hey all, I'm installing my h-techs and illuminas today, and everything has been going smoothly...i got my drivers side front one completely finished and on the car.....it all went good and i finished it in about an hour....THEN i move on to the passenger side...i took the wheel off, disconnected the brake lines and loosened the upper strut mounts but didn't take them off before loosening the steering knuckle bolts....after i got those loosened i took the top three bolts off and all of a sudden the strut assembly falls through and i look down and my brake disc is about 4 inches away from the floor! WTF??? the driver's side didn't do that!! i don't really know what to check and i really hope i didn't cause anything! i did exactly what i did on the other side and followed housecor's how-to! i really hope nothing else is broken down there, because my warranty would most likely be voided if i took it into the dealer with suspension problems....HELP ME PLEASE! (or just reassure me that that's completely normal )

CLIFFS: I'm installing my h-techs and illuminas and i think something on my control arm is broken because the right side sags really low and the driver's side didnt...

 

Hmmm what could it be??? When I was doing mine, nothing like that happened? BTW did you raise both wheels from the ground to install those or you're just raising one side at a time??? And you used the jack stands right, not the a actual jack to keep the car lifted, right?
Well can you make some pics if possible, that way we can help you out more easily by seeing what's realy going on.

 

maybe you didnt tighten the jack enough and some of the air came out lowering the car

 

Well when you take the three nuts off of the strut tower, there is nothing else holding it on. As for the brake caliper, visually inspect your flex line from the caliper to where it connects to the rigid line. You can also pump the brakes to see if any fluid leaks out.

 

maybe your axle coming off? happen to my friend car once.

 

mine did that and its normal. did it on 4 cars i have helped lower.
it doesnt always drop down, it just depends on the angle of all the linkage. if you move it around the whole rotor/hub assembly will drop down making it easier to install the strut.

 

Question? I am sorry to borrow this thread LA02Max but I gotta ask this.
Any of you guys know what extra equipment I might need to lower my car myself, I got a set of eibach pro's and I want to the job myself. And I looked at the how to's on the org I found the tools needed. It looks like a 2 man job any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Look through this write-up to see what ya need:

http://www.innerbean.com/housecor/strut_install.html

 

I was there for 2 of those 4 cars.

 

that's completly normal...it happened to me when I did my drop and nothing broke.....

 

yeah, i finished the install and it definitely made it easier to attatch it to the control arm...i couldn't tell that anything was wrong when driving, so i hope you're right...

i only installed the fronts today, because i had to work at 1:00, but i'll go snap some pics...it looks awesome and so far, i cant tell any difference between the stock ride quality and now, but there is NO body lean and not as much dive when braking as there used to be...i'm lovin it so far! i'm off tomorrow so i'll be able to finish the rest...i just couldn't wait this morning and thought i could at least get it half done! haha

 

sorry, here are the pics

job half done:

 

hey LAO, out of topic, do u got the polished wheel, looks so shiny, if yes is it DIY?

 

No it's not...those are Titanium Edition wheels.

 

i got them not too long ago; they're the OEM ones, not the ebay replicas i think they look really good on the GP maxes....

anyway, i took my car out again and flew around the corner down the street at ~55 mph where usually my car would lean like crazy, and i noticed almost NO body lean! i'm so happy i went with the h-techs! already the car handles 10000 times better and it doesn't feel floaty going over big bumps, all while retaining the stock-like ride (i can't tell the difference over bumps)

 

Thanks puppet master

 

yes this is absolutely normal....when I install my suspension's I have the control arm jacked up so the shock body has a smoother landing....

