I need to remove one of my front struts to do some suspension work.... i know how hard those bottom bolts can be to remove, will one of those battery impact guns fit in there or should i look at getting a cheap compressor, then i have it for other air tools aswell........or should i just use a breaker bar and just put some effort in ?

Any advice as to what you guys use would be of help

 

Fronts you should be able to get a gun in, as you can turn the steering wheel to make the bolt heads face you.

 

Its the rears that you need to worry about lol

 

All my experience is from classics but if the same is true.

Don't spin the bolts with an impact gun. The camber adjust bolt spinning can round out the shaped hole. This is more of an issue on the rear lateral links but I would avoid it on the fronts too. Not a problem just make sure you are on the nut and not the bolt with the impact gun.

I have a £60 Clarke mains powered impact gun which despite being bulky has done every suspension nut/bolt with ease. Just a few that are difficult to get at but those front ones are fine.

 

Cheers for that, makes sense about having it on the nut but im not sure i would have realized that. Ive had all the suspension off when i put on my coil overs, ive just noticed that one of the camber plates is rotated 90 degrees so i need to pull that one off again and rotate it

 

you undo the Nuts on the bottom not the bolts.

 

If your taking the spring out, then crack the 17mm nut loose on the top of the strut before you start (you may also need an allen key to prevent the shaft spining).

Jack both sides of the car up so that the car is jacked level, otherwise you will be fighting the torsion of the front ARB.

Remove wheel.
Remove the 2 12mm bolts that hold the brake hose and the ABS wire to the strut.
Mark the position of the top bolt/camber bolt on the strut to hub connection (tip-ex).
Crack the camber bolt and lower bolt nuts loose with a 19mm socket and a breaker bar or long extension.
Remove the bolts and slide a screwdriver through one of the holes to hold it in place/postion while you deal with the top fixings.
Remove the 3 12mm top nuts.
Remove your screwdriver and withdraw the strut, taking cars not to catch/damage the ABS wires.

 

That might explain why i found it hard to remove my old struts when fitting coilovers, i only raised one side at a time

 

Er.. If all you want to do is rotate the top mount then leave the rest attached. All you need to do is get the car up on stands or a 4 poster and undo the 12mm top bolts the get someone with a long bar to pull the whole assembly down a bit to clear the bolt holes and rotate.

It can't be 90 degrees out as there's three bolts isn't there? 120 degrees surely? Mind you Mine's a NewAge but every other car I've seen have a three bolt top mount. The top mount is rotatable on a bearing to allow steering.....

 

yeh it must be 120 degrees, its 3 bolt, that could work, and would be alot easier to do