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Front Steeda Shocks Installation - Help

Ugly John

Ugly John

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BmacIL said:
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.
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I have the fixed, and not being able to tell the difference on a smooth road is a good thing. This is my DD, and I didn't want it getting too harsh, but did want an improvement when maneuvering.
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BmacIL

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Ugly John said:
I have the fixed, and not being able to tell the difference on a smooth road is a good thing. This is my DD, and I didn't want it getting too harsh, but did want an improvement when maneuvering.
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I have the fixed ones as well, though matched with much stiffer than stock pp springs. It's still comfortable on the road and is my DD too. The way the car settles is a huge improvement.
 
Ugly John

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Drove her about 23 miles in to work this morning, and a definite, DEFINTE improvement. I didn't get a chance to test hard cornering, but in normal around town driving it has a much better feel for the road. And the squat on acceleration and nose dive during breaking is drastically improved. I'm loving them!:headbang:
 
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topramen

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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.
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Wish I read this before I ordered the 22mm. What did you end up using to tighten the 19mm nut? I had already put the assembled shocks back on the car in hopes that the weight would compress the spring and let me tighten the nut. That didn't work at all lol haven't really had much time to tinker with it this week though
 
Ugly John

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topramen said:
Wish I read this before I ordered the 22mm. What did you end up using to tighten the 19mm nut? I had already put the assembled shocks back on the car in hopes that the weight would compress the spring and let me tighten the nut. That didn't work at all lol haven't really had much time to tinker with it this week though
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I used an offset 19mm box wrench and a 6mm hex socket, but that wasn't ideal. I wish I had a pass-thru socket like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Husky-HUVTHR...=1484751478&sr=8-16&keywords=pass+thru+socket
 

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BmacIL

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Ugly John said:
I used an offset 19mm box wrench and a 6mm hex socket, but that wasn't ideal. I wish I had a pass-thru socket like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Husky-HUVTHR...=1484751478&sr=8-16&keywords=pass+thru+socket
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What I've found is the only decent quality pass-through sockets are $$$. I was researching this for a while and came to the conclusion that if you want some nice, 6-point pass-throughs, you're spending $80+. We used a 3/4" spark plug socket when we buttoned the tops up and it was good enough, but a good pass through would've been much better/easier.

Glad to hear you've seen a big improvement as well! :headbang:
 
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topramen

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robertwsimpson said:
I put the car on the ground and zipped it on with a home depot battery powered impact. No issues whatsoever.


I was also freaking out until I tried the impact.
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I've tried this a few times already with no luck. The whole assembly just spins. Not sure why an impact would work for some people and not others?
 

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Dude. Video tape yourself trying to impact the bolt. I want to see what you're doing wrong. Can't help on the forum.
 
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Here is a quick video.

[ame="[MEDIA=youtube]igK94s3xjl8[/MEDIA]"][/ame]
 

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Watch the CJ Pony video for Koni shocks/struts install. My trusty Dewalt 20v cordless did it easily . I put everything together off of the car and then stuck it in. Here is the link.
 
Ugly John

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I had used a 19mm offset box wrench, but wasn't really happy with it- it didn't stay seated when it was almost tight so I was never confident I had enough torque on it.

Today, this arrived at the house:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009L8GEPM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I hit the nuts with this, with a 6mm hex on a socket, and did in fact get it tighter than before. These pass thru sockets worked perfectly _) much much better than an offset, and at about the same price.
 
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