How-to: Install Eibach Pro-Kit Lowering Springs

[RallySportDirect]

Eibach Pro-Kit Lowering Springs

For more information on these camber arms, click here, or any of the images below!

This weekend I got a chance to install the Eibach Pro-Kit Lowering Springs.

In preparing Yurtle for winter here in SL, UT I wanted to pull the summer wheels, tires and coilovers off of the car to keep them from getting to beat up by all the salt that goes on the roads. I already swapped the summer wheels and tires for a set of 16" steelies and Firestone Winterforce tires. The next step was to pull the Pedders coilovers off and reinstall the factory struts paired with Eibach Pro-Kit springs.
The Eibach Pro-Kit is designed to deliver aggressive good looks and high performance handling, without ever compromising safety or ride quality. By using their proprietary, progressive spring design, they are able to keep your car comfortable enough that your wife won't complain while reducing body roll, increase cornering ability and stop quicker.


WARNING: If you are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the MS3's suspension system, please have a professional install these for you.

Part #: 5554.140
Return Policy: RallySport Guarantee
Mfgr. Warranty: Million Mile
Adjustable: No
Drop Height Front: 1.0in
Drop Height Rear: .6in
Drop Height Front Metric: 25mm
Drop Height Rear Metric: 15mm
Includes Bump Stops: No


Lets take a look at what Eibach includes.








1) First things first, get your car up on jackstands or better yet a lift if you have access to one.





2) The wheels need to be removed to gain access to remove the suspension.





3) In order to remove the front suspension there are just a few steps that need to be completed -

Remove the clip holding the brake line to the strut:



Disconnect the endlink and bracket securing the ABS line to the strut:



Remove lower part of strut from the hub:





Remove the 3 bolts securing the strut to the chassis:



Remove both left and right side front strut assemblies:




4) With both front strut assemblies removed from your car we just need to mark the orientation of the upper perch in respect to the lower perch before disassembly. This orientation must remain the same with the installation of the Pro-Kit springs or unwanted noise may result while driving.

The MS3 design is such that I don't think you could reinstall everything with the incorrect orientation but better safe than sorry. We grabbed a white paint marker to make the necessary reference marks.







5) Toss the factory strut/spring assembly in the spring compressor you have. This one may look different than what most end up picking up from their local parts store. The main purpose here is to compress the spring so that when you remove the top hat nut the spring doesn't come shooting off and hurt someone.
With this particular spring compressor we had the ability to place the upper arms on the top of the upper mount and apply pressure there which kept it from spinning when removing the 17mm nut holding everything together.







6) With the top hats, springs and dust boots removed go ahead and clean up the strut and spring perch to get them ready for the new springs.






For reference I snapped a picture of the factory 2013 MS3 front spring next to the Eibach Pro-Kit spring.




7)Reinstall the factory dust boot and bump stop assembly and slide the new spring over your strut. Set the top hat on and ensure that the marks you made earlier line up properly. Once you've gotten to this point install your new springs in reverse order that you removed your stockers and you are ready to install the assemblies back on your car. The piston rod nut factory torque specification is 43-56 ft/lbs.
Also note that according to the instructions Eibach included there is no modification needed to the factory bump stops.








Stock struts with Eibach Pro-Kit springs next to Pedders Coilovers.








8)Reinstall your new setup in the reverse order you used to uninstall them and ensure you properly torque all hardware back to factory specifications.





Torque Specifications:

Upper mount to chassis mounting bolts: 23-28 ft/lbs




Endlink to strut nut: 32-44 ft/lbs




Knuckle to strut bolt: 48-54 ft/lbs







Rear:

1) Moving onto the rear suspension you need to remove the factory spring and strut which is I believe easier than the front. Get the rear springs ready for installation by removing the upper spring seat off of the stock springs and installing them on your Eibachs.















2) In order to remove the springs on the car you'll need to drop your rear swaybar by removing the nuts securing the endlinks to the lower control arm. Once the nuts are removed you can simply rotate the bar down and out of the way.





It is hard to see in this next picture but you will want to support the lower control arm with a jackstand, screw jack or floor jack before removing the lower bolt connecting it to the hub. This will prevent the spring from popping out wildly as well as keeping the lower control arm from losing control and damaging your car or your hand.



