Armed with a workshop, a metric mega f**k ton of speciality tools and several mugs of hot Vimto, Myself and colleague Mike set about getting the springs on the car!
First up - Got the car on the ramp and whipped the wheels off. First up, The rear springs!
These were dead straight forward. We used an axle jack to hold each corner whilst removing the main lower damper bolt
Once the bolt is out lower and remove the axle jack allowing the spring pan to lower enough to pull the spring out
** Apologies for Mike's creepy pose, This unfortunately is the result of too much hot Vimto... **
A quick comparison of the rear springs: (OEM left, Eibach Right)
Re-using the original upper and lower rubber spring caps, insert the new spring, use the axle jack to raise the spring pan up until you can get the lower shock bolt back in.
Next up was the front springs! Here's a quick comparison photo.
The front struts are held on by the three nuts at the top of the strut tower and slid into the hub carrier gripped from behind with a pinch bolt.
Unfortunately at this point, despite wishing to take more photos, the battery on my iPhone went flat, so I have no more pics
The removal and refitting of the complete strut unit were relatively easy, but even with the most up to date heavy duty spring compressors, the M-Sport dampers being such short travel made it a bit of a pain in the ass to get the original springs off and the new ones on.
I'll not go into details about the procedure we chose to use to finally get the springs on as it was neither safe, nor recommended.
Before and After measurements as follows - Measured from the centre of the Wheel Centre Cap, directly up to the tip of the wheel arch.
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Front Left: 355mm before, 340mm After
Front Right: 353mm before, 340mm After
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Rear Left: 365mm before, 353mm After
Rear Right: 364mm before, 353mm After
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At this point, they have not really been given a chance to settle, so I will report back after a month or so once they've been used and settled a little.
Anyway - The after-photos show it pretty well, Bare in mind that this still has no wheel spacers installed!
Front:
Rear:
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