This will be great reference when I get around to do mine

I just did my susp. the past weekend and it took me 7 hours to get it done..wish i had seen this first..great info.

How did you do to loosen the lower shock bolt in the front? I find it impossible to loosen it. Please help me!!

Just spent Sunday afternoon doing the rears shock/springs on my GS4. I actually preassembled everything with new top mounts so it was basically a re&re job. Did the drivers side first and it took about 1.5 hrs. Mostly because I first tried to get the shock out without having to undo the the lower control arm. The passenger side took less than an hour. I have power tools.

I'll be doing the fronts hopefully in the next few days. This write-up was very helpfull.

Thanks

I did my front shock/springs last night. Took about two 2 hours. I had the new setup preassembled ready to install. As others have mentioned, no need to disconnect control arm or any other suspension components except the sway end links. Unbolt the shocks and simply rotate and pull them out. It helps to jiggle them around a bit also.

Got pointed to this topic just now, spewing i didnt find it before!

Just went straight in blind by myself trying to install my Insurance Group coilovers on my 98 GS300 this past weekend. Found the going tough since i have no power tools and didnt really know what other tools i needed. Ended up walking to the shops twice for sockets (45min round trips) and so by the time i was getting my head around it it was midday Sunday (started about Midday Saturday til around 5pm, then again around 10.30am Sunday) so i just reassembled everything except the boot trim and decided to try again when i had more time.

So i am going to attack it again this coming weekend and am confident i should be able to nail it this time!

So to confirm, i dont need to d/c the front ball joints? because i was going to hire a ball joint puller in case. I might do that anyway but not use it if i dont have to.

Also, when you guys were disconnecting the sway links at the back did you disconnect the nut and bolt that goes through the arm, or simply the bolts where they actually attach to the sway?

Great post. Should someone make this a sticky?

okay, did my install last weekend.

Fronts are a walk in the park, easy to get out and no need to undo the ball joints at all. also the bolt is easy to undo, and they are easy to adjust etc. height wise.

the rears are much more of a pain in the ***. the rear hub assembly is a ***** and it sortof bends in and away from you at some wierd angle. takes some real wrangling and i ended up having to use some hammer tapping etc to get the camber adjust bolt out. Once out the first time though i could get it out and in again pretty easily another couple of times whilst installing and adjusting height on my coilovers. Thought i had it right and the coilover was so short that it put no pressure on the bottom arms so it was easy to line up.

after driving it a day i realised the rear was still too low so i went to undo the bolt again monday night and it was almost more awkward and stuck in there than before. took me a good couple of hours to get it out and adjust each side. Then since i had lengthened the shock body, i ended up with it now being long enough that it did push the bottom arm down, meaning i had to raise it and pull the stubborn-*** hub assembly outward and straight to get it into the hole in the arm.

was a real PITA since i was doing it all myself but i got there in the end. the right rear sometimes sqeaks a bit over certain little bumps though so i may have to have another poke around this sunday :P

edit - and to answer my own question, i found it easer to just undo the sway links where they connect to the end of the swaybar itself both front and rear. additionally, make sure you undo both sides at the front so it swings out of the way so you can access the nut and bolt easily

How much does parts cost (Minus Labor)? I've been searching on google for L-Tune suspension and only get DIY... is this just a mixmatch of parts? If so, what are the best combination?

Great post! This was a big help, I installed my Tein SS coilovers this weekend. Did the fronts Sat., rears Sun. Back is sore, knuckles bloody, it was so worth it.

U would want two ppl to make this more possible. Just did mine,...took a whole painful 5.5 hours. Found out that Eibach is kinda soft- which makes the ride smoother than stock. Didn't like it too much because my tires keeps hitting the fenders when there's a bump. I'm glad I bought the bilstein because all 4 of my shocks were dead..no wonder it rides like a boat.

LOL, and it's lowered only 1.2 inches. BTW, thanks for the write up - gave me a good overview of what is to be expected.

Did mine also. My old Ltuned when to strut heaven in the sky. They were so bad, I could push each strut by hand and they would came back up really slow. I order the bilsteins and while I had everything apart I change the brake pads. Like other said, the fronts were easy. No need to take of the ball joint. But the rear was hell on wheels. I did both front and one rear last night. Tonight i'll tackel the remaining rear. Again the rear had me so dag on stressed it was unbelivable. I'm running espiler springs by the way. The car looks like it raised up a bit. Hopefully no more rubbing on the driver's side, if not heat gun here i come.

This thread was a great referance. This should have been a sticky.

Thanks again Jonathan for making this thread. I used it a couple of years ago as KANEDL25, now I'm going to use it as DarKnight to do my current install.

I'm having this post handy when I try this tomorrow night. Thanks again for an awesome write up.. hopefully nothing goes boom.

small thread update,i find it makes it alot quicker by un-doing the bolts in said order on page 1,and don't get stuck like i did with the anti-roll bar for several hours!

used this to fit my coilovers on,thanks for the how to