 

Same thing happened to me.. But for some reason made it harder to get the strut in :/ oh well its done now.. I also didnt have time to do the back

 

ugh was that a horrible day....i TRIED doing the back and was half successful...i started at around 9:00am and with the tools i had, i couldn't get the stupid lower bolt off because i only have two 3/8 in. drive 17mm sockets and my breaker bar was a 1/2 in. drive, so i had to put my car back together and drive 20 miles to sears to get an adapter...after i got that i went back home and popped that sucker right off, and completely finished that driver's side in 30 min...here's where it gets fun....i began to try the other side and almost killed myself attempting to get the stupid thing off...i tried for 30 min. straight just putting all i had into it....so then i decided to put my car back together AGAIN and drive 20 more miles to my grandfather's house, where he had an air compressor and an impact wrench...well the impact wrench didn't work and we tried every type of lubricant available and we STILL couldn't budge it with the breaker bar...so THEN he went and got a 4 ft. long steel tube and we tried breaking it off that way, but no luck; it just kept on slipping off....SO we decided to go pay $25 and rent a 1/2 in. drive impact wrench capable of 600 lb./ft. of torque...went home, tried it again, still no luck....we tried the steel tube multiple times without succeeding after that....now i work 8-5 all week and am not going to have time to take it in to get it removed...this SUCKS!!!!!! i have an extremely uneven car with one stupid factory strut assembly on there!! the left side of my car looks great, but then you look at the back side and it's tilted and the passenger side makes it look like i have huge tires in the back

i can't tell you how much this sucks; i'm going to a meet next tuesday (my next day off) so idk what i'm going to do! i'm screwed....

 

Ouch. You could always cut off the head and buy a replacement bolt from the dealer, but really, there's no reason a long breaker bar shouldn't work - you're turning it the right way, right?

Anyway, if it makes you feel any better, I don't know that I've seen a lowered pearl white TE before - looks awesome. Very clean.

 

With all the abuse you put on that lower bolt you did not snap it? You need to get a touch and touch the nut where the bolt screws it. When it gets red hot try removing the bolt. You can buy a plumber torch kit at home depot for like $20.

 

i dont' think cutting off the head would do anything for me, would it?? i think it's frozen where the threads are...that would just probably make it harder to get out of there! haha, and yeah i thought about the direction many many times, and i was turning it the right way...it was the passenger side one and the wrench was toward the front of the car and i was pushing down on it (the bolt is facing the inside of the car as you probably remember)....the impact wrench would also spin the same way....and thanks for the comment! the car looks excellent....on the left side
Also, thanks a lot for that how-to!! i mean, a lot of it was common sense that i suppose i would have figured out eventually, but it helped speed things up a LOT! And it also saved me from having to research all the torque specs


i know! i really don't understand how i didn't snap either the bolt or any of my tools! we have a welding torch but i'm too afraid to try anything like that...i wouldn't want to ruin anything

my mom said she'd come and trade cars with me tomorrow so she can take it into the shop, because she's off work and have them just loosen it so that i can quickly finish that last corner...

 

Damn that freakin sux Colin...I recently worked on my friend's 2k2 and did the rears first....broke off the lower mount nut with my 18.5 inch 1/2 driver breaker bar....I also had the axle supported with my jack (just a tad)...maybe that helped? I dunno...well your car shouldn't see rust right? Louisiana? I know all the cars I worked on came from Cali...and I had no problems breaking bolts

 

yeah i was also using an 18.5 inch 1/2 drive breaker and it wouldnt come off...even after i attatched that freaking 4 foot pipe to it....it's originally a texas car (just moved here in august two weeks before katrina hit) so i can't imagine it's rusted...it could just be corroded...i also had the car jacked up with a 6 ton floor jack on the rear axle and had jack stands in the two outer jack points just in case

 

spray it with wd40 or some break free really well from all angles, and let it penetrate for about 15 minutes.

 

been there, done that...we let it soak for 25 minutes and tried three different lubricants and went at it with the impact wrench afterwards set to 600 lb./ft. and it still wouldn't break loose.... I think that if we had more leverage and a better angle on it, we could have gotten it loose with that 4 ft. bar...i think if we take it in to the shop and they put it up on a lift, it will be much easier to attack it from underneath....well...let's hope so

 

i had similar problem, but it was solved by using a 5' pipe from home depot. its a black gas line steel pipe. i think it was about $10 for the 5 footer. they have different diameters for sale there. just pick one that fits your socket wrench best. i think the key is to apply strong and steady pressure, and not jerk it too hard. that's how bolt heads come off.
ps. i am not sure if you can, but maybe spray the bolt from both sides?

