the6M3 wrote I'm really surprised you're having this much trouble. I've done H&R springs on my car and my cousin's M3 as well. Less than 5 hours each time, and that was with running into an issue with a stripped bolt... All in my garage with hand tools, brute force, and an electric impact gun.
Yeah, after having the camber bolt on the driver rear go instantly in, I even started taking pics when I did the passenger rear to help the forum...
Well, after several hours....the pics were meaningless...
And I would consider myself mechanically inclined. Definitely not a mechanic. I did about 5 full suspension swaps on my RSX (one on my lunch hour....and I had time left over to eat), including trying to fix the geometry with inverted tie rods, roll center correction, etc. Intake, Exhaust, Cam swap, motor mounts, remote start/alarm. The only thing I can think of that I had somebody do was Final Drive/6th gear swap/Quaife and Hondata intake gasket. I even did all the tuning on Hondata myself. Yeah for me!
After completing it, my suggestions would be:
1. Front: drop the entire strut. Seems like it would be more work, but you'll save a ton of time cuz you'll have space to work. If not, grab a buddy!
2. Rear: remove the inboard LCA bolt (leave the shock bolt and outboard LCA bolt intact). This will eliminate ALL alignment of that stupid LCA bolt!). The inboard bolt/bearing is cammed....but you'll need aligned after the spring swap anyway. So I wouldn't even worry about getting it situated correctly. Tighten under load. Use a sharpie if you want it close.
I did start getting some noise over RR tracks on my passenger rear. I couldn't remember if I had tightened with the suspension loaded. I think I was sooo done and just tightened everything. So I went back and loosened, loaded, tightened and the noise went away. Which kinda tells me that bearing controls wheel hop and has nothing to do with maintaining geometry.
BTW, getting aligned tomorrow....need it before the snow tires go on. Supposed to snow Thurs!
