Sorry, this is long.

Planned Hotchkis install saturday. I don't recall ever being so frustrated and upset when I was trying to do something. But take note, none of this is any reflection of Hotchkis - those guys are great and the products are nice... I just seem to have other issues with everything.

PICS TO FOLLOW when I get out of work and actually get them off of my camera.

"Rented" a spring compressor from AutoZone, went to my mom's to use the garage/air tools/etc. Found out I got the wrong spring compressor. TAKE NOTE: if you rent one from an auto parts store, get the STRUT SPRING COMPRESSOR (not just a coil spring compressor - make sure it doesn't have anything going down the middle of the coil). Luckily i was able to get one of those goodies from AutoZone as well. Just required another trip to the store.

Anyways... I go over the instructions one more time... jack it up, put the front on stands. Wheels off... got the wiper arms / plastic cowl off no problem. Disconnected everything in the wheel well no problem. Dropped the strut/spring from the tower and got it out of the car. This side went pretty smooth. Slow, but smooth. I was taking some pics along the way (as I said, they'll follow). It took me about 1 hour to do the first side. But it went ok and I got it done and installed back into it's place. Did the other side of the front in about another half hour (no pics, plus I knew more of what I was doing). Got my wheels back on, removed the stands and let her down easy. But wait... I can't pull the floor jack out!! It's too low! So I had to get my OEM jack out of the trunk and jack the side up to get the floor jack out from the front. Whoops. Front - Done.

That's the good.

Got the rear up on stands and first wheel off. Disconnected everything under the wheel well, started taking stuff out of the trunk to get to the upper strut tower bolts. Two of them aren't bad, but one is hidden up under some carpeting and an incredible pain in the ___. It's a horrible position. I had the seats folded down and I was lying in the back, but I just couldn't find a way to get any leverage on that last nut. Eventually was able to lever it out with another ratchet and it loosened up. Ok... got that out. Fair enough.

That's the bad - was quite annoying. Pics will explain more later.

I was able to compress the spring and get it off of the strut OK... then I tried to put the other one on. As you'll see from pics, there are a LOT more coils on the Hotchkis and they're a lot closer together. The spring compressor I was using was pretty thick on the hooks, so it only fit in so many places. It was difficult to find a place where I could get a good hold and get it compressed and then be able to connect the other pieces on the end to bolt it down. About an hour after fighting with it, I was able to get the nut on and get it all secured down... BUT then I couldn't get the compressor off - as I said, the coils are closer and they essentially locked the tool on there as I compressed it. Lame.

So after another hour of getting that back off, getting the stock spring back on... I was looking it all over and just figured that I wouldn't be able to get it with the tool I had. Just wasn't feasible. You may have a different tool available, I don't know. But the rear was next to impossible with what I had.

So I just got off the phone now with my dealer to do the install of just the rear springs on Friday. $200. I'll be getting a 4wheel alignment soon too, but not right away. I just want to make sure I don't have any camber/wear problems. The front wheels look fine for camber, but I want to be sure.

I have many pics from doing the front and fighting with the back (I gave up on pics of the back as the frustration set in). I will post them later this afternoon after I get home from work and get the pics off my camera. Just wanted to share my ordeal. Considering that I got the springs for free (thanks Darren!), $200 still isn't that bad.

If you have any questions, feel free. I can probably elaborate on some of them, but some might require a picture to explain. So you can wait until I update in a couple hours if you like.

 

you must have a pretty cool mom...haha

if i do a spring install i plan on doing it at home - but with help from my dad....everythings easier on stuff like this with two people...

be sure to post those pics up, i wanna see what ill have to get at.

 

Well it's not so much my mom's... than it is her fiancee's. I was actually doing this by myself. No one else was home most of the time. I try not to ask him to help me if I can, he's cool and all and probably would, but he has other things to do. I was just happy to use the garage and tools. I likely would have had one of my friends to help, but he just moved to Philly.

 

So... here goes.

The RIGHT tool. Yours should look similar to this. Clamps on to the outside of the spring.


Front before:


Popping off the wiper caps to get the arms off. Necessary to remove the plastic cowl thing.


Wiper arm nuts come off no problem Arms were a little tough, had to yank on them a bit. But eventually came off no problem.


Tab popping. Just push down on the middle of these guys (two on each side).


First bolt to remove in the wheel well. Holds the abs and brake lines and such.


Next bolt... I forget what it's called, but this is one of the stablizer arms that connects the sway bar area.


After this one, are the two larger bolts seen in the second pic up, right by the blue hose. Take those two out and then it's just held in by the strut tower bolts under the hood. Three of these and it drops right out. Literally. You might want to be ready.

Hotchkis vs OEM on the strut - more than double the coils.


Compressed Hotchkis - those spring compressors are so ghetto.


Hotchkis on - OEM off.


Skip ahead... doing the other side... yadda, yadda, yadda.

