AHH!! 300 and up to installs coilovers

[ETalon95]

My Tein BASIC coilover kit just came in today and I was calling around to get estimates on how much it would be to install it, everyone wants atleast 300 for install. Is that normal? How hard is it to install yourself?

 

[IslanderTsi]

just do it yourself. It will take less than a day and best of all you get to learn how to do it. There is several write ups in the vfaq. Just get a case of beer, get your tools together and try it yourself

 

[dsm023]

300 is definitely high. Considering it's 2 hours tops to do!

 

[TheRealist]

300 bucks ! i got mine done at a local performance shop for 80 bucks

 

[Blk95gs]

Well, I have done NUMEROUS suspensions on NUMEROUS cars. DSMs are so simple.

You will need to rent a spring compressor from Autozone, PepBoys, etc. They're like $40, and you get the money back when you return them. Helps to have impact tools (air tools)

Lots of PB Blaster, cause our cars tend to have quite a bit of rust.


Honestly, it's very simple. The coilovers are great, I have them on my 95 TSi AWD. It shouldn't take you more than a few hours TOPS to do it all. The only pain is getting the old struts/springs apart to reuse the upper mounts. Your Tein's should have bumpstops and all of that jazz.

*Oh, just to let you know, a friend and I did our first suspension on my 95 Eclipse, took us 6 hours (including trips to the store, and looking up info online)

 

[speed127]

$300 bucks sounds right to me.... I was quoted that for my first car, a Focus, and decided to put them in myself. Took me about 5-6 hours with breaks and cursing and all but in the end they were done and I had $300 bucks to spend on something else.

 

[ETalon95]

Yea there is no way that I'm going to spend that much. I was thinking maybe I could spray the rusty bolts every night before I go to bed that way when I'm ready to install them, they are easy to get off. I looked up different guides on how to install them and like you said getting the old strut off the upper mount looks the hardest. Can anyone explain that in a little bit more detail for me b/c I'm kinda confused of how to do it?

 

[evi1clipse]

that beats what I got priced for installing some on a civic 1000 bucks, but got it done for 100 at another shop but 300 is still kinda high.

 

[prostreetdsmx1]

folks i can guarantee you that installing basics will take you 2-4 hours if you try them on your own. On a lift with the right tools the basics take about 2-3 hours to install and set correctly. With coilovers you don't just put them on and leave them alone, well we don't at least. It involves removing and disassembling the stock suspension, reusing the stock hat, assembling the new setup, installing it then going up and down with the car as you adjust ride height to make sure it is properly set for all four corners. Needless to say any shop that knows what they are doing knows what it really takes to do the job right and i can tell you that most, including us would bill 2-3 hours on an install like this.

Best of luck with the upgrades, enjoy them.

 

[Blk95gs]

Yea there is no way that I'm going to spend that much. I was thinking maybe I could spray the rusty bolts every night before I go to bed that way when I'm ready to install them, they are easy to get off. I looked up different guides on how to install them and like you said getting the old strut off the upper mount looks the hardest. Can anyone explain that in a little bit more detail for me b/c I'm kinda confused of how to do it?

When you remove the strut/spring assembly, it will all be attached. The upper strut mount is basically what is keeping the spring compressed while it is on the car. You need a spring compressor to relieve the tension against the mount. After the spring is compressed, it is as simple as removing the bolt in the center of the mount. Sometimes that is difficult because since the bolt is threaded to the strut itself, unless you have powerful impact tools, the bolt will spin the strut. So for that, you need 2 people. One to hold a set of pliers to the flat part on the top of the strut, and the other to turn the open-end (14mm I believe) wrench hard as shit in the opposite direction. It really is straight forward, but like prostreetdsmx1 said, you well spend a bit on adjusting the coilovers to your spec.

FYI, mine are adjusted about 1" up from the bottom, and the car looks like this:

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Keep in mind those are 245/45/17 tires.

 

[my98GST]

Yummm sexy, I'm about to recieve my AGX shocks wedn. and then im going to tackle installing my skunk2 coilovers and agx shocks this weekend. I don't think it will be that big of a PITA

 

[ETalon95]

Now the only problem I have is jacking the car up, I don't have a good enough jack!I could try to get the car on jack stands but that won't work. Is there any other alternative?

 

[MelloEclipse]

i wouldn't joke around with jack stands, that stuff is dangerous. if you can't get the right jack stands, you might want to reconsider doing it yourself, or finding someone who does, dying isn't worth this nice suspension mod you have

 

[Seano04]

i paid 250 to buschur to install mine...BE CAREFUL BECAUSE THE BOLTS FOR THE SHOCKS ON MINE DIMPLED MY HOOD

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

Now the only problem I have is jacking the car up, I don't have a good enough jack!I could try to get the car on jack stands but that won't work. Is there any other alternative?

Yea man, put your stock jack just behind the driver front tires in the spot they tell you to use it and jack the car up. Put a jack stand under it and then do the pasenger side. Your front will be off of the ground and that will take the most time.

I did this with out airtools the first time haha and all I can say is leverage. Everything thing will move eventually.

As for the sway bar end links....if you just torque on the nut it will spin and spin. YOu haev to get a 14mm wrench on the other side infront of the boot to hold it still then it will break the bolt loose.....mines still didnt work so I got some good vice grips and that took care of it. All in all grab a friend and just do it. front are about 1-2 hours each and rear you should fly through.

Also when removing the springs from the struts I got fed up wihtthe spsring compressor deal so I read somewhere to losen the top not almost to the top then place the wrench on the ground....put the top of the shock in there and spin it loose from the bottom it will pop off and thats it......its dangerous if you dont think you can handle it, but it worked for me.

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/GCkit-2G.html there it is you will see what I mean when you read this. GoodLuck.

I also noticed your from whitehall which is not far at all...if you wanted to swing by I could show you exactly how to do it if you like. My cars on stands now haha everythings in plain view.