With the spring you had on the car removed reinstall the Eibach spring you've prepared and use your screw jack or floor jack to push the lower control arm back into place where you are able to reinstall the bolt attaching it to the hub. Ensure you torque the bolt down to factory specifications - 57-75 ft/lbs
After the left and right side springs are installed you can now reinstall your swaybar by reinstalling the nuts and torquing them down properly - 33-44 ft/lbs








3) Normally you would be done with the installation at the last step and ready for an alignment but if you are removing coilovers like myself then you will still need to remove the rear coilovers and reinstall your factory struts.
To remove the rear struts you'll need to remove the lower bolt and the 2 upper nuts and you can simply pull it out of place.










4) Grab your factory strut and install it by reinstalling the 2 upper 12mm nuts and 1 lower 17mm bolt.





Don't forget to torque the upper nuts down to the proper specification - 17-20 ft/lbs



And also torque the lower bolt down properly - 59-77 ft/lbs





5) You are now finished with the rear Eibach spring installation.






Thanks,
Tanner

For more information click here:

[blackms3_71]

Wow thats a really good write..even has all the torque spec. Thank you

[swsmailman]

Thank you for this awesome write up!

Will definitly be using this as reference when installing my H&R Springs that I have, along with my JBR Rear Sway!

[mikespeed]

Nice does not look to hard to do thanks!!

[someguy]

Only thing missing is how to get the strut in and out of the lower control arm on the front. It can be a royal pain in the butt sometimes. I use an air hammer with 1" hammer bit to bang them out and then a floor jack to squeeze them back together.

Also, on some cars the rear sway bar you need to remove the bushing brackets since the bar won't rotate far enough out of the way but at least you dropped the entire link rather than trying to get the bar off the endlink which never works.

Also, it's worth while using some lube on those rubber top hats for the rear suspension to prevent squeaking.

And to line up the fronts, you can just match up the two tabs at the top by the bearing with the one bracket that goes into the control arm at the bottom. No need to mark them.

Otherwise, one of the best write ups I've ever seen with great pictures.

[Nliiitend1]

Easiest way to get the strut out of the knuckle is to put a small, thin-ish piece of metal (like 2 quarters - if you only use one you'll punch right through it) in the pinch slot and then thread the bolt through backwards to spread it apart.

Works like a charm.

[someguy]

Originally Posted by Nliiitend1 Easiest way to get the strut out of the knuckle is to put a small, thin-ish piece of metal (like 2 quarters - if you only use one you'll punch right through it) in the pinch slot and then thread the bolt through backwards to spread it apart. Works like a charm.

I've attempted that method a couple times but I find the bolt never threads backwards through the knuckle. Since the head of the bolt is tapered and doesn't pop out the other side when going in the normal way, the threads don't ever seem to be good at that end.

[Nliiitend1]

Hmmm. That's unfortunate.

I've never had a problem doing it that way on my car or anyone else's, and we're talking 4 or 5 different cars at this point.

[someguy]

Originally Posted by Nliiitend1 Hmmm. That's unfortunate. I've never had a problem doing it that way on my car or anyone else's, and we're talking 4 or 5 different cars at this point.

I've tried on 3 so far after hearing about it (having done at least a dozen suspension swaps at this point), no luck yet...I could probably force the issue (hammer it in and make it thread or tap the hole or something) but don't want to risk. It might have something to do with Canadian cars getting rusted up and whatnot. Air hammer separates it no problem anyway

[Nliiitend1]

Yeah it's probably just rusty threads. All the cars I've done it on were either relatively low mileage at the time, or they'd had the suspension apart early in their lives before...

[smaeda]

great write up. I would like to see the after pics of the ride height as well.

[RallySportDirect]

Originally Posted by smaeda great write up. I would like to see the after pics of the ride height as well.

