I'm changing my struts and starting the spring compressing. My tool is now allowing me to get three coils on both sides exactly the opposite from each other. I have two more I can use but they will only compress two coils. Should use just a third or all four compressors? Not sure if I can do two or three coils are needed to get it compressed enough.
Help - Trying to Compress Front Spring
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2001Silver330CI
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They should still settle after a few days.
Often they will settle. One comment though. Many people make the mistake of tightening suspension bushings in the air, then letting the car down. That will cause quick damage to rubber bushings, which are tightened in a "neutral" position then forced to swivel when lowered, as the suspension arms pivot from the weight. That can cause the rubber to tear loose when you then hit a bump that over-rotates the bushing beyond its ability to cope with normal back and forth movement.
Correct procedure is to lower the car so the bushings rotate to the "correct" neutral position from whence it will be rotated in one direction for compression and the other for rebound and return to neutral. The rubber can handle that for years and is designed to.
So if you tightened everything in the air, then lower it, all those super stressed bushings are collectively holding the front end up as they're under tension. Worth a mention.
Doug
Correct procedure is to lower the car so the bushings rotate to the "correct" neutral position from whence it will be rotated in one direction for compression and the other for rebound and return to neutral. The rubber can handle that for years and is designed to.
So if you tightened everything in the air, then lower it, all those super stressed bushings are collectively holding the front end up as they're under tension. Worth a mention.
Doug
So how do you tighten the bushings with the car on the ground? Or do just never tighten them? just snug while in the air?
He was doing struts not bushings, so that wouldn't matter here.
But, when doing the fcabs there is no way to tighten the carrier bolts with car on ground and chassis plate installed. You put them on with soap water as lube (the control arm is rectangular which aligns them), and then get car on the ground before the lube dries out so that weight of car lines things up correctly.
But, when doing the fcabs there is no way to tighten the carrier bolts with car on ground and chassis plate installed. You put them on with soap water as lube (the control arm is rectangular which aligns them), and then get car on the ground before the lube dries out so that weight of car lines things up correctly.
I thought mine rode higher at first also. It's nice you didn't have to fight to get the new assemblies back in, I really had to struggle on both cars that I did.
I didn't have ramps at the time when I did fcabs, but I remember that the aluminum chassis plate got really close to at least one of the 2 bolts for the bushing carrier. One bolt looked doable, but it seemed difficult to get in there with a torque wrench & socket for the other one with the chassis plate installed.
Maybe the older tubular brace is more feasible?? I'll take another look at it next time I go under.
What struts did you use?
When I replaced my original struts with Bilstein B4’s it raised my ride height by about 10mms...it’s still within the spec listed in the Bentley.
Was prolly due to a combination of the new Billys and a sacked out 14 year old suspension sitting low. The ride quality, bump compliance, and improvement in overall handling was well worth the little bit of increased ride height. IMHO.
YMMV!
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When I replaced my original struts with Bilstein B4’s it raised my ride height by about 10mms...it’s still within the spec listed in the Bentley.
Was prolly due to a combination of the new Billys and a sacked out 14 year old suspension sitting low. The ride quality, bump compliance, and improvement in overall handling was well worth the little bit of increased ride height. IMHO.
YMMV!
Sent from my iPhone using E46Fanatics
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Glad it wasn't my imagination! There was a little tension on my brake line but not much and I kept it at a minimum during the install.
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My sport Sachs struts were shot. Didn't move at all when I pushed them in. Ride seems improved now. Just wondering if it hurt my springs. I installed the Bilstein Touring struts and shocks
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B4's also.
I know, new struts should not change the height. Maybe its the new mounts/rubber spring pads, or the new struts have slightly different dimensions. Placebo effect after all that work.
When I did mine a few months ago, I got some nice spring compressors from Sears on sale, and I supplemented the two new compressors with one of my old Harbor Freight "widow maker" spring compressors. It took some juggling of the spring compressors to get them off when I re-assembled the struts.
That spring compressor sucks. I have the same one and only managed to get it to work by grabbing the strut bearings on the top, compressing it to remove the nut then slowly and completely releasing the compressors (to remove and replace the bearing) then compressing it again with the new bearing and pad in place. It was a stupid and dangerous thing to do and I'm surprised I didn't kill myself. Don't do this.
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