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Help please on my daily runner Corsa. Past MOT but was advised that the front coil spring has become unseated properly on the shock absorber cup. At bottom. Now, had a look and have tried to rectify but it looks like the shock has to be removed, is this the case? Is there a simpler way?

You can maybe use spring compressors on it while still in place, then rotate as required and remove the compressors to re-seat it correctly. If you compress it enough to get the tension off it then it should rotate freely.

I would imagine that it's a MacPherson strut, the same as on the Fiat Coupe, so remove the strut, spring and top mount as one, and disassemble on the bench using spring compressors, to enable removal and replacement of the spring. Normally considered best to replace both sides at the same time. Sounds easy, but can be made infinitely hard depending on how easy it is to remove the bottom of the strut from the steering knuckle/hub.

Oops, just re-read the OP, I thought the spring was broken but it's not. Hopefully Graham's approach will work.

Bloody hell Graham that is a plan. Thank you, never thought of that I was hell bent on thinking what a fanny about on getting the shock absorber off the car, I did indeed miss the obvious. Thanks again.

I love this forum...

Finally got round to reseat the spring. Well, for starters I had to send off for compressors. On paper this is an easy straightforward job, well not exactly. Not much room in the front suspension wheel arch, not for attaching spring compressors anyway. I had to shorten them, hacksawed off seven inches in the end. They were only a tenner and this probably would be the only time I’d use them.

I’m a stickler for safety first, but it was not easy attaching the compressors properly. In the end I broke every safety rule regarding using these things. Tightening was little at a time, and when I finally got to the slack stage I was crapping myself in case things went bang. Eventually the spring went into place. Slackening off was an even slower event. All this at the side of the road, waiting for a knee operation and dodgy legs...