Carlos A

I have installed the set. I have paid special attention to the position of the springs on the seats so they match the stock set up.
I have knoticed that in the front, the lettering of the springs are facing the front of the car while the back springs are facing the rear!

They fit correctly though (exactly as the stockers did) it is just curious how the new spring fit (I would expect the lettering to be facing outward toward the wheels)

Also when changing the rear shocks, I have noticed that the paper thing "gasket" was all shriveled and was letting water and dirt into the trunk! What the heck?.
I made a new gasket out of a rubbery type of material (poly to be more accurate). This should stop the leakage.

Last, the passenger side rear shock mounted exactly as the stock while the driver's side did not, it was off by about 1" of the stock position (1" along the circumference) I had to place the upper seat a bit differently so it would line up with the holes. The rubber seat is even (kind of) and when the spring compresses against it it makes a new indentation in the rubber. I thought this was odd.

A curious thing is that while taking the spring of the assembly from the back setup, I forgot to compress the spring!, well, it was not tight as the front (compression), the whole thing came apart nicely (with a bit of spring pressure but nothing strong to kick or anything,) well, I went through the ritual of compressing the rear spring to place in the assembly (as it was done in the front) and release the spring with the upper mount complete and tight, well there was not a lot of pressure in the assembly, in fact after tighten and aligned I could still (with some mild effort) rotate the spring around the base a bit. Is it supposed to be that lose?. I know that when the car is fully pressing the weight on them they will be tight, this is only when the car is lifted and the shocks are fully extended.
I know that the shorter length of the H&R could cause this, but it is (still) bodersome.
By the way both pairs of springs are formed the same (front with front back with back)

Questions:

- Are the letters on the springs supposed to face outwards (toward the wheels?)
- Are the back springs supposed to fit "no-so-tight" as the front ones do?

Peace,

Eric L.

I seem to recall that I did not need to compress the H&R's to mount them on the Tokicos. But I did have to compress the stock spring to remove them from the struts. However, I did have to squeeze down on the spring a bit to get the center bolt onto the strut (so the springs could not turn afterwards). I also recall that the rears were not as tight as the fronts, but none of them had any freeplay. The springs should be seated on the upper and lower perch notches, and should not rotate while in the strut assembly. If the spring is not properly seated, you will hear creaking and popping noises when you turn the steering wheel.

Also, on my car, the H&R logos are all facing outwards towards the wheels. They should also be right side up as well (can read it while looking at the wheel), if they are upside down, the spring is mounted incorrectly.

vw1xvWL6

Yeah, the lettering on my springs are also facing out
towards the wheel.

Carlos A

Thank you guys for your replies.
I was very careful with the positioning and have re-checked the springs seating on the shocks ans struts, they are defenitely wright on the notch (the indentation for the begining of the spring in the bottom.)
I just bought this set 2 weeks ago (they are brand new) from tirerack.com I think this set was marked that way (lettering). They are upright just facing forward in the front and back in the rear, strange ...
The rears are fine, they just slide (rotationally) inside of the lower rubber tubing (the one that seats on the notched shock), It takes some effort to do it though. I was thinking that I did not tighten the upper nut enough, so I went and re-tighten the shock nut. It calls for 13-17 ft/lb of torque but it is hard to measure with a torque wrench since it is necessary to torque lock the threaded rod at the top (the plat peace), a nut will cover it. So I gave it a good hand pull (usually good for a 10 - 15 ft/lb on a 4-6 long wrench.)

Peace,