I followed a few tutorials on how to remove/install springs. None of the tutorials I saw mentioned anything about this so Im taking it to you guys!

As you could see in picure 1, The Eibach (left) and OEM (right) have different ending points. The end of the Eibach spring is a bit shorter, and the result of this is a shock that doesnt line up with the holes on my control arm. (picture 2)

Are my springs faulty? or am I supposed to compensate somehow? I have not yet tried to turn the rubber mounts a few inches on the topcap... Should I? Is there a specific amount of inches I need to turn the rubber mounts?

I don't want to do anything until I get the green light from you guys... I just sort of panicked because I have not seen any mention of the springs having an odd ending point... You would think Eibach would have made them similar to OEM...ugh..

SOLVED: You do not need to seat the new spring on the same spot of the rubber mount. Although it looks like it was made to be seated in the same spot, you can just seat it on a different part of the rubber mount, and the spring will "sink in" to the rubber like your previous spring did. The comment underneath this is disinformation. Do NOT twist your spring.

 

Twist the spring in the perch after the bolt hole is lined up. Im not sure why you are confused.

 

I dont imagine anyone could twist a spring anymore than 1 inch...its about a 2 inch difference...

Wait, what do you mean by twist? Twist the spring itself? Or turn the spring? If I turn the spring, it will not be seated properly on the top rubber mount or the bottom mount (one of the two).

I just tried twisting a spring with my hands...I made about 3mm....You trolling?

Also, what is the "perch"?

 

You just twist it.....

 

First up, the spring perch is what the spring rests on on the bottom (mount on the shock itself). Secondly, no, you can't just twist the spring to make it fit.

Did you mark the upper mount to make sure the correct bolt goes in the correct hole on top? If not, don't worry. But that's something one needs to do to do it right, with no fuss. Reason is that the upper mount also has a corresponding "spring end point"; that is, the spring needs to terminate on the upper mount where the rubber meets and is cut for the spring.

At this point, the best thing to do is to "mount" the shock at the bottom WITHOUT the spring installed. Or I should say "line up the shock mount on the control arm and note how the spring is oriented with regard to the rubber on the top mount".

At this point you should be able to tell which way the upper mount should be attached. Mark the mount bolt-to-hole so you can line it up when assembling the unit. Which, should be done after taking all the components out and assembling on the bench.

Note: if you can't get it to line up with the upper mount in any of the three ways it can go in, it's possible the shock is backwards. Turn it around and try again.

Point is, the end points of the spring both upper and lower, just need to line up with the "spring groove terminus of the rubber mount on top and the metal spring perch on the shock.

Trial and error will solve the puzzle.

 

You need to loosen the top nut and re-align the damper body and top mount, then tighten the nut and cinch down the spring.

The axial orientation of the spring itself doesnt matter, just how the top mount and damper assembly are aligned.

If you still have the other side assembled you can mirror it.

 

Thanks Mic...I didnt think the rubber mount could be removed so I was worried a bit. It looks like I just have to rotate the rubber mount over one notch and hope that Eibach designed the spring to fit. Gonna try again tomorrow.

 

OK so I figured out what I had wrong. I thought that the rubber mount was supposed to be seated on the spring the way it was previously with the OEM spring. It doesnt need to be seated in the same spot! I could not find a picture on the net of a factory rubber mount but im pretty sure they come FLAT brand new, and over time, the weight of the car makes an indentation......I completed the install.

 

The rubber should have been replaced at the same time. They are reasonably cheap. Just my $0.02