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Strut & Spring Install

DIY: 
75K views 70 replies 38 participants last post by  Drake Equation 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
It's really easy, just a bit time consuming. If your gonna get or have already got an upgraded rear sway bar you might wanna have reinforcing tabs welded onto the rear stuts first.

Tools needed: jack and jack stands,17mm deep socket, 10mm &14mm sockets or you can use long handle 6pt wrenches. Might be a couple other sizes also but 17mm is largest. A 6 inch extension and swivel joint will come in handy for top rear strut bolts.
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1. Go to auto zone or the like and borrow spring compressor. (small deposit like $50 you get it back). You want the outside mounted type.
2. Loosen lugs.
3. Jack your car up (front or back first) using the tow hook and put jack stands under. We'll do front first.
4. Take a wheel off and spray the 2 large bolts and nuts on the bottom of the strut with some WD40 .


While that sits for a bit remove the two small nuts on the strut assembly that hold on the brake lines ( ones on the side and one on the back area) Disconnect the sway bar end link (it's one nut/bolt thats on the strut housing) Now remove the 2 large nuts, the bolts you might need to tap out with a mallet.
5. Now this is optional, place your jack under the edge of the rotor so when you take off top strut bolts it doesn't fall off and hit / break anything.
6. Go to top of tower inside engine bay area (under the rubber cap) and loosen the large center nut at the top of the strut. (don't remove it just loosen it)
7. Now remove the three small nuts(mark one with white out so when reinstalling you can position correctly) and your strut will be able to fall down and out. Lower the jack if you used it and guide out the strut.
8. Put your spring compressors on and tighten them down some ( doesn't have to be super compressed, just enough) now you can fully remove that top center nut and remove the top cover and pull off the spring. Take note of where the ends of the spring are so you can position them the same on the new struts.
9. Take off the rubber mat on the old strut and place it on the new strut, you will also be transfering the bump stop and dust tube. I also used the OEM center nut instead of the one that came with the KYB's.
10. Now take the compressors off the old springs and compress the new springs. Position the new springs onto the new struts as mentioned above and attach the upper plate(torque it down after it's in place).
11. Swivel the top plate so that the marked (white out) bolt is in the same postion as when you started and guide it up into place. You can use the jack again to hold it in place while you put the 3 small nuts back on. Then after you do that you can put back on the 2 large nuts/bolts and the 2 bolts that hold the brake lines in place. Now you can torque down that center bolt. Reattach your sway bar end link.
12. Now you can do the other front strut.
13. The rear struts are the same except for a couple small things. To get to the rear strut tower all you need to do is unscrew the plastic piece that the cargo net attaches to, pop off the single screw cover that faces the back and remove that one screw, then remove the cover. The top of the strut is under the plastic cover in the hatch area. Extend fully your seat belts and then tie them in a knot so that they don't retract and then you won't have to deal with them getting stuck. The extension rod and swivel head will make it much easier to get to the 3 small nuts at the top of the rear struts. Also, either disconnect your negative battery cable or be sure not to touch the hatch area light inside the drivers side rear strut or you'll pop that fuse. The only other thing is there's a clip that holds one of the lines onto the strut housing on the rear struts. You just take a flat head screw driver and remove the clip, the KYB's have the same thing but you will reuse the clip itself.

More pics from HMA site.




These are the spring compressors I used, you can rent them at any autoparts store:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=360191781362
 
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#5 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

HAHA... my car is flying at the moment.... I started this spring install last weekend, and I got the rears on with no prob.... but I went to do the fronts and the 2 bolts on either side holding the strut tower base to the control arm are SEIZED on, lol.... like totally rusted and not budging..... any tricks to get them off? Also, why did they make the front bolts a 19mm nut on one side and the 17mm on the other... lol
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

HAHA... my car is flying at the moment.... I started this spring install last weekend, and I got the rears on with no prob.... but I went to do the fronts and the 2 bolts on either side holding the strut tower base to the control arm are SEIZED on, lol.... like totally rusted and not budging..... any tricks to get them off? Also, why did they make the front bolts a 19mm nut on one side and the 17mm on the other... lol
There is 2 places i've seen these bolts seize.
The nut can seize onto the bolt.... or the bolt can seize into hub.
IF the nuts seize onto the bolt. soak it with WD40 or pb blaster for a couple hours.
Then get yourself a breaker bar and a 3 foot snipe.
if the breaker bar and snipe fail to releve the problem. hit it with a torch being carefull not to heat the strut too much. just the bolt. then hit it again with the snipe. these are good bolts and nuts so i wouldnt be overly concerned with snapping the bolt... it just wont happen.
new bolts are about 3 bux from the dealership so it's worth replacing them if they're rusted to ****.

