I took my 91 LS to get a new pair of shoes the other day and they showed me where my spring on the front drivers side had broken on the bottom end and the rest of the spring had slid down. They told me it would be 600 dollars and they would replace both front springs. I told them I’d have to do some research and get back to them. I searched on the forums here and went to pepboys and looked in a Hines? book to see if I could do this myself. Looks like I could replace the springs with aftermarket for about 150 but I would need to get a spring compression tool? I’m just wondering if I’m missing anything? Is this a repair that can be done by a novice? Are there any other special tools required? How much should a spring compression tool run?
You can rent spring compressors from your local autoparts store. They’re cheap or free. However often they do not fit our springs…it just depends on what your local stores have.
If you plan on installing stock springs, you’ll need a spring compressor. If you’re installing lowering springs, then you will not need one.
Thats just a place to start, I highly suggest that you :search: you should be able to find an abundance of info…
wow… for 600 you could get a decent suspension setup for that… and it will be lowered!
dam come to los angeles i will do it for 100 bucks and a 6 pack
http://www.g2ic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101360&highlight=springs
Let me know if you need these
Thanks.
Ask for helms manual, get some tools for cheap from walmart and do it yourself. Very easy, and good learning experience.
and Yes Autozone rents spring compressor, but they are tricky to use.
You may go to MIDAS for that. They have real spring compressor machine.
Thanks a lot guys. I’ll pick up a helms book and do some more reading here to decide if I want to replace with stock or not.
H&R OE is like a 0.7" drop on your car, and it costs like $139, so if your not looking for a drop that noticeable, just get those, allot cheaper than $600, and your car will have a slight drop.
that store was trying to rape you. bastards.
like everyone said… get some good aftermarket springs… slammer… and good luck.
I got a set of eibach sportlines… 4 kyb gr2s and i got a buddy to install it … and it cost me about $550 Cdn total.
i got H&R race, with KYB GR-2’s (yeah yeah, they shocks are still doing great) and i spent $130 on the springs and $245 on shocks/struts on ebay, then put it all together, and slapped camber kit on for $120. great stance for a G2.
If you get lowering springs, you might as well get some new shocks too! 
The car prolly needs new shocks if they’ve not been replaced in a while. A set of Tokico Blue shocks runs ~$250.
If the springs are short (~1.5") you should not need a spring compressor at all. Just remove the old spring/shock and install new spring/shock.
I agree, $600US just for fronts is stupidly $$$. I just did all that stuff last weekend myself. This site is an awesome resource for finding help. (Do a Search first before posting a question though, or they’ll send someone to beat the crap out of you).
Saint - good deal…H&R Sports cost me $180cdn, set of GR2s-$400cdn. I couldn’t find the Eibach sports for less than $300 around here (I don’t know why they’re so expensive) that’s why I settled on the H&Rs.