Front done and down.


Rear progress in the next post.

 

The rear really shouldn't be much harder. The only difficulty I found, other than the ghetto spring compressor not doing what I wanted it to... was getting the last upper strut tower bolt out. But here's what I got:

Eh, a little more challenging, but not bad.


First bolt to go - sway bar.


Upper control arm bolt, already removed.


The last exterior bolt was the lower shock mount, but I didn't take a pic of it... it's just one big bolt. Pic required? No.

To the interior! So pull out your trunk floor, the two styrofoam side compartments and then the little carpeted piece with the child seat openings.

Then there's this plastic piece - which said it would just lift right out. But I was like "what about that little white thing holding it down?" Turns out that just pops right out, don't be affraid to use a LITTLE force on it.


First two strut tower bolts... difficult, not bad though. That carpeting can't really be pulled back anywhere, it's pretty stiff and you'd probably have to remove the entire panel.


Now... on the other side is the nightmare. This was tucked in between the seat backs and the support brace going across the trunk. Difficult to loosen unless you can get some good leverage.


That's a lot of coils!


As the instructions state, you should mark the ends with a marker or paint or something. That way you be sure to line it up right so it fits back in. This is IMPORTANT!


Both off, comparison.


After this part, I just kind of lost my sanity and gave up on the camera... Like I stated in the first post, you might have a slightly different spring compressor and might be able to get it OK, but see how all of those upper coils are so close? Ya, mine wasn't fitting in there - and if it did, I wouldn't be getting it out later.

 

Oh... and one last pic of it out of the garage. Keep in mind this is with ONLY FRONT SPRINGS on. The rear is still stock at this point. As I said, I have an appointment this Friday to have the rear done and then I'll post another comparison afterwards.

 

Gotta love the "down / up" look.

 

It's no muscle car... and the rear tires are the same size as the front. But it'll do for now.

 

You should have just brought your rear struts and the hotchkis to Midas or some tire place so they can press it for you. Just pay them like $20 bucks or something for putting the coil to the struts.

 

I would have liked to do that actually, but there wasn't anyone home when I was working on the rear, so I had no one to really come and get me.

 

GREAT POST! I don't even own a tC and I thought this was
very informative!

Great photos too!

Those springs look really high quality!

 

Thanks raven... I guess it really is pretty much a full how to. All that is left that I don't have pics of is putting the rear assembly back together. I just wish I could have actually completed that. I still can't even express how angry I was.

But I love the springs on the front and I know they'll look great on the rear too when they're done. So far, I would totally recommend these Hotchkis to anyone that's shopping for some springs.

 

Oh man, that strut compressor looks.. difficult.

In the past, I've taken my stuff to a local shop, and they let me compress my own springs with a wall mounted compressor. Just pop em in, and crank on a wheel and they're compressed...

Unfortunatly only having one jack and no jackstands means four trips to the shop

 

I just finish my install today and ran into the same problem with the rears. I have lowerd many cars, nothing like this before. I took my struts out and took them to Pep Boys along with the springs. They put them together for $40.00 After this, it took 30 minutes to put everything back together. $200.00 for the rear alone sounds like a lot. Well all in all I am extremely happy with the looks of the car, but more so the ride, it is great. Not harsh or bouncy at all.

 

how would i go by adding shocks

 

I had the same problem with the rear springs and that $#Q%$%$@$ autozone compressor!!!!!!!! PLUS the first set had messed up threads so I had to swap them out in the middle of a spring!!! Seriously was one of the most frustrating things ever, plus I did my springs on a sunday so no shops were open, luckily I found a "Just Brakes" that was open and for some reason they had a wall mounted compressor (hadn't been used in years) and I got one of the techs to switch out the springs for $20 and I reinstalled them myself.

I had my alignment done at Marietta Toyota and the camber on the front was fine, just the toe was way out, and on the back the camber is close to spec, but not too bad. That was $60. So total for install was $80 plus a case of Bud Light for my buddy who helped out.

 

it can easily be done without spring compressors.

the rear is even easier without it. if you have a jack, put the coil on the rear strut without the top locknut and then just place it in the rear. raise the a arm by using the jack and it will compress. guide the strut threat bolt to the middle in the top while you're jacking it upand you have a compressed spring with room to lock the nut.

 

Good idea...except that it is very dangerous if the jack slips and the tC would be a real PITA to get that top nut on.... I'm guessing that it would be close to impossible to do that on the tC, unless you have already done it.

 

I don't think I'd trust doing it without a compressor. Too much risk to me and my baby.

But it's kind of nice for me to see that I wasn't the only one that ran across this. I just wish I had a friend there to help me or to run me to a shop to have them swap out the springs.

 

i've done it several times. its not just the jack that the car is resting on. i have 2 jacks under it in close proximity. you guide the top bolt with a flat head screwdriver while you jack up the a-arm