Front Steeda Shocks Installation - Help

I used 6mm Allen Socket + Ratchet to hold the shaft and used 19mm wrench to tighten the nut

SYK said:

Steeda's supplied nuts for pro action non adjustables are 19mm

Click to expand...

Steeda - what are they? 19 or 22??? I hope the 22 like you said...

Ugly John said:

Steeda - what are they? 19 or 22??? I hope the 22 like you said...

Click to expand...

22mm or 7/8 ck out our instructions @ Steeda.com

I will have the team ck this out to confirm first thing tomorrow

My fronts have
Steeda sportline Linear
Steeda Non Adjustable Shocks
Steeda Camber Plate

You need whats called an offset wrench (plus the allen wrench to hold the rod from turning).

Harbor freight (shudder) has them.

Is an alignment required after changing the struts? If so, how much could it be off? Is this something I should do within a week or so, or something that if I don't do immediately I'll have bald tires?

SteedaTech said:

22mm or 7/8 ck out our instructions @ Steeda.com

I will have the team ck this out to confirm first thing tomorrow

Click to expand...

I just cracked open the boxes and mine are in fact 19mm. I now have a useless 22mm tool on the way from Amazon. I should have double checked, because when I installed the rears, the nut and jam nut were 17mm, while the Steeda video said they were 19mm.

Ugly John said:

I just cracked open the boxes and mine are in fact 19mm. I now have a useless 22mm tool on the way from Amazon. I should have double checked, because when I installed the rears, the nut and jam nut were 17mm, while the Steeda video said they were 19mm.

Click to expand...

I apologize, some of the kits where coming in with 22mm. We will update the instructions accordingly. Again,sorry for the inconvenience.

No worries - I'm just glad I found out before I had the car disassembled. I can swing by HF on the way home tomorrow.

Ugly John said:

Is an alignment required after changing the struts? If so, how much could it be off? Is this something I should do within a week or so, or something that if I don't do immediately I'll have bald tires?

Click to expand...

I installed Steeda fixed struts and shocks on a friends car and he went to get an alignment and they said it was perfect. I'd get it checked, but I don't think it's necessary unless you are changing springs, adding camber plates, or have otherwise loosened or adjusted any part that is used to adjust alignment.

I just got the fronts installed. Whew! It was a job! About 4 hours total from jacking the car to clean up. My observations and thoughts:

First, get a fricking 24mm deep impact socket. I had a standard length one, and the bolt interfered with it. 15/16" works too, but damn - get a deep one!

A 3lb hand sledge works for the spindle bolts, but it will take a good few whacks to get the bolts moving. I had the nuts to the end of the bolt and there was no damage, but I had a new hardware kit so I didn't re-use them. (Murphy says that if I didn't have the kit, the bolts would have been toast) Turn the wheels if you need. I turned the wheels before I started so I had access, but then I found that the brake line wouldn't let the caliper set on the frame, which leads to my third point:

An old milk crate comes in awful handy to rest the caliper on!

Spring compressors suck! I borrowed one from Autozone, and it was a pain in the butt. The rods interfered with the spring perch, so I was fighting that the entire time. I had some rustoleum touch up paint, so I painted the scraped areas after. This was my first time with a spring compressor and hopefully my last - at least with a rental one.

I slotted the struts before install, so the Rustoleum was used on the slotted holes as well.

The 22mm tool Steedatech recommended a few posts back was actually required to get the factory nut off the top of the original strut. I bought an offset 19mm to put the new nut on with, but it didn't work great. A pass-thru 19mm socket would have been MUCH better to use.

The caliper bolts had blue locktite on them when I removed them, so I installed with it also.

You'll prob need some brake cleaner for the rotors after you put everything back together. I didn't have any, so I used 90%

I took a real quick test drive, but couldn't tell much difference from factory, which is a good thing for a daily driver. I'll get a chance to see how it does in about 3 weeks which is my next autocross event.

Ugly John said:

I just got the fronts installed. Whew! It was a job! About 4 hours total from jacking the car to clean up. My observations and thoughts:

First, get a fricking 24mm deep impact socket. I had a standard length one, and the bolt interfered with it. 15/16" works too, but damn - get a deep one!

A 3lb hand sledge works for the spindle bolts, but it will take a good few whacks to get the bolts moving. I had the nuts to the end of the bolt and there was no damage, but I had a new hardware kit so I didn't re-use them. (Murphy says that if I didn't have the kit, the bolts would have been toast) Turn the wheels if you need. I turned the wheels before I started so I had access, but then I found that the brake line wouldn't let the caliper set on the frame, which leads to my third point:

An old milk crate comes in awful handy to rest the caliper on!

Spring compressors suck! I borrowed one from Autozone, and it was a pain in the butt. The rods interfered with the spring perch, so I was fighting that the entire time. I had some rustoleum touch up paint, so I painted the scraped areas after. This was my first time with a spring compressor and hopefully my last - at least with a rental one.

I slotted the struts before install, so the Rustoleum was used on the slotted holes as well.

The 22mm tool Steedatech recommended a few posts back was actually required to get the factory nut off the top of the original strut. I bought an offset 19mm to put the new nut on with, but it didn't work great. A pass-thru 19mm socket would have been MUCH better to use.

The caliper bolts had blue locktite on them when I removed them, so I installed with it also.

You'll prob need some brake cleaner for the rotors after you put everything back together. I didn't have any, so I used 90%

I took a real quick test drive, but couldn't tell much difference from factory, which is a good thing for a daily driver. I'll get a chance to see how it does in about 3 weeks which is my next autocross event.

Click to expand...

Really??

Way more controlled over bumps and going through corners. You'll see

BmacIL said:

Really??

Way more controlled over bumps and going through corners. You'll see

Click to expand...

Oh, I'm sure! But after I left my court, I realized that I forgot to torque the lug nuts, so I took it very easy and didn't try cornering hard. :headbonk:

I arrived home with 4 wheels attached, so that was a good thing!

Ugly John said:

Oh, I'm sure! But after I left my court, I realized that I forgot to torque the lug nuts, so I took it very easy and didn't try cornering hard. :headbonk:

I arrived home with 4 wheels attached, so that was a good thing!

Click to expand...

LOL oops!

Did you get the fixed or adjustables? At full soft on the adjustables you might not actually notice much compared to the stock dampers. Try 1-1.5 turns from soft all around.

Ugly John said:

Oh, I'm sure! But after I left my court, I realized that I forgot to torque the lug nuts, so I took it very easy and didn't try cornering hard. :headbonk:

I arrived home with 4 wheels attached, so that was a good thing!

Click to expand...

...I did that with my front right wheel the other day. Just screwed them with a regular battery impact (not the big torque ones) and went up stairs to grab my torque wrench. Ended up distracted. Came down, drove somewhere... remembered halfway there I forgot to torque the FR wheel.

Never seen a mustang drive slower.

You are not alone... :headbonk: