My sway bar was loose by a half turn and it was making weird ass sounds. Make sure you check both nuts on the sway bar, even though you only touched one.

 

check the end links first

 

Make sure all bolts are tighten to spec. I forgot to do my rear lower shocks and they would make an annoying creaking/tapping noise. After I tighten it down to spec noise is gone. Did you get the flat top bolts for your sway bar? The bolts could be hitting the rear spring causing tapping noises.

 

So I have Eibachs that I've been waiting patiently to install and have been studying this DIY like my grade depends on it.

So I planned on tackling this project on monday but had a few hours free this morning so I figured I would do the rear today and the front tomorrow. I jack up the car and get my 14mm socket... not budging. 14mm combo wrench... not budging. WD40 wait still nothing. jack up the spring just slightly no luck. Put a pipe on the wrench for leverage nothing. What else can I do before i attempt to take it to a tire shop and try to bribe them to use their tools to loosen that bolt?

And I'm 6'1" 230 lbs so before anyone suggests the weightroom keep that in mind.

 

I had to use my feet to move those bolts. Just find something to brace yourself and kick the wrench.

Please be sure your wrench can take that much force before you do this. Also, be sure the socket is firmly on the bolt head to avoid stripping it, and use your foot in such a way that the socket stays on. You may want another hand to keep the socket in place while you position your foot.

 

I dont want to put that much force on my ratchet. I'll probably break it cuz its not the best quality. I dont know maybe I need to buy a breaker bar or take it to a shop. The tire shop that did my rims quoted me to do my springs it would be 3 hours at 114/hr WTF hell no! Maybe they will take a six pack or 10 bucks just to break those bolts loose... we'll see. I wish I knew of a tuner shop in the so. san jose area. When I lived in so cal I use to take my cars to Hook-Ups in upland which later became Whitfield Racing and they were the best. Anyone know of a shop like that around san jose?

 

A breaker bar is about 2 six-packs' worth, and will do more than one job for you

 

Just spray some PB rust buster that you can get at the hardware store or auto store. WD-40 just displaces water. I use rust buster on a lot of hard to remove bolts on suspension and works great. Just spray around bolt, wait a few minutes, add some muscle and BAM bolt comes loose.

 

I'll try that tomorrow when I give it the old college try again. Thanks for the suggestion

 

i had the same problem as you... i ended up spending 10$ to have them loosened at a local garage... one came loose fairly easily while the other required a HUGE ammount of heat and an air impact... that was well worth the 10 bucks... i regret wasting so much time on it prior to doing that...

EDIT: btw don't use a spring compressor... lay the shock flat on the ground put your feet on the spring and it'll only make a ridiculous pop...

 

I think the problem here is that the car is jacked up. When I did my rear I had it on the ground first loosen it and then jack it up. When you jack the rear up there is pressure from the rear on the bolt which makes it hard to remove.

 

I might have forgot to mention that but that was one of my thoughts as well so in that whole 1.5 hours of trying i did lower it back down on the ground to retry all my previous attempts to no avail, and then back up in the air and again nothing, so tomorrow I think I'll swing by sears auto center cuz I always see civics and stuff parked where the employees park and see if I can get them to do it for 10 bucks or sumthin. If they dont do it I'll try the auto place that was suggested in the bay area forum and then lastly if those dont come through it's pb rust buster to the rescue... hopefully. I'm gonna get these s.o.b.'s on one way or another

BTW autozone will rent you a spring compressor for FREE. You pay/deposit $50 and when/if you return it within 90 days they refund the full $50. They'll tell you after 90 days they're yours. They probably had so many scammers buying and returning that they figured if you can't beat em join em so they just keep a couple of sets in store that are for this very situation

 

i also tried while the car was on flat ground and nothing...

lol... ok if you absolutely want to rent a SC but this is more than useless... if you ever have to remove aftermarket spring though... that might come in handy!

 

Alright!!!! RELIEF. I got my suspension done!

Took it to a tire shop (skips goodyear on blossom hill) they loosened my 6 bolts for $35. Well worth it after wasting an hour and a half bruising my hands getting no where.

So now that its done, here's my advice for future people that may use this thread to learn how to do their own lowering springs. You will save anywhere between 150-350 dollars in labor costs if you have a jack, jack stands and some hand tools (ALL the one's OP listed) even if you dont, you can go to auto zone and get a low profile jack for 80 buck and jack stands for 25 and the tools neccessary for maybe 30 which is still less than the lowest quote i got on labor for the install!

I drove for about an hour after it was all done and here's what I can report back with my Eibach sportlines 2.0f 1.8r drop on 15x6.5 sparco drift with original 195/55/15 dunlop tires.
1. no weird sounds at all! perfect
2. no rubbing while turning or going over speed bumps
3. only a little rub in the back when i hit harsh bumps on the freeway
4. no axel popping out by doing what the OP said about turning wheel all the way to the side your working on and use a bungie cord to help keep the assembly in place while you work on the strut
5. Free spring compressor rentals at autozone for 50 deposit which is fully refunded when you return them and it makes it very easy to remove the nut on the top
6. I cut about 1.25" off the bump stop maybe 1.5" so we'll see how that plays out
7. Eibach's said they definitely put the logo right side up on the springs so you would know which way they would go. and they are progressive so the rears had the tightly wound coils at the top and the fronts had the coils at the bottom and they double checked over the phone for me
8. make sure you know where your jack point is on the front. I thought it was the brace below the radiator but its actually behind the engine/tranny theres a x point. you'll probably have to drive up some lo pro ramps to access it with a lo pro jack even. if you jack up your car where i did you will bend something that doesn't let your hood shut flush but i just bent it back by standing on the square spot behind the latch and it bent back so my hood is flush again
9. Give yourself at least 3-4 hours to do this project

Thanks everyone who helped me on this. Rep will be spread to all of you!! and def to OP thanks for making this DIY it is crucial.

Keep an eye on the BOM pic thread to see my setup and how it looks on wed when i wash and shoot my car

 

the end of the spring with the tighter wound coils is the top.

Does that mean that the lowering springs with the coils that are closely together sits at the top?

 

this thread is awesome. Ive had my Eibach sportlines on for 3 days now. I bought a good low-pro jack and it gets under the car just fine. Took me 2 days but that was because of a snapped wheel stud issue. i got the springs actually on the car in a few hours. going to get the alignment tommorow. ride is as ryanroland mentioned for me aswell, no issues just alil noise when going over hard bumps of having to angle cross something with a decent dip. I think its my progressive bar hitting the exhaust but not 100% sure.

 

@airwicc: It doesn't matter for the rear springs, but it does for the front springs. I believe you have it right. The front springs will only work one way.

@ L_F_F: I recommend waiting 3-7 days before getting the alignment done, so that the springs can settle in. Otherwise, the alignment will be off in a few days. The noise you hear may be the rear tires rubbing against the wheel wells. That happened to me.

 

well actually for progressive springs, the tightly wound pack will go on the bottom, and on linear it will go on top...

so it all depends on the brand you have... maybe it won't do anything, but it's better to do it right!

 

Just did this today to my 2011 Fit. Great DIY. a couple differences between yours and the 2011. I'll try to post the differences soon. Other than that, great job and thank you.

 

Finished Product...Thanks for the help