Installing lowering springs is a great way to improve the look and the handling of your Saturn. Unfortunately it is a rather expensive project if you don’t decide to do it yourself. The same is also true with installing struts on your car. Sometimes strut replacement is a necessity and I will cover it here because installation of struts follows spring replacement almost exactly. The only difference being that you do not swap the springs on the strut installation.

Required tools:

Adjustable Crescent wrench
Assistant
Breaker Bar
Flathead Screwdriver
Floor Jack
Heavy Duty Ratchet
Jack Stands (4)
Metric sockets
Size: 13, 18, and 19
Razor or hack saw
Spring Compressor
Torque Wrench
Torx Bit for ratchet
21-millimeter metric wrench

Terms:

Dust Shroud - The Rubber dust shroud is visible under the spring on the strut, covering the piston, When completely assembled. It is a black rubber, scrunched, piece that protects the piston from dirt.

Bump Stop - The bump stop is a small piece of Teflon which is located at the top of the dust shroud on the strut assembly. It may take some Coaxing to get it out as it usually has a lot of weight on it.

Upper Strut Assembly - This is the part that does usually not get replaced during strut installation. It consists of the upper spring mount, bearing plate, dust shroud, and bearing.

Strut Tower - The strut tower is the visible portion of the strut assembly when the hood is open, and/or rear window deck is out. It is a black mount above each wheel on either Side of the car.

Strut Cartridge - This is the lower portion of the strut assembly that contains the piston. It is what is replaced during strut installation.

Spring Perch - This is the ‘shelf’ that the spring itself rests on. It is part of the strut cartridge.

Knuckle Assembly - This is part of the suspension that the strut cartridge attaches to via the two large bolts used during tire alignment.

IMPORTANT SAFETY Issues

Before I begin I must stress how important it is to perform this job with the proper tools. Be warned that the springs are under very high compression and you can suffer injuries if you are not absolutely vigilant. Keep your body and anyone else out of the direction of a compressed spring at all times. Another important aspect is to use a spring compressor. Often people assume that the compressor is not necessary, but they are gambling with their lives. Spring compressors can be rented at local tool shops, and the rental price is usually fully refunded upon return of the tool. Also, be certain to use jack stands on a level surface so that the vehicle has a minimal chance of falling.

Spring / Strut Cartridge Installation

Before you put the car up on the jack stands you will want to remove the upholstery that covers the rear strut towers. First, unfasten the plastic covers that run up either side of the rear window. These covers are just clipped into place, so carefully pull them down out of the clips. Do not force them otherwise you may end up breaking a clip. With the plastic covers unfastened lower the rear seat backs. You will see some flat plastic nails holding the rear window deck in place behind the seat and on top of the deck itself. There should be four in all. Remove these using the screwdriver to pry them if necessary. Now you are free to remove the upholstery all together thereby exposing the rear strut towers. Do so.

Now start by loosening the lug nuts on the wheels of the car, using a metric 19-millimeter socket. Loosen but do not remove the nuts at this point. Now using your floor jack, begin to raise the car, starting on the driver or passenger side on the front of the car. Place your jack stands under a solid location of the frame of the car and slowly lower the vehicle to the jack stand. It is important to ensure that the control arm is not resting on the jack stands, otherwise you will have problems when you try to bolt the strut assembly back up to the knuckle assembly. Once the car is on all four jack stands you can finish removing the lug nuts and take off the wheels.

When all the wheels have been removed, you can start to remove the strut assemblies. This should be done one at a time. There are two large bolts, with washers and nuts attaching the strut to the knuckle assembly. These bolts can be a real pain to remove. Use the breaker bar, ratchet, 18-millimeter and 19-millimeter sockets to remove the two lower nuts and bolts. Remember which washers, nuts and bolts correspond to which part of the assembly. These are the bolts used in aligning the tires. Once the bolts are out, pull the knuckle assembly loose.

Now you can start removing the three nuts that fasten the strut assembly to the strut tower using your ratchet and 13-millimeter socket. Have your assistant hold the strut assembly while you loosen the nuts. This will free the assembly from the vehicle, so the assistant will need to be there to catch it. Be careful when removing the nuts. If you snap the studs you will have to shell out upwards of eighty dollars for a replacement upper assembly from the dealer.

Start to compress the spring with the strut assembly removed. Make sure to compress both sides of the spring equally. Compress the spring about one half of an inch from the upper strut bearing and take note of the orientation of the spring compressor once finished. Now take the torx bit and a 21-millimeter wrench to remove the upper strut assembly. With the torx bit in the strut shaft, turn the nut that is threaded onto the shaft counter clockwise. When the nut is off you can remove the upper strut assembly, the dust shroud, and the compressed spring. Decompress the spring immediately.

If you are installing lowering springs, now is a good time to trim the bump stop. The bump stop is located inside of the dust shroud. It is a small, doughnut shaped, piece of teflon. Trim the bump stop, with a razor or hack saw, according to any documentation that came with the springs that you purchased. If no specification is given, try checking the web site, or calling the manufacturer of the springs. Expect to trim up to half an inch off of the lower portion of the bump stop. Replace the bump stop after it is trimmed.

If you are changing the strut cartridges, take your new strut and place the dust shroud on the shaft. Otherwise just put the shroud back on the strut. Now you can begin to compress the new spring (old spring if you are just changing the struts). DO NOT USE THE VERY ENDS OF THE SPRING TO COMPRESS IT. Try to compress the spring to the same place on the spring compressor as you did when removing the spring earlier. As a side note, the wider springs are used for the front and the skinny springs are for the rear. I will call the end of the spring where the coils are closest together, the ‘top’ of the spring, and the other end, the ‘bottom’ of the spring.

Now align the bottom of the compressed spring on the lower spring perch and place the upper rubber mount on the top of the spring. Replace the upper strut assembly in reverse order from described above in removal. Some after market struts do not have a torx fitting at the end of the shaft. KYB-struts require an alan wrench, for example. Once the upper nut is back in place, decompress the spring.

You will need your assistant again to hold the strut in place while you fasten the upper bolts on the strut tower. Each nut should be fastened using a 13-millimeter socket and a torque wrench. Tighten the nuts to 21-ft/lbs of torque. Now attach the knuckle assembly to the strut. Make sure that the bolts and nuts are in good and tight, but do not worry too much about torque. Odds are low that you will have a chance of getting them back for a proper alignment.

Repeat the process for each of the struts on the car. After you have done each spring and strut you can put your wheels back on and lower the car back to the ground. Replace your rear window deck and put everything in the car back together.

Now that you have your springs on and everything is together you should go directly to get your wheels aligned at a local shop. Contrary to some speculation it is not necessary to wait for the springs to “settle” prior to having the wheels aligned. Any mating that takes place with the rubber fittings will happen after the car has driven a few miles, and even then it will not affect the alignment at all. It is a waste to try to drive up to a month with poorly aligned tires, all you will do is waste tread and possibly do damage to the vehicle itself, so get the alignment immediately. It is very easy to replace the struts at the same time that you install your springs. Since this is the case I suggest that you do so.

Good luck with the project, and enjoy your new suspension.