I had time to take out the OEM springs and struts this weekend, but got tired after installing the front shocks and lowering springs. I planned to install the rear parts too, but then something else happened that night.

Parts:
-- Koni yellow shocks
-- Tein lowering Springs

i forgot to take pictures earlier of how to take out the bottom part of the strut/spring, but i'll explain how to put it back in

Socket wrench sizes used:
12MM
14MM
17MM
3/4 for the spring compressor

i pulled out the strut tower out first
I took off the 5 nuts on top, under the hood

there was other stuff to unbolt and take off, but i forgot to take those pictures... onto the spring compressor!

i compressed the spring with the tools i rented from autozone. They are those two metal clamps squeezing the spring on both sides

after compressing the spring, i loosened out the nut in the center. It was pretty hard to take it off, you have use a hex key and a wrench and budge it

or if you have some good tools, i used a socket wrench!

now it's loose, time to pull that nut off

nut is off the tower

I pulled the ring off that sat under the nut

pulled off the top hat

separated the compressed spring from the strut

there's a black washer that sits right on top the boot cover

pulled off the black washer, took a couple of pics of the same stuff because my phone camera is kind of blurry

I pulled off the boot cover and I see the bus stop

there's a washer sitting right above the the bus stop

removed the washer

the strut is now naked!

going back to the top mount, i removed that rubber piece that sits in the middle

then i took off the rubber parts from the cylinder

these are the parts that are used for the konis

i put that rubber part onto the new cylinder

here is the koni shock i'm going to use

slippin on the bunk stop was kind hard

I had to force it a bit to fit through that little welded piece

clipped in the white plastic washer right above the bunk stop

slipped in the two washers, the biggest washer sits on bottom closer to the bunk stop

picture with the cut boot, ready for the spring and top mount

the spring and top mount is on

two nuts were provided and i didn't tighten all the way in the picture, but it's ready to be installed back onto the car now

these are the bolts and nuts that are going to be put back on for the koni shock. I have already inserted the shock back in the car.

this is the other side of that nut with the picture right above this one

this bolt holds in the shock. It breaks pretty easily... i'd be gentle with it.

this is how it looks under the hood with the koni shock installed. I can adjust it to how firm or soft the ride is

picture of the tein springs

stock struts were kept on the side

Photos before the drop:


photos after the drop:


and then later that night, i happened to hit a damn bump/pot hole on the road pretty hard:
i left the car there over night as the shock shot down the mount. I was on the way to a car meet at the Happy Tea house on westheimer... so sad. I didn't even make it to the meet.

the next day i towed it home and took a closer look at it:
looks like it's bagged or air ride the bunk stop was up at that same position with the white washer, but i pulled it down
holy crap.... that piece fell off when i hit the bump. I can't mount it back on the car no more.
this is the driver side shock with the plate on

Now i'm back on the factory suspension again. I wonder if i could get the shock fixed. So much time has been put into this. It takes forever to compress the springs by hand! my back hurts like hell too haha

 

Not sure this had anything to do with the failure but the install was a little wrong. The white split washer goes on first under the bump stop. You should have trimmed out the lower nub on the bump stop. I'm not sure why cut the top of the dust boot off but the small washer goes on after the bumpstop then the dust boot then the large washer. I know on my setup the front konis had alot more thread engaged on the front. Like there was to much slack in your setup. The front top bolt needed to be tightened more I think to 22 foot lbs.

I do however feel your pain when it comes to the pain in the ass spring compressor.

 

when i did my install, i just enlarge the dust boot cover hole so it'll slide over the koni.

The bump stop, i cut in the middle of the bump stop and reused the smaller portion. The bigger portion was thrown out as it was near impossible to get the bigger portion to slide over the welded portion on the piston of the shock.

I even read the instruction on where to cut but they didn't explain it well.

 

Wow...nice writeup + pictures. But wow...the plating, falling off is really unbelievable...see what koni can do. Good luck.

I provided the dust boot to him when selling it. It was dremelled off because I didn't know you could slide the metal top out of the dust boot, so I just took the liberty to dremel it off . But, it did it's job an kept dirt and whatnot out of the strut.

 

i'm a noob at this as you can tell haha
Thanks nubasaurs for all the help. I'd give you good feedback if this was ebay ahha

and i guess i meant bump stop instead of bunk, bus

 

contact koni to see if they will help you out.

 

wats the rim size, 17 or 18

 

i think i might've figured out why you front strut broke, but this is a theory; idk if it's actually like this...
since you didn't install the rears and they were at stock height and spring rates, the fronts had more pressure put on them. which would probably cause the mounting plate to break off.

idk, it's a theory. so i guess next time before driving around, make sure you install everything the same day?

 

Very unlikely. I think just bad luck, deep pothole, and the very very rare situation where the shock bottomed out way to hard.

 

I contacted koni and the tech said i didn't tighten that bolt enough; the bolt is holding in the strut on the horse shoe. I believe that's the problem because the treading did trim out. That bolt kept turning when i stuck back on the OEM strut... so the weight of the car had pushed that plate off once i hit that bump on the road. Turns out i still can use the shock without the plate. I just gotta pinch the screw tightly. Sooooo.. poor installation i guess.


rim size: 18x8.5 +45 offset tires: 235/40 They're aspecs from the TL

 

thought TL a-spec are 18x8 45 not 18x8.5???

 

i have no idea. i bought them from a fellow az member and he told me he pulled it off his TL.

 

they came 18x8.5 in 2004,only for that year

 

The problem looks to be incorrect install and tightening procedure. The suspension should be preloaded before tightening the bolts.

 

I'm running the same set up (koni yellows w/ OE springs)(on all four wheels though) and have had them on for over two years and around 50K miles with 0 problems (here on crappy Northeast roads too). I was feeling a little bad about not doing the install myself (retired mechanic here), but after reading this thread, I'm once again glad that I had the shocks professionally installed. It was expensive, but worth it. Oh, and I love the shocks (though if I was doing it again, I'd go with new springs too).

 

yeah.. old ass bump but did you guys have to cut bump stops or you guys simply leave it as is?

 

if I recall correctly, I think the installer cut the bump stops.

 

the instruction from koni was to cut the bump stop. the boot cover you'll have to enlarge the hole for it to fit.

the OP just didn't install the set up correctly.

i have this set up for about 2 years and i take bumps like i normally would with stock suspension and no problem.

each shock down at the bottom has a crevice area to where the bolt that holds the shock to the fork can slide through to tighten. and dont be afraid to tighten it hard. use air tools is best.