 

[Toplesss]

I have done a complete car is less than 2 hours. Like ADR said...Its all in the tools. Air tools and a spring compressor are a must.

 

[03InThe11s]

i agree toplesss. if i were to do it again, im betting i would be done in <2 hours.

 

[03yllwguy]

John Himsel,
I agree the rear could be a tad bit lower, BUT if it were our cat backs would be scraping like crazy... I agree C/O are nicer, but I did go that route before, and I think for regular driving/weekend worioring it the springs are pretty good bang for the buck.. Just my opinion.

 

[4sdvenom]

Someone breifly mentioned above, but I just dropped my entire IRS to sell it. The springs were the first things (not counting the wheels) I took out. No spring compresser, no hassles, no time at all. For each side (one at a time) I had the car up on jack stands, I unbolted the bottom of the shock, supported the IRS with a floor jack up where the front IRS bolt is (there is a flat spot on the tubular frame that looks like it was intended for a jack), unbolted the front IRS bolt, then the rear IRS bolt, and slowly lowered that side of the IRS until the spring fell out. Jacked it back up reinserted the bolts, and did the other side. Maybe at the longest took an hour to remove both springs. I'm sure the same could be done to change springs.

 

[drkchk03svt]

That was me that said only 1.5 hours. Sorry if you dont believe. Sounds like you guys in Florida need some help. Why in the world have I made that up????????? :bash:

 

[bigboye]

My first try took a while but I think I could do it in about 3 hours with someone helping and the right tools. I needed a spring compressor and a big stack of washers. Just to add a little info Steeda srings are about 1 inch taller that the stock. They were a pain in the #ss to get in. My buddy has Kenny Brown springs and it took 1 hour to remove and reinstall the sring. His srings were not sitting right and they made a funny sound going down the road. We pulled them and put them back in and tried to make sure they were in perfect and he has no problem. We did use an impact gun it made things to real quick.

 

[Griffin]

That was me that said only 1.5 hours. Sorry if you dont believe. Sounds like you guys in Florida need some help.

I will believe it when I see it with my own eyes.....

 

[Onelfastlride]

Griffin,

You'll have to send some pictures my way.

I guess I'm glad I took my car to Steeda. Just about 6hrs they had the car which includes Alignment, Caster Camber Plates, Strut Tower Brace, Maximum Motorsports IRS bushing, and Spring install.

 

[Darcsun]

Willing to place a bet! I did my 95 T-Bird (similar set up with it's IRS) in 4 hours... ALONE! Three people planned on helping, but no one showed.

Considering I'll have help, a better garage to work and have done a drop before... I think 2-4 hours sounds right.