Well since hpjunk98 talks so well about konis he basically talked me into buying them just by reading his post. Haven't ordered them yet but i'm getting koni's 4/3 shocks and strano springs. Did you guys just go rent a tool/machine from auto zone or somewhere to put these together and install yourself or did you have them installed by a shop. I really don't wanna mess anything up so what is the average cost in having a shop put these on? Thanks!

 

Its easy if you have a good set of spring compressors. I pulled my compenents tried to work it with my spring compressors and couldnt do it. So I just took the parts to a place to get assembled.

 

What kind of popular places do these kinds of these? Do the normal auto shops do it?

 

just do it yourself man. i called around at multiple shops and they all want from $300-$500 to install shocks/springs. if your nervous about taking the front springs off the shocks, then just take it to a local tire shop. i called around on that and they wanted around $20-$30 to take off the old springs and put the new ones on.

 

To have the whole thing assembled on the car, shops will charge you that much. But to just remove the spring off the old shock and compress it onto the new one will cost less and prevent the headache of battling the spring compressor. I fought that thing for hours and prevailed

Next time I would consider having the shop do the compressing

 

Autozone has a set of Spring Compressors in their Loan-a-Tool program. I used those a few years back on my other camaro. Worked fine for me. The hardest part of my install was the nut on top of the front shock, it was rusted solidly in place. I ended up having to split it off...

 

As far as putting the spring on the shock I will probably have a shop do it. I think I should be able to put them on my car. So I guess 20-70 bucks on having someone put the springs on the shocks?

 

I've been quoted ~$325 for shocks and springs but its definitely something you can do yourself with the right tools.

 

Just finishing up mine. Rears are easy. I pulled the shock/spring assy and took to a local garage rather than mess with a spring compressor. $30 a side. Well worth it.

 

Rears are easy, fronts are a little harder. There is a good write up on here I used. Have a spring shop put together your fronts. The toughest part of the job is assembling/disassembling your fronts. Cost me $25 for new spring seats, $150 for new strut mounts, I guarentee yours are a rusty mess anyway, mine were. Its worth it to do it yourself.

 

any of you guys have stock shocks(no springs) that you want to get rid of with decent or low mileage? To the OP sorry to

Once i get shocks i think im goin to take them to a shop to put the springs on the shocks. Doesnt sound like fun messing the spring compressors haha. Good luck.

 

i saw mike on horsepower tv do his the old style way. jack under the control arm loosen everything then gently lower it down. springs and shocks come out apart. put it back together and jack the control arm back up and tighten the bolts back down. looked way easier then using a spring compressor. anyone ever done it that way?

 

I've done that on a 69 GTO, but I don't see how that would work on our 4th gen fronts because of the bolt and upper retainer that hold the spring on to the shock. You have to remove the shock from the upper A-arm to get them off.

 

cool...I'm helping

Spring compressors can be rented at most auto parts places. Just take your time and do it with hand tools. Took me a while to get it all done, but it was well worth it. Make sure you have some liquid wrench because that top nut on the front shocks is a BITCH! Follow the instructions online and you'll be fine. Make sure you compress the new springs when you put them on the shocks. Some people don't but then the top nut isn't fully set back into its factory possition. GOOD LUCK and feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

 

Our springs aren't mounted in a way for that to work. The whole shock/spring assembly comes out as a unit. There's no way to avoid using a spring compressor.


-Mike

 

well i saw him do it on several cars. he unbloted the three top mounts and the center nut and dropped the whole thing down. with the top perch staying in place in the strut tower.

 

Same thing happened to me. Had to take a blow torch and an impact wrench to get that bitch off

 

Our springs are under high pressure even when the shock is fully extended. Thats an injury waiting to happen...