right on. how much did you spend on them? i'm asking for $100. too much or good deal?

 

I paid that and an extra 20 to have the guy drive them too me. Do whoever you sell them to a favor and label which corner it goes to though....it will be a pain in the ass without that!!

 

heelllp, i did the backs but how the hell do i get this bolt off

 

compress the springs until it's easy to access the bolt (actually looks good in the pic) and use air tools to get that off... its a bitch to get off without them

 

Thank you very much for this how to, this weekend i'll be taking off my Eibach Sportlines so I can sell them and this is going to come in very handy!

 

This sounds like a pretty cool upgrade for the money, and can be done at home. A few questions though before I attempt something like this....

1) What is a STRAP WRENCH? I have been working on cars for 20 years and never heard of this tool.

2) Have most people cut that bump stop things at the top of the spring?

3) How much lowering will I get from different spring kits? I live in WI, so do not want too much drop on my 2006 SS?SC, just a little maybe....

4) I have never done a spring or suspension mod before. Just simple easy stuff. How important is it to get an alignment done? And, how much will that cost? What is the point, what am i hoping to get out of the re-alignment. I only ask because I have had shops do re-alignments on cars that i put new wheel/ tire combos on, and they must have messed it up, because the tires continue to cut the tread off at weird angles. The outside tread wore right off. My best guess was that the alignment was not set correctly.

 

thanks now i need to do it

 

I'll be using this for when i add my new springs.

 

well to answer 2,3and 4....
2. i cut my rear bump stops but didnt touch the fronts iv heard most people do cut the rears if there going with a nice size drop my drop was about 1.5" and i dont bottom out ever

3. some kits ull get a small drop like the eibach pro kit sportlines will give u more of a drop if u have bad roads id say stay under 2" drop like the tenzos will give u

4. i lowered my cobalt and took it in for an alignment the next day to les shwab and they said my alignment was fine. so if ur driving and the car doesnt seem off at all id say u prolly wouldnt need an alignment.

 

You need to take a before and after pic for me if you could

 

Oh i will don't worry, I'm waiting for a sway bar before i add it all though.

 

alright you lowering pros...got a problem/question for ya. about two weeks ago i installed progress lowering springs and everything was fine. recently there i've noticed a lot of noise coming from the front struts. my first hunch was i needed to tighten the top 21mm nut on the top of the strut (the bitch one that everyone has problems with). so with the car down on all four wheels i tried to tighten those with a long torque bar but they wouldn't budge. so i tried to put my weight down over the tire and tried tightening again but nothing. what i'm gonna do next is take it somewhere to have them use an air tool to tighten it but my question is will that piston (silver shaft) spin when trying to do this or will this work just fine? when doing this is there anything that i should be worried about such as breaking or stripping something? if using the air tool doesn't seem to work or it can't tighten the nut then what should i try then? for future reference, where can i get a strap wrench? i went to advance auto parts here and all they had were ones for oil filters...not an actual wrench kind.

bump for advice

 

I believe that the cylinder in the strut will spin, it did when i had it off and was trying to loosen the bolt. I would try sears for a strap wrench.

 

yeah i'll check sears out. so i figured out the problem. the top sway bar nut was loose. took me about 10 mins to fix. it's all good now. thx for the advice.

 

ok now is their any certain way your suppose to position the rears when reassembleing??

my progress springs on the driver side have less wheel gap then the passenger side does. the fronts are fine and measured correctly.

whats my problem?? the car is lower on the driver side in the rear

 

Change your how to! I put my rear springs in upside down because of this thread, coiled part goes on top, not on the bottom.

edit: overall it was a helpful guide though

 

Actually my buddy and i put the Eibach Pro-Kit on my SS/SC and didnt use a spring compressor or anything. Just undid the top nut so the strut came apart, dropped the CA, pulled off the old spring and put the new spring on.... lined it back up... bolted it back up. Pretty easy.

later

 

Is it the same for the 2.2L models as far as suspension? Same bolts and same way to take off the springs?

 

same everything...just dif springs.

 

Thanks for this site. I printed out the pictures and got the springs out and changed them in 3 hours. Over an 1 hour for each side on the front, then 10 minutes for the back springs. I got the Eibach Pro Kit and it looks great. I made sure i got my wheel alignment too.

 

so for those that did it themselves.
1. how long did it take you?
2. did you use airtools?
3. how experienced are you with tools (n00b, decent, expert)?

 

1. About 2 hours
2. Nope. Clicky here. I wrote that one specifically for people that don't have air tools
3. Very. I'm trained as an aircraft mechanic.

 

ive done 3 of the cobalts now
1. about 1.5 hours
2. yes on 2 no one 1...with is a good idea although halfcents write up is nice
3. decent

 

This is handy!

 

i am also wondering this

i heard you could loosen them while the strut is still on the car but i tried this and it still spins

i don't have a strap wrench to do it that way

but any suggestions?

no body?