I'm getting some Pi -35mm lowering springs for the 16vt next week and was thinking of having a go at lowering it myself as a lot of places will charge £150+ to do it.

How hard is the job to do yourself?

Any takers to give me a hand who've done it before?

Not difficult but you'll need a set of spring compressors and a good socket set.

Make sure you slacken but not remove the damper top mount nut in the top mount before you jack the car.

Rear will just need the lower damper bolt removing so the trailing arm can be fully lowered to remove and fit the springs.

Where's Nigel to do his safety briefing bit?

OK - here goes.....

DO NOT be tempted to try and undo the top nut unless the springs are fully compressed (and the spring is loose from the top mount)

I had wound my springs a long way and I *thought* there wasn't much tension left in them, so I undid the top nut.

Thankfully, the strut was pointing away from me when it let go. There's still a mark in my carport wall where the top mount hit it. There's another mark in my neighbour's wall where the strut hit it. After all the big bits had stopped flying around the carport (thankfully didn't hit any cars or people), I glanced around for the top nut. A second or so later, I heard a faint clunk as the top nut hit the garden wall of the house on the other side of the road - a good 200 feet away. Given that it had taken so long to get there, I can only assume it had gone vertical when it came loose.

If any part of my anatomy had been in the way of any of the component parts of the strut, I probably wouldn't be here today. And don't forget, this was with the spring 90% compressed.

Dangerous things - treat them with respect.

OMG Nigel

I shall not be attempting any spring related jobs on my car!

Be carful, the place where my dad works once had a hole in the roof.
The spring compressor failed, parts shot upwards straight through the roof.
Also the guy using the tool suffered a broken nose & 2 broken fingers in the process.
Be carful taken your time.

Don't be put off from attempting these suspension jobs, just use the right equipment and make sure you think about what your doing and all will be fine, its not a difficult job.

a good idea a mate of mine showed me when we were doing mine was when you started to screw the spring clamps was to use 4 mole grips one one each side of the clamps

simple job, when i was at school i used to fit suspension kits for my mates for £50...

few hours work providing nothing in seized

I may have to get a place to do this afterall, sounds a bit scary lol!