Anyone changed the struts on an Impreza ?

[Jonny Wilkinson]

Has anyone out there changed the struts on an Impreza ?

Sue's 2010 WRX-S has just failed its MOT on leaky front struts. I'd noticed it was more understeery

Anyway, the MOT place wanted £250 for the struts and £250 for fitting so I've ordered up some KYB Excel-Gs and I'm planning to fit them myself as soon as they turn up.

However, I didn't want to take on a mammoth shitty job so if they're just the same as your average Nissan, I'm good to do them but if there is likely to be parts pinging all over the garage and lots of swearing/tears, I'll give the job to the garage.

I've checked Scoobynet and as usual it was no feckin help at all

p.s. I have spring compressors, breaker bars and the other tools you need to do an S13.

[green_rs13]

I would probably look on google image to see whats going on under the wheel arch.

[Jonny Wilkinson]

I just took the wheel off and looked.

I'm just worried I might get half way through the job and realise its really not as simple as it looks.

A wise man learns from the mistakes of others

[jbsauce]

Pretty much identical mate. Done my forester sti not long ago

[Loopy_drifter]

Straight forward job...

[R3K1355]

I've checked Scoobynet and as usual it was no feckin help at all

I bet they recommended you get the map checked on a rolling road after though, standard Scoobynet advice after doing any work on the car.

[lhassall]

Piece of cake, nothing fancy about the suspension:

http://theattack.rallysportdirect.co...lover-install/

[Jonny Wilkinson]

Great stuff. Thanks guys !

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

[Zornyan]

i bet they recommended you get the map checked on a rolling road after though, standard scoobynet advice after doing any work on the car.

lol

[Jonny Wilkinson]

lol

You can laugh but given it has an EJ25 in it, I'm seriously considering getting the AFRs checked after changing the shocks. Just about anything you do to them seems to be the equivalent of pulling the pin on a grenade !

[Jonny Wilkinson]

So, having done this, I'd like to give the following tips to anyone else doing it....

1. Mark the top bolt with paint (at the top) before undoing it. It has an eccentric cam adjuster in it.

2. Using regular spring compressors is a real twat on these are you can only really grab one coil and the usual sort of compressors will only compress it by a tiny amount before running out of adjustment. If you got a press or access to a press or one of those £120 Clarkes Strut Spring Compressors then you are golden.

Otherwise, expect to have to use the "fire it across the garden" technique to get it undone and the "Grab two coils, compress it, assemble the strut then dismantle the compressor and lever off the bottom grip using a tyre-iron or crowbar" technique.

3. Don't forget to put the bump stop onto the new strut as it will cause excessive swearing when you realise after you have put the strut back on the car


4...and finally, don't take the word of the lying, scheming MOT twot that FAILS your car on "Shock absorber has a serious oil leak". Have a look first or get a second option if your car hasn't done that many miles. After I took them off, I took them to two other mot places and both said "They look fine. We wouldn't even have put that down as an advisory".