The main problem is rust in an 11 year old car. Every bolt was frozen. I used the best...Kroil, to loosen them, applied heat and an impact gun...but no go. A nut cracker would not fit over the main two 19mm nuts, because of interference from the mount flanges. I ended up using a small die grinder (dremel sized) to cut, laboriously, through each nut. Then came a nasty surprise. The dealers don't stock the mount bolt and nuts. They had to order them which takes a couple days.
It took about 4 hours to just do the rear mounts (after wasting too much time trying to free the nuts.) I had to stop there...to order new bolts and nuts...but was able to get and salvage enough bolts and nuts to reassemble the rear.
With new rear mounts, bumpers, Tokico struts and Vogtland lowering springs, the car was hugely stiffer in the back. Before, just one person sitting in the back and a mild bump was enough to bottom it. With three people in the back the tire was sitting with 1/8th inch of room between the tire and fender and the mildest turn caused the tires to scrape. Now I could stand on the door sill in the back and jump up and down and still have more finger room between the wheel and rim.
Driving feels funny...you get even more motion in the front as all load inputs are transferred from the stiff back to the front causing the front end to yaw...like a boat accelerating and turning. Yet, strangely, it handles better than when both the front and back were soft. I tried to see if I could break the rear loose by tossing it around but the inch and a half of lowering seems to counteract the stiffness and it stays well planted. Getting on the juice when coming out of a corner appears to cause about the same amount of wash out and understeer as before.
As far as ride, it definitely feels stiffer in the back...but not worse than my Acura TL...not excessively so. The ride is much quieter....without the old loose mounts knocking over bumps and without the tires scraping. Funny, I hadn't really noticed the suspension noise coming from the front, because the rear was so noisy but now I do.
I can't wait to get the new front and rear shock mount bolts I ordered so I can get the full effect of the suspension upgrade....though I'm less enthused about dealing with another half dozen frozen bolts and nuts.
FYI, the stock shocks were shot...but mostly in compression. The extension damping seemed to still be pretty good. This masked how bad the shocks were doing the shock test where you push down on a corner and wait to see how quickly the car damps out. It would damp well on each rebound and only cycle maybe three times. Not great but the reality was it was much worse in actual driving as it didn't damp at all on compression. After the changing the rear strut and spring it damps in one cycle...barely traveling over center. The front is a pogo stick in comparison.
Here is the Vogtland spring compared to stock.
![Image]()
Here is the Tokico strut with Vogtland spring assembled compared to stock (with spring compressors.) The Vogtland was short enough and soft enough at the travel top not to require compressors to install.
![Image]()
It took about 4 hours to just do the rear mounts (after wasting too much time trying to free the nuts.) I had to stop there...to order new bolts and nuts...but was able to get and salvage enough bolts and nuts to reassemble the rear.
With new rear mounts, bumpers, Tokico struts and Vogtland lowering springs, the car was hugely stiffer in the back. Before, just one person sitting in the back and a mild bump was enough to bottom it. With three people in the back the tire was sitting with 1/8th inch of room between the tire and fender and the mildest turn caused the tires to scrape. Now I could stand on the door sill in the back and jump up and down and still have more finger room between the wheel and rim.
Driving feels funny...you get even more motion in the front as all load inputs are transferred from the stiff back to the front causing the front end to yaw...like a boat accelerating and turning. Yet, strangely, it handles better than when both the front and back were soft. I tried to see if I could break the rear loose by tossing it around but the inch and a half of lowering seems to counteract the stiffness and it stays well planted. Getting on the juice when coming out of a corner appears to cause about the same amount of wash out and understeer as before.
As far as ride, it definitely feels stiffer in the back...but not worse than my Acura TL...not excessively so. The ride is much quieter....without the old loose mounts knocking over bumps and without the tires scraping. Funny, I hadn't really noticed the suspension noise coming from the front, because the rear was so noisy but now I do.
I can't wait to get the new front and rear shock mount bolts I ordered so I can get the full effect of the suspension upgrade....though I'm less enthused about dealing with another half dozen frozen bolts and nuts.
FYI, the stock shocks were shot...but mostly in compression. The extension damping seemed to still be pretty good. This masked how bad the shocks were doing the shock test where you push down on a corner and wait to see how quickly the car damps out. It would damp well on each rebound and only cycle maybe three times. Not great but the reality was it was much worse in actual driving as it didn't damp at all on compression. After the changing the rear strut and spring it damps in one cycle...barely traveling over center. The front is a pogo stick in comparison.
Here is the Vogtland spring compared to stock.
Here is the Tokico strut with Vogtland spring assembled compared to stock (with spring compressors.) The Vogtland was short enough and soft enough at the travel top not to require compressors to install.
Also, access to those bolts looked as bad, or worse, than the access to the strut bolts. How did you approach them and did they stick badly too? I will have to deal with the brakes eventually. The rear pads look a bit worn and the rotor more so.
