New to the forum. Mid level mechanical knowledge with no formal training, but have done most routine maintenance myself. I am interested to know what people think about the difficulty level/practicality of changing my struts myself. I have jacks and typically will rotate my tires myself which I was planning on doing soon and was curious to the procedure and difficulty level of this since I will already have my tires removed.

The vehicle is a
2007 Honda Civic EX Sedan basically stock.

If this is something that is not too terribly difficult anyone have any recommendation on quality struts?

Thanks,
Matt

 

If your going to go with a standard strut replacement, the process is nearly impossible to do without a spring compressor. I used monroe Quick struts on my daughters 2000 camaro with excellent results and none of the BS thats usually associated with a strut change. It took about 20 min. per side. If your looking to keep the stock ride feel, I would suggest these because they include a new spring and bearing and they come to you completely assembled and ready to bolt on. It will give you a showroom new feel. If your looking for a sportier/ racing feel these wont do it. I would go with KYB's if you wanted the racing feel.

Just my 2 cents

 

In theory it is a piece of cake. I am wrapping up the project myself, and have been stranded for about 2 weeks with my car on jack stands. If I hd spent a little extra money up front nd planned ahead i could have finished the project in one day.

1. Bolts will most likely break. order 2 new rear LCA bolts, and two new bolts for the front where the fork fastens to the bottom of the shock.

2. Order replacement lower control arms and front v-forks (off of ebay is cheapest), because if a bolt breaks, it will most likely be completely seized to one of these parts, rendering it impossible to remove or even drill out as i found out after 2 broken drill bits.

3. Have access to an electric Sawzall in order to more easily remove any misfortunes you encounter.

4. You will need a spring compressor if you intend to re-use your OEM tophats, there is no way around it. Either buy new tophats, or rent spring compressors from autozone for not much more than the 50$ deposit that is returned when you bring them back.

5. In order to remove the old bolts, you will def need a can of PB Bolt Blaster and either an electric impact wrench, or long steel pipe to slide snuggly over the handle of your socket wrench for leverage. otherwise unless you are a muscleman, it is unlikely you will have any success on the bolts.

6. I assume by jacks you men jack stands, cause you will need these.

7. Even after you are done, if you are planning to lower the car, you will still need to pay to have a new alignment done.

There are not many more things that could possibly go wrong, so if you plan ahead im sure you could manage this yourself

 

MaximusFunk- This car is an '07 civic, it does not have the same design or issues as older civics. Hell the cars only 3 years old, there's really no need to worry about any broken bolts, replacing any other parts, modifying anything, etc...

Matt8445- Like mentioned, this is a newer car and you should not run into any serious issues. Those issues mentioned above were commonly found in 6th gen and older civics. Why are you replacing your struts? Worn out? I find a 3yr old car to have worn out suspension a bit shocking. Unless you have put an immense amount of miles on and/or drive in a city...

First, struts. KYB GR-2 is a very commonly used OE Replacement strut. It's cheaper than an OE strut and retains the same ride quality. If you want to save even a few more bucks, you could go with something from your local parts store like Monroe or w/e.

Second, difficulty. This is a very easy and straight forward job if you do any other minor work on your own cars. All you'll need is the standard 10mm, 14mm, 17mm, & 19mm sockets along with some other common miscellaneous tools. Another tool you'll need is a spring compressor. This you'll only need for the front suspension.

Here is a DIY I found doing a quick google search.
http://www.superstreetonline.com/tec...hfp/index.html

I would suggest either finding another DIY that's better or buying a Haynes manual to help guide you better and also give other info/tips like tq specs.

Last, alignment. You'll most likely want to ATLEAST have the alignment checked after the work is done. Some shops have alignment test plates that you drive the car over, typically free of charge. Takes 5seconds and it'll tell you if your alignment is out or not.

Good luck!