Slick way to compress springs for maintenance

[djwarner]

My son was working on his M3 the other day and found he couldn't get his spring compressors in the space allowed in the strut tower. This is similar to the problems in our Z's.

He found a work around that may also work for our Z's. He bought 36" pull ties at the local Home Depot and found them rated at 175lbs. Jacked the axle up to compress the springs and installed 10 pull ties between the uppermost and lowermost coils. And as in the nursery rhyme, "there he kept them very well."

If you are simply changing the strut, you are good to go. If you need to remove the springs, install a conventional spring compressor after you clear the strut tower and fender. Pull ties can be cut away with a diagonal cutter. Reverse the procedure to re-install.

I would suggest using a minimum of pull ties to double (3x is better) the compressed spring load. So for our 2400lb cars that works out to about 600lbs per corner. My son's setup worked out to 2.5 times on his heavier car. Also verify each tie is pulled tight enough to carry its share.

Just had a follow up discussion with my son. He actually composed the spring to near its maximum rather than to just the normal ride height. This drastically reduced the safety margin I quoted above. Buyer beware.

Edited September 16, 2014 by djwarner