Hi all,

I've got an '07 that recently turned in to a 3rd vehicle and I've been doing some work before trying to figure out if we will keep it or sell it. I've replaced the entire front suspension, all the brakes, and the rear shocks. It now drives great and I'm leaning towards just keeping it. However, I've got one minor random clunk in the back and I suspect it's either the spring mount or the lower seat. I can see the lower seats have pretty much disintegrated.

I assumed I could just remove the bolt from the outer arm and push it down to remove the spring, but the back of the knuckle doesn't allow it to drop down much. Do I really have to rip apart the whole back suspension to allow room for the spring to slide out?

I've searched both the forum and the web with zero luck in finding a how-to on removing the springs.

Thanks,
Matt

 

Disregard... I ended up using an internal spring compressor until I could pull it out.

 

Did swapping the seat fix your clunk?

 

I replaced the seats and rubber mounts on both sides and it fixed the clunk. The rubber mounts were hard as bricks, so it could have been coming from the top... If I had to guess though, I would say it was the new seat that fixed it. The one in the picture is the passenger side. The driver side wasn't nearly as bad, but had worn through in a couple of smaller spots.

If you have an internal spring compressor, it doesn't take much more than an hour to swap out each side.

-Matt

 

One more thing... I had already replaced the sway bar links and bushings and that certainly cleaned it up some as well. Because parts are so cheap for these things, I would suggest doing both of those parts as well if you are going to be in there replacing the spring seats/mounts.

 

Good to know you could not get the rear springs out by just disconnecting the bolt from the outer arm. I am actually surprised you were able to do it with spring compressors. When I put my lowering springs on, I had to take the rear suspension off as you suggested. Wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get it back together though. I had a whole thread on this a while back. Imagine living in Florida, and trying this two separate times in the middle of the summer only to fail. I gave it one more attempt and decided to unhook everything, and like magic it worked. However, I did like the lowered front and higher rear setup look. If guess I could have put larger tires in the back and it would of looked great. Probably drive like crap, but look good.

 

I'm sure there is a reason, but I can't figure out why they designed it like that. If you removed 1/4" or so from the inward side of the knuckle, you could remove that bolt and push it down to release the spring. I don't think I'll ever have another reason to use an internal spring compressor, but it was $20 well spent on this project. I probably only had to compress the spring an inch before I could wiggle it out.

and I totally get the heat thing. I'm in Austin, TX. The best "tool" I own is a small portable AC unit for the garage. I turn it on a day before I'm going to work on a car and feel like royalty in there.

 

Same thing, I bought the spring compressors for like $20, and have ended up using them a couple of times for front strut stuff. Mostly, those stupid rubber boots that totally disintegrate in like four years here in Florida. Can't believe to replace them, have to take off the whole strut and spring just to put them back on. I am getting pretty good at that stuff though, I must say.

 

Next week I will be replacing the rear shocks, rear stabilizer end links, as well as rear springs. With this in mind, I thought I'd re-visit this thread which I bookmarked quite some time ago.

For anyone curious, my friend a mechanical technician at a local shop and forwarded me a few screen shots, regarding Acura's recommendation for removing the rear springs.

It is recommended that you remove the following:
a) Remove stabilizer end link from lower control arm
b) Remove flange bolt that connects the lower arm to the knuckle
c) Remove flange bolt that connects lower arm and bottom of damper (i.e. shock)

Theoretically, removing these three bolts should allow the lower arm to drop enough to remove the spring. Wish me luck!