Do I need a spring compressor to change my springs

Yes.. Especially to take the springs off.. because u don't want the top hat to fly off and destroy stuff.. If the tein spring is short enough, u may not need to use the spring compressor for that.. But u most likely will need it. Just rent the spring compressor at discount or autozone. They refund ur money back, so it is basically free to rent.

 

If you have to ask this question - then you are not qualified to make this modification. You can seriously injure yourself if you don't know how to use the sprint compressors. I suggest you hire someone to do the work.

 

although I agree with you, the spring compressors are an easy concept once you have them in your hands.. I suggest you go to autozone or discount and take a look at them to rent. If you cant figure it out, then you are hopeless and should pay someone to do it.. if it looks easy enough, I SAY GO FOR IT!! That is the only way to learn anything!
We used to do them without spring compressors.. but that is dangerous.. we had a top hat nut fling off and make a huge crack in my friends windshield.. OOPS.. If someones face was there it would have been BAD..

 

My sentiments exactly. Was just coming in here to post that.

 

You'll need them to take off the spring and put them back on. You can take them off without the compressor if you want. I did and they're not under high tension. But you'll need a compressor to put the new springs back on since none of them are a drastic enough drop to be short enough to put the strut back together without them.

 

Yes and congrats to you for the curiosity, the springs contain the strut(shock absorber) and as a unit are removed from the car, then the spring is compressed, removed, uncompressed, changed, recompressed and reinstalled, after installation an alignment is needed. If not for the alignment it would be a somewhat simple procedure. Don't put on to many miles after installation before alignment.

 

^^ Still need to let the new springs settle though. I usually recommend 2-3 weeks depending on how much driving gets done.

 

Always a good idea. All springs will settle a bit and drop a bit more. As for needing spring compressors for removal, its not necessary. I've dropped plenty of cars and we would just rwmove the top assembly aiming into a card board box with towel inside. Never had any problems or had part flying across the garage.

 

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For teins, you definately need a spring compressor to install the front springs. you can buy some for under $25 at Harbor Freight. Pay attention to the washer that goes under the front nut!

 

You can go to autozone and rent them for free. Just leave a deposit and it gets returned when you bring the tool back.

 

Yah I had a spring compressor for 6 months once and they still refunded my deposit! Lol

 

I would guess that if you are asking this question you probably are not qualified to do this yourself safely. If this is the case do not attempt to do it yourself as you could cause yourself bodily harm or others if installed incorrectly.

 

^^ I disagree. If the OP has the initiative, he can do it himself. I did my first spring install by myself with nothing but hand tools and a spring compressor. Sure it took me like 8 hours to do it but it got done and I learned a lot from it. Since then, I've gotten down to 1.5-2hrs depending on the car to swap springs.
Its really not hard at all and the Prius only has a McPherson setup in front. The rear is a separated shock and coil design.