My Miata needs the bump stops replaced, and the struts in the civic also will need to be serviced.
I am pretty intimidated by the prospect of messing with my own springs, but I find that getting the cars worked on is a bigger hassle than doing it myself in a lot of cases.
Should I just bite the bullet, and pay the man? Is there a spring compressor that's less likely to maim or kill me, and will work on both types of springs? Hand injuries are bad for anyone, for me it would be catastrophic. I have to be able to do surgery.
I cheaped out and bought one from the hammer store. Don't do that. Was able to complete the job but compressor was toast. The threads are seriously galled.
j_tso
Dork
6/1/23 12:22 a.m.
I have the Craftsman 2 claw ones with pins. They don't list it for sale any more. hmmmmm....
The ones least likely to kill you are the stand or wall mounted ones that only make sense if suspension work is your full time job.
The main safety items are to oil the threads before use, only compress the spring enough to remove the strut nut, and always point the compressed spring away from people.
A youtuber inadvertently made an example of himself saying spring compressors are dangerous and he compressed a truck spring until the coils were touching each other.
Maybe I'll just pull the assembly and take them somewhere.
I have this one from Eastwood https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-macpherson-strut-and-coil-spring-compressor.html
It's a bit of a pain to change the clamps on but it is pretty stable once clamped. The wall mounted ones are the best as others have said, but they are not cheap.
84FSP
UberDork
6/1/23 7:45 a.m.
Most of the parts stores will rent you spring compressors for free. An impact typically helps the process. You can do it perfectly safely.
I have this one from Amazon. It was something like 60-80 bucks. It does the job with no drama or worry. I have used it on my NA Miata, Corolla, Civic, and Tacoma truck. It worked just fine every time.
When I did my miata I just rented one from advance. Worked fine, even when I got impatient and threw the impact on it. I bought the HF one but never used it.
nlevine said:
I've got one of these -https://www.harborfreight.com/single-action-strut-spring-compressor-43753.html.
Worked well for me when I changed struts on my 924s.
This one mentioned will work, but I find it terrifying to use.
It is a cheap copy of an OMC (?) unit but only one set of legs pivot causing it to bind on compression. But it does work. I do like the locking pins for the spring coils.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:
Maybe I'll just pull the assembly and take them somewhere.
Auto Clinic of Ormond (US-1 near the bowling alley) has a sweet, wall-mounted spring compressor.
j_tso
Dork
6/1/23 9:21 a.m.
I'll add that the wall mount ones I don't like are where your arms are above the spring. Maybe some engineer deemed it safe but I'd rather have semi-circular claws than 3 little fingers.
When I did the dampers on my LS400 I went to a DIY garage that had one, but it wasn't in good shape and the screw was squealing all the way down. Pretty scary.
It didn't help that the car had aftermarket KYB dampers that were taller so I had to compress the spring further to install OEM ones.
j_tso said:
I'll add that the wall mount ones I don't like are where your arms are above the spring. Maybe some engineer deemed it safe but I'd rather have semi-circular claws than 3 little fingers.
When I did the dampers on my LS400 I went to a DIY garage that had one, but it wasn't in good shape and the screw was squealing all the way down. Pretty scary.
It didn't help that the car had aftermarket KYB dampers that were taller so I had to compress the spring further to install OEM ones.
this 100% it makes it very easy and safe and effective. One of my favorite tool purchases
I have one like Caperix and Cousin_Eddie posted. Works great and is safe.
