Yesterday I fitted a set of Bilstein B14 dampers and springs. Started at 8am, friend joined at 10am, finished at 7.15pm!
Rears are simple, jack up, remove wheel, remove wheel arch lining, remove two bolts from cup housing holding damper top, remove the one bolt hold the damper bottom. Use spring compressor to squash spring and remove. Reverse is simpler as shock and springs are shorter, just fit in easily without spring compressor.
Fronts are another story!
Jack up, remove wheel, remove pinch bolt from damper bottom, spray WD40 around damper base where it enters a strong metal sleeve, use 2nd jack to gentle raise hub assembly about 4 inches in order to relieve pressure from the anti roll bar link attached to damper, remove anti roll bar link. Lower the 2nd jack to the bottom, remove track rod end bolt from hub assembly, requires a little coaxing, remove 3 bolts from under the hub assembly where connects to the bottom wishbone. Unclip the brake pipe retainer, sliding the brake pipe out, unclip the wire below. Lift entire hub assembly with disc & calliper off bottom wish bone, moving it to the right *be careful and have a chunk of thick wood read to support hub assembly.Wiggle the damper from side to side by holding bottom of the spring cup, another person pushing down on the hub assembly (about 2.5 inches of the damper bottom is in the hub assembly, this needs to all come out) That is really hard to do, be warned. Once out, remove top mount from under bonnet (this requires special tools, 21mm deep cup spanner and long 7mm alan key on a socket set. Damper will then lift out. Compress the spring, next hardest bit, taking the 2nd nut off the top of the damper to remove spring top plates and rubber mounts. Same cup spanner and alan key required, however, this was so tight we also had to use mole grips directly onto the damper shaft to also stop the arm rotating. Fitting the new was easy, except getting the damper base into the thick iron cup, lube required and precise placement of the hub and new damper, lots of wiggling at the same time as jacking up the hub assembly, more lube! Be careful not to stretch the brake pipes and wires to brake pads!
Seriously hard work, even when you know what you are doing, I would love to see how Audi do it, they must have special tools!
