Quote:
Originally Posted by scotty
How hard is it to change suspension over and would it be advised to change the 2 bolts for new ones if so what size are they .
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About 1.5 - 2 hours if you are taking off, stripping springs/shocks, rebuilding and refitting. On average about 20 mins a corner plus lifting, wheels off and back seat out time.
Quicker per corner if you are just swapping the strut/spring assembly.
When doing the front or rear, get both sides of the car off the ground and level with each other. Then you will not be fighting the tension of the ARB and things will come off, go on and align a lot easier.
Also remember to mark the position of the top bolt on the front hub/strut fixing as this is your camber.
However the rule of thumb is to set this for maximum negative camber which is when the top of the hub is in it's most inward setting. If you rotate the camber bolt with a slack bottom bolt you will see the top of the hub mounting move in and out. Set it at the furthest in position.
Then when tighten this bolt push the top of the hub with your hand via the top of the disk, as far in as possible. You can get an extra bit of negative camber as it takes up the slack in the mounting holes. Mine was always around -1 Degree. By pushing the hub, in this way, I can get about -1.4 Degree.
The most tedious bit is taking the back seat out and then sitting in the back taking off the 6-off top mount nuts.
If stripping springs always crack loose the centre spring cup retainer bolt and slacken to within a few thread of the top whilst the car is still on the ground, prior to removal of the strut. You will struggle to loosen this once it's off the car and risk damaging the strut or damper in the process.
I've never bothered swapping out for new fixings, but TBH I probably should of by now, as they have probably been on/off in excess of 15 times.
Just use a good breaker bar on the main hub-strut fixings.