I am going to be lowering my car soon and the i went somewhere to ask how much it would be to put the spring on the shock. He quoted me 200.00. I know advance auto has the deal where you can rent Spring Compressor for basically free, but my friends was saying there kinda of dangerous to work with because they can slip off of the spring. So are there any good ones that i can buy that would hook on to the spring and go down into it.

 

Yes there are. I have the one that actually uses a u bolt to attach to the spring and can't slip off.
Example:

 

any idea how much they run for.

 

nvrmind i found em at sears for 73.99

 

serious injury- as in Emergency Room visit or Death!! can result from improper use of tool or tool breaks and spring goes flying at 100 mph across the garage and into your unsuspecting buddy

10 bucks will buy you garbage- 20 will get those pic'd above and 50+ will get a shop style with big metal arms connected to each other and the unit clamps together--- instead of trying to tighten each one back and forth while keeping it level tension

smart money would remove the shocks at home and take them to a shop- let them use air tools etc and do it right and fast
That main nut can be tricky to remove too
You have to take the shock apart to replace the spring

Note if using stock shocks on lower springs you can expect faster wearout of the shocks- they were not meant to operate an inch lower than stock- bad for the seals

 

Do people actually have proof of this or is it another wives tale. I have done it twice on stock shocks and both were low mile cars and not a problem with either.

Over in the VW forums this was a common wives tale and I made a specific thread requesting members to post if they did the drop on stock springs and how many actually experienced failure. And also to post the milage at the install and the failure milage.

Out of the 50+ that replied the only failures ( 2 ) were both on cars where the install milage was 80K + and it wasn't dramatic failure it was leakage which would prolly occur shortly anyway.

On my Passat I installed the springs ar 13K and sold the car at close to 70K and no issues or degrading.

 

i had no issues with the free spring compressor they had at autozone. just make sure you have it secured firmly. there's a little sliding lock pin that helps to make sure it is kept in the locking jaws.

 

love that type of spring compressor. works amazing but was still worried about something happening which SHOULD BE NATURAL. if ur not worried thats when accidents happen and thats when u die

just so u know, spring compressors tend to fail. especially with alot of use, hence why i would never use a rented one.

 

as a retired tech who hated doing the spring compressor jobs- I will happily pay a shop 50 bucks to do the parts swap

Its not an old wives tale of failure- and leaking oil from the shock is failure
if you have super low miles it will be ok... past your ownership
If you alredy have 60-80kmiles and put low springs on them- failure will soon follow
There are plenty of post on azine about it- try gen2 threads- which have more miles and people doing mods later in the cars life

 

A shock in the lowered position operates the same as one in the extended position. Only possible damage is caused by bottoming out either externally or internally (whichever comes first). The likelihood of bottoming is always increased when lowering which is why lowering springs are stiffer.

Stiffer springs may in turn require stiffer shocks to maintain the same ride quality. Fortunately damping is more of a matter of personal preference and not so much a mathematical equation. That means stock dampers can work over a rather wide variety of springs depending on the owner's personal preference.

As long as bump stops remain in place (typically they are trimmed down), you shouldn't experience any terrible bottoming. A lowered vehicle will always require the driver to be more cautious and to keep from destroying the dampers.

I ran my 94 civic for at least 5 years and 60k miles on stock shocks and Eibach race springs (400f/250r) at about a -3" drop (very low). When I finally changed shocks out for some Koni sports, they were still in near perfect condition. No leaks or loss of damping.

 

I will look around for a shop or ask around. If anyone recommends a shop in MD close to rockville please let me know.

btw i am going with H techs do i will not have a problem

 

$200 is a good price if they're doing the whole job. I'd almost pay that much just to have someone take the F&^%*(g rear seat out.

On a side note - Spring Compressors, assuming decent quality are as safe as any other tool IF USED PROPERLY AND WITH APPROPRIATE CARE.

Ever use a Table Saw? If that's not a SERIOUSLY dangerous tool, I don't what is. But when used properly and with care, it's a LOT less dangerous.

 

200 was if i brought them the shocks out of the car. No installation was part of it. They said it would take 2 hours.