My wife surprised me with a set of H&R Sport springs for Christmas, and I had already picked up a set of Pedders caster/camber top mounts. I was just waiting on a friend of mine to have time to do the install at his shop...and then my business (personal training, which I run out of my garage gym at home) got shut down again due to COVID restrictions.
So, I found myself with more time than money (again) and my garage was available, so I decided to tackle the install myself.
I combined the info from a couple of DIY's (
this one and
this one) to do the install without using spring compressors, and I also did both front and rear without unbolting the bottom end of the struts / shocks, just tilting them outward to remove the springs.
I had nothing else to do today, so I took my time, finishing the job in about 3-1/2 hours. I did the front end first, then the rear (because for some reason jacking up the rear while the front is on jackstands freaks me out).
A couple of small details that I don't recall from the DIY's were that I had to undo the mounting bracket for the headlight leveling sensor on the left rear control arm, and I swapped over the coil spring isolators / sleeves from the stock rear springs onto the H&R's to help prevent any creaking / squeaking. H&R also doesn't include shorter bump stops, so you have to trim 0.75" off the stock ones front and rear. A SHARP, brand-new exacto knife blade made quick work of those.
Measured drop immediately after install was 1.0" drop in front and 0.5" in rear, though I expect it will settle in a bit lower (based on my previous experience with H&R springs on my old car). My jack just barely cleared the front lip with the front wheels sitting on 2x8 blocks, so I think I'll pick up some
low-profile ramps like these from Amazon at some point this year.
I'll update on the measured drop after the springs have settled and will give some driving impressions after I've taken it in for an alignment in a couple of weeks time.
Here are some pics:
New springs and top mounts in their boxes:
H&R front spring vs. stock (I think the stock one is upside down):
H&R front spring installed:
H&R rear spring vs. stock:
H&R rear spring installed (with factory coil spring insulators / sleeves):
Front 3/4 view after install:
Side view after install:
Rear 3/4 view after install:
Front corner shot to show additional negative camber:
The top mounts are supposed to add about 0.75 degrees negative camber and 0.75 degrees caster - looks about right to me.
So - it's a mild drop, as expected. The car doesn't look like a 4x4 anymore, which is really all that I was after.
Hopefully the ride and handling is improved, or at least not made any worse! H&R doesn't publish their spring rates, but I would expect that they're similar to Eibach's.