[WarrantyTracker]

Okay, I did this job this month on the fronts, not to replace springs, but to swap out the stock upper damper mounts and replace them with adjustable camber/caster plates.

My car is a 2013, and a word of warning on tools. Unbolting the sway bar ends from the damper housing took a 16mm socket on the wheel side and a 19mm open end wrench on the strut side. Many wrench sets don't include these sizes. (While you're at the tool store, you might as well also get a T50 Torx driver, which you need to loosen the tie rod ends and restore 0 toe if you adjust the camber.)

One, I recommend removing the brake caliper before you disconnect the upper damper mount. The damper and spring assembly is heavy, leans out, and strains the brake fluid hose. It's just easier to pull the brake pad retaining clip, remove the two bolts holding the caliper on, and put it to the side (with something underneath it to hold it up off the floor, so the brake fluid hose isn't strained).

Two, the idea of jacking up the damper and snapping on the spring compressors before you unbolt the upper mount works, but only if you have spring compressors that will fit up in the shock tower worth a darn. Mine didn't. It was no hassle to do it once I had unbolted the upper damper mount. You have to pivot the steering rack to the right angle and compress the spring a little on one side with your hand, but you can pop it out of the tower with no spring compression. Or even if you just compress the bottom two coils a little with the compressor, that will be enough to get it out of the shock tower.

Three, before you disconnect the 3 upper damper mounting nuts, get a floor jack up under the base of the strut/lower control arm joint, with a flat piece of lumber between the jack and the LCA, , and use the jack to bring the assembly down slowly. Leave it under there while you change the spring and reinstall the mounting hardware. It's a heavy unit, and you'll just wear yourself out trying to manage it otherwise.

Four, to ease reinstallation of the 3 upper damper mounting nuts, jack the unit back up into position with the floor jack. Take it most of the way up but leave a little space to get your fingers on the upper mount from the underside of the car, so you can spin it around and line up the 3 mounting bolts with the holes in the shock tower and cross-brace. Then jack it up the rest of the way. For me, this was the quickest part of the job. Seriously.