Miata32

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone has instructions on how to replace shocks, was it difficult to do, and how long did it take, do you need an alignment afterwards?

Is it just a simple as this for the front and back?
1) Put car on jack stands
2) Remove tires
3) Unbolt the shocks from inside the hood and from the botton
4) Compress the springs using a spring compressor tool
5) Put compressed spring on new shock and uncompress spring
6) Re-install the new shocks

I have a 2000 SE and would like to replace it with KYB GR2 keeping SE springs. Also, has anyone done this configuration setup and how did you like it? Any comments/inputs will be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Tri

Dohcser

That is basically it, it is very easy. Only advise I can give you is to loosen the "BIG" middle bolt at the top of the strut housing prior to taking the strut's off. It will save you a lot of time. Don't take it out all the way, just loosen it.

00SEinMA

That's all there is to it, but in regards to loosing the bolt on top I would say not to do that. Those springs are under such compression, that bolt should stay completely torqued until you have the springs compressed on your own.

Oh yeah, and if your not lowering, you shouldn't need an alignment.

-James

Dohcser

You are right to be on the safe side, however I have done this each and every time I did a strut. I am not saying it is correct or safest. But all I do is loosen the bolt, there is still numerous turns the bolt has to make before it becomes completely free.

Miata32

Thank you all for replying but I am a little confused now.

When do I take off or loosen the big bolt on top?
When do I compress the spring?

The way I did it with my other car was to take the shock with uncompressed spring off the car.
Compress the spring
Take off the nuts holding the spring
Remove spring and put onto new shocks
Tighten bolt that holds spring
Uncompress spring
Put back the new shock and spring
Bolt back onto car

Please let me know if this is correct or is there something different about the maxima. Thank you again for your responses.

Tri

Dohcser

That is how you could do it, however when I stated to try to loosen the middle bolt this was only because once you take the complete strut housing off the car it is sometimes very difficult to get the middle bolt to budge unless you have a stable vice.

You would want to take the struts with the uncompressed spring off the car once off, then compress the spring, then loosen the middle bolt and everything comes apart, very simple.

Ammi

iTrader: (26)

Pretty much same thing when installing GC coilovers? I have eibach w/ tokico but want to put coilovers w/ existing tokicos

studman

Here's the basic steps:

Front:
1) Loosen (but don't remove the lug nuts for the tire you will be working on)
2) Jack up the car
3) Place jack stands under the car
4) Lower the car so that it is sitting on the jack stand and not the jack, but don't remove the jack unless you need the space.
5) Remove the lug nuts and wheel
6) Loosen, but do NOT remove the center bolt on the top of the strut (located in the engine bay)
7) Remove the clip that holds the brake line to the strut. Use a flat screwdriver and a hammer/mallet to remove it without hurting yourself.
8) Remove 2 bolts holding the strut assembly to the wheel (at the lower end of the strut)
9) Remove the 3 bolts at the top of the strut inside the engine bay, but NOT THE CENTER BOLT
10) Remove the strut from the car
11) Install spring compressors on the strut and tighten (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP OR YOU WILL BE SORRY)
12) Once the spring has been compressed enough to break free from the bottom mount (where it touches the strut), remove the center bolt on the top of the strut. While removing this bolt, point the top of the strut AWAY from anything that could be damaged by flying parts. Even though the spring is compressed, the top hat could still fly a foot or so
13) Remove the top hat from the old strut
14) Remove the spring from the strut
14A) If you have bump stops, remove them from the strut
15) Remove the spring compressors from the spring
16) Remove the dust boot from the stock strut and install on the new strut. If the dust boot has cracked or has holes in it, do not reuse it
16A) If you have bump stops, trim them according to the spring manufacturer's recommendations
17) Compress the new spring
18) Install the spring on the strut
19) Install the top hat on the strut
20) Install the center bolt on the strut
21) Tighten the center bolt using a torque wrench
22) Reinstall the strut assembly into the car, attaching the top 3 bolts first, then the bottom 2 bolts
23) Re-torque the top center bolt to spec
24) Torque all bolts to spec
25) Reinstall the brake line to the strut
26) Jack up the car
27) Remove the jack stand
28) Lower the car
29) Repeat steps 1-28 on the other side of the car
30) Enjoy the rough ride for a week

Rear:
Be prepared to install both sides at once.
1) Loosen (but don't remove the lug nuts for the tire you will be working on)
2) Jack up the car
3) Place jack stands under the car
4) Lower the car so that it is sitting on the jack stand and not the jack, but don't remove the jack unless you need the space.
5) Remove the lug nuts and wheel
6) Remove the bottom of the back seat
7) Remove the back of the back seat (4 bolts)
8) Remove the sides of the back seat
9) Remove the big black metal plate with 14+ bolts
10) Remove the black plastic trunk pass-through clips
11) From the trunk, remove the rear center and both sides of carpet trim
12) Remove the bolts on the black support near the trunk pass-through
13) From the back seat, remove the rest of the bolts for the black support
14) Now that you have access to the tops of the struts, loosen, but do NOT remove the center bolt on the top of the strut
15) Remove the clip that holds the brake line to the strut. Use a flat screwdriver and a hammer/mallet to remove it without hurting yourself.
19) Remove 2 bolts holding the strut assembly to the wheel (at the lower end of the strut)
20) Remove the 2 bolts at the top of the strut inside the trunk, but NOT THE CENTER BOLT
21) Remove the strut from the car
22) Install spring compressors on the strut and tighten (DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP OR YOU WILL BE SORRY)
23) Once the spring has been compressed enough to break free from the bottom mount (where it touches the strut), remove the center bolt on the top of the strut. While removing this bolt, point the top of the strut AWAY from anything that could be damaged by flying parts. Even though the spring is compressed, the top hat could still fly a foot or so
24) Remove the top hat from the old strut
25) Remove the spring from the strut
25A) If you have bump stops, remove them from the strut
26) Remove the spring compressors from the spring
27) Remove the dust boot from the stock strut and install on the new strut. If the dust boot has cracked or has holes in it, do not reuse it
27A) If you have bump stops, trim them according to the spring manufacturer's recommendations
28) Compress the new spring
29) Install the spring on the strut
30) Install the top hat on the strut
31) Install the center bolt on the strut
32) Tighten the center bolt using a torque wrench
33) Reinstall the strut assembly into the car, attaching the top 2 bolts first, then the bottom 2 bolts
34) Re-torque the top center bolt to spec
35) Torque all bolts to spec
36) Reinstall the brake line to the strut
37) Now do the other side - steps 14-36
38) Reinstall the black support
39) From the trunk, reinstall the rear center and both sides of carpet trim
40) From the car, reinstall the black plastic trunk pass-through clips
41) Reinstall the big black metal plate with 14+ bolts
42) Reinstall the sides of the back seat
43) Reinstall the back of the back seat (4 bolts)
44) Reinstall the bottom of the back seat
45) Jack up the car
46) Remove the jack stand
47) Lower the car
48) Enjoy the rough ride for a week

WildmanAL

iTrader: (4)

Definitly loosen the center bolt. The one guy saying not too isn't talking from experience. It is every difficult to loosen since once off the car your piston on the strut will just turn. The hardest part is when putting your strut/spring combo back on and getting your strut bolts up top and on bottom to line up. This may require you to hold the strut up to your car to align it, then you can decompress the spring. There is actually a mark or galge on the paper gasket that shows you where to put the flat part of the piston that the large bolt on it. You'll see what I'm talking about when you tackle this yourself. Hope everything is clear and good luck.

Miata32

GREAT write up. Thank you everyone for the instructions.