I will make sure to get pictures to show the ride height as soon as we get some decent weather up here

Originally Posted by someguy Only thing missing is how to get the strut in and out of the lower control arm on the front. It can be a royal pain in the butt sometimes. I use an air hammer with 1" hammer bit to bang them out and then a floor jack to squeeze them back together. Also, on some cars the rear sway bar you need to remove the bushing brackets since the bar won't rotate far enough out of the way but at least you dropped the entire link rather than trying to get the bar off the endlink which never works. Also, it's worth while using some lube on those rubber top hats for the rear suspension to prevent squeaking. And to line up the fronts, you can just match up the two tabs at the top by the bearing with the one bracket that goes into the control arm at the bottom. No need to mark them. Otherwise, one of the best write ups I've ever seen with great pictures.

Great information, thank you!

[Justin]

Get a chance to get some pics yet?

[RallySportDirect]

Originally Posted by Justin Get a chance to get some pics yet?

I am so sorry it's taking so long. The weather has been so crappy out here and so cold I haven't had a chance to wash the car to get pictures. But I am still working on it and will get them done asap.

Thanks!

Tanner

[jgarmo]

beautiful write up! but my only question is why go from coils to springs?

[RallySportDirect]

Originally Posted by jgarmo beautiful write up! but my only question is why go from coils to springs?

The only reason I went from coilovers to springs was to try to keep the coilovers in good condition by not exposing them to the winter months. There is so much garage they put on the roads out here during winter that I don't feel bad exposing the stock struts and a set of lowering springs to all of it.

[jgarmo]

Originally Posted by RallySportDirect The only reason I went from coilovers to springs was to try to keep the coilovers in good condition by not exposing them to the winter months. There is so much garage they put on the roads out here during winter that I don't feel bad exposing the stock struts and a set of lowering springs to all of it.

Oh! I feel you on that! That's a good idea and you're still keeping the look without harming your higher end parts. Thanks.

[Nliiitend1]

That's why I have stainless steel coilovers.

Fuck swapping that shit twice a year.

[RallySportDirect]

Originally Posted by Nliiitend1 That's why I have stainless steel coilovers.

I wish

[JgamB]

I'm still curious to see pics. I'm looking for a 1" or *lesser* drop in the front, retaining OEM springs in the rear. These claim 1", which should still allow for 26" slicks, which is my intent.

[btstarcher]

Quick question: why are the tighter coils at the top when installing these?

[RallySportDirect]

Originally Posted by btstarcher Quick question: why are the tighter coils at the top when installing these?

This was just apart of the instructions from the Eibach kit. Everything was fine afterwards.

Kind regards,

Jeff

[btstarcher]

Just curious because I installed my Swift springs using these instructions, assuming they would be similar, and found out later that they require the tighter coils at the bottom.

[TMOtester]

All right...I am a bit late to the party, but I'll try my luck, nonetheless.
I installed yesterday a Bilstein B12 Pro-Kit that contains the Eibach Pro-Kit springs. Well, the shop installed them, not me in person.

Thing is that it has a stupid rubbing noise when turning the wheels at very low speed, but only at about max turn. It can be heard from both sides. Sounds like a submarine While driving I can hear some clunks when going over high bumps but that's all.

I suspect the installation went wrong when they positioned the top of the assembly (flange/perch, whatever, I'm really noob with these things).

Can anyone in here help me find out how can I see if that is the case? Tomorrow I will go back and they said they'll opend it up in one side and show me. They keep saying that the top of the spring "ends earlier than it should" )) and this means it is not the correct spring for the car. I'm pretty sure they had no idea how to do it correctly and they're just trying to put the blame on me or something.

Seen the Step 4 of the OP and that made me think they didn't care about that but I don't know how I can prove it.

Thanks a lot!

[btstarcher]

@himurax13; didn't you have an issue with springs that were too "short?"

Clunking at full steering lock.