Now, if the bolt rusts into the hub your in trouble.
Basicly once the nuts were off we had 2x 250 lb men on the end of a 4 foot snipe to break the bolt loose.... the bolt still would barely budge so we hit the end with a hammer while turning the bolt with the snipe and it finally came out. Took All night to get all 8 bolts out. replaced all 8 bolts....
 
#7 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

Like ^^^ said use a breaker bar if you have one. When I first put my Eibachs on we had to use a rubber mallet on some of the nut / bolts after letting them soak for a bit with WD40. If you don't have a large breaker bar then as said your largest wrench / ratchet and a pipe or something equal for more leverage and let the nut / bolt soak a bit longer.
Really don't know why they used two different size nuts / bolts lol but oh well. Just to let you know, when I installed my KYB's I snapped one of my sockets on the front whels lol, gawd I sure do luv Craftsman (free replacement and an upgrade to the lazer etch type!)
 
#8 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

SO.... I got my install 100% done, and it looks AWESOME! .... so I cheated though on those 2 bolts, just had my buddy at the dealership use their impact wrench and they came right off....
 
#14 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

^^^both questions get a yes. I made a thread about mine "Look what came in today" is the title and I put up a whole tool list that I used. But I followed this directly and just paying attention to the spring parts. you'll be fine though.
 
#41 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

does neone know, for reference, what size the "rear strut lower mounting bolt" is, and the size wrench or socket i need for the rear end links?
12mm in the rear and 14mm in the front
 
#16 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

Question: I just installed my springs yesterday and I was an idiot to follow the part where I had to tie my seat belts so it wouldn't get stuck. Now, that it is stuck, anyone has a solution to getting this fixed? Thanks! :)
 
#20 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

Question: I just installed my springs yesterday and I was an idiot to follow the part where I had to tie my seat belts so it wouldn't get stuck. Now, that it is stuck, anyone has a solution to getting this fixed? Thanks! :)
If you extended the rear seat belts and then tied a knot in them how did they become stuck? The purpose of this is to keep them from retracting all the way which gets them stuck.
 
#17 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

You have to have to angle perfectly horizontal to pull it out.
 
#19 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

Well that's what you have to do to pull them out, otherwise it stays locked.
 
#23 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

Has anyone found a problem taking off the middle bolt on top of the strut tower?
It shouldn't be too hard. Make sure you lay it down and put something in front of it so nothing ends up flying when you unbolt it. If that made any sense at all.
 
#25 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

Great DIY. I have 2 basic questions. I have a 2003 tiburon with 85K miles on it:
1.) When should I replace struts? How can I tell when driving that struts need to be replaced?
2.) Should springs be replaced when struts are replaced? I'm not into high performance but just want to maintain good suspension.
 
#26 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

Great DIY. I have 2 basic questions. I have a 2003 tiburon with 85K miles on it:
1.) When should I replace struts? How can I tell when driving that struts need to be replaced?
2.) Should springs be replaced when struts are replaced? I'm not into high performance but just want to maintain good suspension.
If you haven't replaced your struts and you already put 85k, that's a lot of pressure you're putting on your struts if you lower it. IMO, I don't think it will last you a very long time. I would suggest replacing your struts at the same time you lower your car. :)
 
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#28 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

thanks for the DIY, just finished dropping the car, turned out amazing
I'm glad to hear that! I would ask for pictures but you only have 1post! :3_winkthu
 
#29 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

Just attempted to install kyb struts and eibach springs, sadly I wasn't even able to get the stock struts/springs out. On the rear the bolts became seized and was scared of stripping them. On the front the endlinks just kept turning, tried putting a wrench in the boot but it still kept turning. Guess I gotta have a shop do it :/.
 
#30 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

Just attempted to install kyb struts and eibach springs, sadly I wasn't even able to get the stock struts/springs out. On the rear the bolts became seized and was scared of stripping them. On the front the endlinks just kept turning, tried putting a wrench in the boot but it still kept turning. Guess I gotta have a shop do it :/.
Do you have the spring compressor? You put the compressor on the OEM's then you unbolt so you don't hurt yourself.
 
#32 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

His problem is he can't even get them out from underneath the car to need to compress them. They're stuck to the sway bar, etc.
Oh, I guess I misunderstood his statement. If you have pictures of what you're trying to do, I can try to help you. Don't take it to the shop, the shop are going to charge up the *** for an installation. But, if you don't want to do it yourself, guess you can take it to the shop anyway. It's your money!
 
#33 ·
Re: DIY: Strut & Spring Install

His problem is pretty simple after looking at his location - he has the same problem I had...his stuff is probably rusty and stripped and he can't separate the new struts from the endlinks - living in MA caused the problem for me, so I just bought new endlinks since I was putting on new sway bar and removed everything from the bushing location, and just yanked everything as one piece.
 
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