The spring compressing will be a two man job - esp. if you have spax springs - 'cause the jaws on the compressors will skid on the f*ckin rock'ard paint and try to kill you every ten seconds !!! Second person will need to hold the compressors while you wind them in and out (alternate between the two (or more) evenly).

If you've got stock springs don't worry they are a piece of p*ss. Just grab as much spring as possible 'cause they are very long and will leave enough pressure in the remaining coil to make reassembly a swear-fest.

Are you just replacing the bearing or you buying a 'complete' top mount kit (pugs top mount kit doesn't include the spring pan) ? As long as you keep track of the order that everything came off in and put it back that way (with new bits of course) - then you'll be fine - oh and remember the thick washer that sits on the top of the damper rod - its easy to forget while your sorting the order that the rest of the mount go's back on in

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Cad Monkey will work for chocolate biscuits....I'm not kidding

Loosen the big strut top nut. You will need a 7mm allen key or similar to hold the rod and a deep offset spanner, 21mm I think.


The usual stuff under the car, loosen wheelnuts, jack up car, wheel off, remove top droplink nut and free from shock mounting point


Change sides

Remove brake caliper and disc and the brackets for the abs/brake lines so that instead of this


You have a bit of space to work


Now comes the tricky bit where you have to compress the springs.
I find it easiest to jack from the bottom of the balljoint and then attach the spring compressors when they are under quite a lot of tension. If the car starts to move off the axle stands you are in big trouble. BE CAREFUL and don't overdo it! Sorry, no pics for this bit as I was a bit preoccupied

Soak the whole area around the bottom of the strut and the pinch bolt with wd40. Remove strut pinch bolt. Freeing the strut is quite easy if you use a large chisel and a BFOH


When the bottomof the strut is free, undo the three smaller nuts in the engine bay to free and remove the complete strut. You should be looking at something like this.


You might need to compress the springs a bit to get the top mount cradle and bearings free. Just be careful, you dont want it bouncing around off the walls while you duck for cover. Remember the order that everyting came off the strut when putting it back together.

If you f*ck it up, don't blame me

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Standard Black 6
Black HBSC6

And I still haven't fitted the second chock yet

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Standard Black 6
Black HBSC6

bloody hell greenbelt - fair play

Luke - arent these about 20 quid from gsf? Are the genuine ones that much better?

Don't forget to undo the 18mm on the front of the wishbone so you can move it down off the strut.

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Cad Monkey will work for chocolate biscuits....I'm not kidding

So how long did it take carl to do it all?

I will be atempting this today...i think...and am glad to read you dont have to remove calipers and disks!

Also have balljoints and droplinks to fit too

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Still watching you...

hi, does the spring pan nead changing ????

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andrew315rawson@live.co.uk
Moonstone phase 7 gti6
My Project thread: http://www.306gti6.com/forum/showthread.php?id=119992&page=1

^That's the way I do it, far quicker.

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- Bespoke rollcages/additions/adjustments. Half cages right up to complete custom spaceframes - MSA/FIA spec, CDS, ROPT, T45, etc - PM me
Email me!
Custom-made polybushes available - need an odd size or fitment? - anything from batch work to one-off pieces.

Got this done yesterday, and yes getting everything fixed back onto the shock was indeed a swear fest for me, in the end got the passengers side done ok, with help from a mate, then he left and the drivers side didnt go so well for me.
In the end the whole spring decided to come off so i had to start from scratch. And my mate came back to help again

Anyway, its all done and just listening out for any more creaks/knocks from it now.

Thanks to everyone who has posted up guides on this work, it made it so much easier for me. Now its done, i can see it is actually quite a straight forward job, but you never know til you do it

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Still watching you...

One thing i did notice though when I was trying to attach the pan and top mount to the strut, the strut rod kept dropping under its own weight, which made it quite frustrating when trying to bolt everything on!

Is this normal or is it knackered?

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Still watching you...

No dont think so. will double check later though.

Where can you buy standard shocks and springs from?

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Still watching you...

i changed my top mount over without even compressing the spring or taking it out. thats an even quicker way to do it, i must be a pro! Didnt take brakes or anything off just the wheel.