[lnumbp]

Originally Posted by TMOtester All right...I am a bit late to the party, but I'll try my luck, nonetheless. I installed yesterday a Bilstein B12 Pro-Kit that contains the Eibach Pro-Kit springs. Well, the shop installed them, not me in person. Thing is that it has a stupid rubbing noise when turning the wheels at very low speed, but only at about max turn. It can be heard from both sides. Sounds like a submarine While driving I can hear some clunks when going over high bumps but that's all. I suspect the installation went wrong when they positioned the top of the assembly (flange/perch, whatever, I'm really noob with these things). Can anyone in here help me find out how can I see if that is the case? Tomorrow I will go back and they said they'll opend it up in one side and show me. They keep saying that the top of the spring "ends earlier than it should" )) and this means it is not the correct spring for the car. I'm pretty sure they had no idea how to do it correctly and they're just trying to put the blame on me or something. Seen the Step 4 of the OP and that made me think they didn't care about that but I don't know how I can prove it. Thanks a lot!

I don't think that this is caused by the springs or even poor installation. Do you have aftermarket wheels on the car with more aggressive offset (less than factory)? I do, with lowering springs, and I now rub the fender liner at full lock. These are the kinds of things you just have to deal with when you get low.

[TMOtester]

No, were not rubbing against the fender (or whatever is behind the fender). The sound could be heard even with the car staying still and me turning the wheels close to max.

Anyways, found the problem...the Bilstein front shocks have the bumpstops inside so the factory ones should be removed. The mechanics left them installed on the new shocks this resulting in too much pressure onto the top bearing. Removed the bumpstops and problem is solved.

Thanks!

Awesome thread, btw!

[himurax13]

Originally Posted by btstarcher @himurax13; didn't you have an issue with springs that were too "short?" Clunking at full steering lock.

LOL, no. The springs are not too short. The B8 shafts are longer than the stock struts, will droop quite a bit when the car is lifted, and there is barely enough tension to keep everything aligned properly due to the extra length. My car still gets suspension pops at low speeds while turning but everything works fine. If they they extended the threads on the top of the shaft that should fix the issue.

Cutting of the bumpstops is a great idea but would have absolutely nothing to do with the noises. Perhaps the Strut bearings were not aligned properly during the original install.

[AManWithNoName]

Great write up! Plan on ordering these this weekend.

[OverBoosted]

Thanks for the write up. Installed these today with some koni's love them.

[TORQUERULES]

Originally Posted by OverBoosted Thanks for the write up. Installed these today with some koni's love them.

Pics? I am about to do the same combo.

[OverBoosted]

[JgamB]

Thanks for the pics @OverBoosted;

I'm also still considering these springs and that looks like a very modest drop in the front. (which is what I'm looking for)

[OverBoosted]

I love the drop of these springs. I previously had the H&R springs and they were too low for my liking. They ride very nice as well, with the Koni Str.T struts my wife will even ride in the car now.

[El Beaner]

Originally Posted by btstarcher Just curious because I installed my Swift springs using these instructions, assuming they would be similar, and found out later that they require the tighter coils at the bottom.

@kevdog- did the springs on Jons car go tighter top or bottom?

[TheProduct86]

What a great how to! Good job man!

[lreyes66]

Ordered my eibach pro kit with Kobi yellows for my gen 1. Sucks I waited this long (had car since 08) to upgrade the suspension.


This how to is based on the gen 2 but the suspension look the same. Safe to say torque specs the same for gen 1 and 2 for suspensions?

[TORQUERULES]

Originally Posted by OverBoosted I love the drop of these springs. I previously had the H&R springs and they were too low for my liking. They ride very nice as well, with the Koni Str.T struts my wife will even ride in the car now.

I am running the Eibach's with STR.T Koni's as well and love it. Work great with the Progress RSB.

[someguy]

Originally Posted by lreyes66 Ordered my eibach pro kit with Kobi yellows for my gen 1. Sucks I waited this long (had car since 08) to upgrade the suspension. This how to is based on the gen 2 but the suspension look the same. Safe to say torque specs the same for gen 1 and 2 for suspensions?

Yes, first and second gen's are essentially the same. The spring rates and damping are slightly different with the OEM components between generations but it all goes together the same.

[lreyes66]

Originally Posted by someguy Yes, first and second gen's are essentially the same. The spring rates and damping are slightly different with the OEM components between generations but it all goes together the same.

what about the 3 strut mount bolts to the chasis.. shop manual says 20 ft/lbs max. Just curious cause I HAVE snapped 1 of those bolts before but this was before i actually owned a torque wrench lol.