Anyone have experience with spring installs in the Austin area??
 

My springs will be in this week and im looking for someone who is "good with their hands" or preferrably is familiar with how the install is done to help me out. I don't feel like paying a shop 400 bucks to do it. (yes, that's what they quoted me)

I've done springs/coilovers on R32's, Acuras, Hondas, etc. I might be able to tackle this myself, but an extra hand with experience ALWAYS helps.

Thanks!

You are going to need someone with a hydraulic spring compressor for the fronts, just a heads up. Typical screw-driven compressors will not compress the fronts enough to work.

that being said, I'll bet Kastley could help you out. I'd offer, but I'm in dallas

Yeah i've been reading and just found that out. Also, the top hats need to be aligned a certain way when reinstalled or they won't fit.

I might just end up paying a shop to do it, but i still think 400 is way too much considering the rears should only take an hour if that.

Anyone know of any good shops in Austin that will do a clean job and not rape me on the price??

rears take about 15 minutes, they are a piece of cake. Mark the shock body and the pillow ball mounts with chalk on a line and bring it to goodyear and have them switch the springs for $40, that's what I did.

On the fronts, is there any need to remove the rotor and caliper or anything like that? Or is it a straight forward unbolt the top and the bottom, maybe remove a few small brackets and it comes out sort of deal?

Thanks for your help! I might tackle this myself.

There is a bracket that holds the bottom side of the strut in place. I originally just pulled the single bolt going through the eye of the strut and tried to slide it out of the arm/bracket, but was not able to do it. You'll need to take that bracket off, but it is on the back side of the arm IIRC, so removing the caliper isn't necessary.

cool thanks! I should be able to figure it out once i get the wheel off and start getting my hands dirty.

yep do the rears yourself and remove the fronts and take them into a shop to have the springs swapped out, then reinstall. Piece of cake, just takes 4-5 hours total for the whole deal. Save the $400 for more mods!

Man, i just did the whole thing by myself and im SOOOO glad i didnt pay 400 for a shop to do it. I took the front strust to a shop to get the springs swapped out and all i did was slip the guy a $20 and it was a done deal. The rears where WAAAYYY easy and so where the fronts. Hardest part was slipping the strut down through the brake lines then back up for the reinstall.

The shop that gave me the quote said 2 hours for the rear... HA! what a joke. Took like 20 minutes. Anyways, springs are on and im very happy with how it turned out. H&R springs are a perfect drop for the 370.

:tup:

glad it went smoothly! But ya, the rears are like 15-20 mins, and the fronts the only real pain is making sure the pillow mount is bolted back on in the same spot it was pulled off so that it all aligns on the car.

:pics:

Not true. I have already done it on 2 z's. :tiphat:

you got a good screw driven compressor then. :tup: I rented one from auto-zone and also borrowed a neighbors really nice set and neither of them would work :shakes head: