So I got my springs yesterday and I got the rear installed no problem, but I can't get 2 of the 3 stupid bolts off on the top of the strut assembly. They hit the windshield wiper guard thingy and the top part of the firewall. Help me please!

 

You can get them off, you just have to use a little force, there is some flex there. I didn't want to take the washer "guard thingy" off.

It is really tight, but it can be done.

 

thanks man! I din't want to scratch anything. I guess I just need to be a man about it.

 

take the time and take the cowl off you'll thank your self for doing so makes working back there a breaze and you have lot more working space too

 

I have the hood struts on mine and you have to pop-rivit through the cowl, so I couldnt have taken it off even if I wanted to.

 

Did two xB's so far without removing the cowl. You won't scratch anything, take you time & put some elbow grease in it & you'll be fine.

Watch you don't strip the nuts, I did on my own xB & had to get new ones. Cheap fix but a pain in the as$ cause they had to be ordered from the dealer.

Take your time & you will be fine

 

forget what ppl say about forcing anything what you need to do is loosen the 3 nuts then lift the car this will lower the strut down and the nut will go down with it at this point all u have to do is unsrew then with your fingures you'll see

 

exactly.

 

I was thinking that but didn't type it. Yeah do what Maguyver wrote & you will see how easy it is.

The whole lowering process on an xB is simple, once you do it you will be able to do it in your sleep

 

when I swapped springs a month ago, I was going to do it without removing the cowl. Except, of course, the very first nut I tried to loosen which was one of the back ones, rounded off with the stupid wrench I was using. So I had to take the cowl off anyway, to drop a socket on the nut. At which point it was totally trivial. The cowl removal/install takes no more than 15 mins, and being able to use sockets for all access to the top nuts for torquing any everything is invaluable.