 

yeah, we had that 4 footer, and like i said, if it were at a better angle, i'm sure we would have broken it loose with that, but even with the car jacked as high as the jack would take it (19 1/2 in. ) we couldnt' get enough leverage...i need to get the car in the air...i don't think a shop would charge very much to just quickly raise the car and break the bolt loose, would they?

and yeah, we soaked it from every angle on every part we could (and i mean SOAKED! haha) and let it sit for a while....i really don't understand how this thing is on there so tight...the other one was a piece of cake with my breaker bar!

 

i doubt they will charge you much...I remember back in the days I stopped by a gas station and asked the guy if he could help me break off the oil filter on my old maxima...cuz it didn't budge! so he put it on the hoist and broke it off with some real big pliers...i slipped him a $5 and said thanks!

 

that's the reason I haven't changed mine in the rear.... 6 months so far and still going with oem in the rear Illiminas and maxsapeed in the front. I have to do this... well I think am going to take it someplace in which they can remove the bolt for me.....

 

You can always drill out the bolt. Of course, that's a last resort - but it sounds like you're getting to that point.

 

yeah that would have been a last resort, but it's out!
my grandpa took it to a mechanic he knows and they got it off really quick...like i said, it was much easier to get it when it was in the air. I'll finish installing the last one when i get off work tonight at 6. then i'll be DONE and i can start taking pictures

 

alright the installation is done, and the car feels AWESOME! here are some interesting pics of the install:


comparison between front springs:


rears:

 

and here's how i was working tonight:

 

great shots colin! the ride must be alot different now huh?

 

Give us some feedback once you get to drive on the setup a bit and where are the pictures of the front AND rear installed ... we're waaaiting

 

Yeah defenately tell us how's the ride. Tell us how stifer it is from the stock, and do you get bottoming outs. Me and Kruppa are probably more interested here in it then most of the other guys, sence we're going to be running on the same set up, H-techs in front and H&Rs in the back.
BTW how long did it take you to put fronts and rears??? Did you do it alone??? I find the rears more easy to install then the fronts, they just go faster, what do you think????

 

Shurik - i'm curious to why your running two diff set of springs? is it becuz of the drop?

 

Yah both of us have H&R all around now and we love the ride/handling and the rear is perfect height but we both want the front to be a little lower and Progress and Tein H-Tech offer an even stance with the H&R rear (which we dont want to change bc 1. it's easier to just leave it and 2. the ride is so comfortable, while also putting the car at a low enough stance)...Progress has been known to give a more harsh ride and many guys with Progress are switching to H-Tech as a substitute so that's why we are doing it.

 

hey ya'll, i'm on my lunch break right now, so i'll make it quick:

I did do the install on my own, minus the one stupid bolt, and i think, overall it took me around 5 or 6 hours, which really isn't bad...it just took me so long because i tried for around 7 hours to figure out a way to get that bolt off.....compressing the springs was cake....when reading the how-to, i thought it would take forever to compress just one spring, but it really didn't it went relatively quick even when i had to use the crescent wrench because there wasn't enough room for the socket wrench..

so anyways, the ride is AWESOME...over small or big bumps, the ride is no harsher than stock...where you notice the difference is while turning, of course, the car doesn't dive as much when breaking or shifting, and over big smooth bumps, you don't get that floaty feeling that was there when the car was stock...it was an amazing improvement over stock...with the illuminas set to 2f/3r, the car rides very well...when i installed my fronts i couldn't notice the difference at all going down my road over bumps (and whoever's been in LA knows the roads here suck...)

ok well i'll shut up and go take some pics now...