I am posting this for the benefit of other suspension novices like myself. After much reading of the FAQs and Haynes manual, I bit the bullet and undertook shock and strut replacement on the wagon (945t 115K 1992), having never done suspension work before. The shocks and struts were original, although ball joints, sway bar links and radius rod bushing were replaced in the not too distant past by the previous owner. After consulting my mechanic and the FCP Groton website, I chose Sachs Advantage shocks and struts, which FCP says are the same as Boge Turbo Gas, but made in Germany. My mechanic said Boge Turbo Gas were between the Bilstein HDs and the stock units in ride characteristics.

Prior to this work, the wagon was dragging its tail with just $200 of groceries in the back. Since I bought this car to carry a 17 foot and a 21 foot kayak simultaneously on the roof, totalling 130 pounds, I also wanted the car to be extra stable, so I opted for heavy duty Scan Tech springs. I also purchased ball joint and tie rod ends as spares in case the ones on the car got damaged during the work.

The rear shocks and springs went in without much fuss. I spent about 4 hours putzing around, but could now get it done in about and hour or so. The new combination resulted in an increase of 3/4 inch in ride height, which actually made the steering feel much more neutral, so I suspect the rear was sagging and altering the effective caster in the front end.

The following weekend, I did the struts. Dropping the struts was fairly easy. I differed from the FAQs in that I left left the hubs/discs on and removed the calipers, then removed the entire assembly. I intended to due the strut catridge replacements myself, but coroded glans nuts and a lack of tools with real leverage sent me to an auto parts store that replaced the cartrides and assembled the entire units for $10 apeice - the best $20 I ever spent. Putting it all together was harder - the disc and hub weight made the struts hard to handle, I tried hangin them from the fender by the mounting nuts, but couldn't get the ball joint studs into the control arm, even with the sway bar disconnected. I took them out and the tried mounting them bottom first, but the increadsed height of the units meant I couldn't get the tops under the fender. I wouns up using my $10 harborfreight strut compressors to get them in in, which took a while. On the second strut, I stuck with top mounting first, and got it in using LOTS of leverage on the lower control arm. New ball joints and tie rod ends were used because of damages by the ball joint forks used to remove them (by the way, a 3 piece set also at harborfreight for about $10). The remainder of assemblty was routine, and I managed to preserve the existing alignment settings pretty well. Rid e height came up about one half inch. The entier job, including tool runs and waiting for the strut rebuilds, took 12 hours, but I coul now do it in less than half that.

A pre-alingment test ride indicated that I got it right. The slight pull to the right that existed before was still there, and should be resolved with upcoming alignment. The car now corners LEVEL - it previously had a lot of body roll. The car is also pretty stiff - given the stiff rear springs and the stiffer struts/shocks, this is to be expected, but borders on annoying on bumpy roads around town, kinda like an SUV. A brief highway experience suggests very composed high speed handling. One culprit is the Z rated Dunlop SP8000s installed by the PO, a mistake. Handling is good, but they ride like a brick, and the car will not move in the snow. Turning the car around at a plowed, level gas station at less than 2 mph had the ABS kicking in.

This weekend I wanted to get it aligned. Since I had done the whole job w/out a torque wrench, I went over the car with a borrowed torque wrench. Unfortunately, the wrench malfunctioned, causing me to mistakenly overtighten and strip the tie rod end nut. Could not get it off, so I bought a nut splitter from Sears. Turns out the nut is aircraft style with a chamfer on the top edge, and the hub mount doesn't have much clearance, so the tool rode up over the nut without splitting it. Two hours with a cold chisel took care of it. A new tie rod end from FCP ($13 shipped) should be here Tuesday, and should take 15 minutes to do. Then we will finally get the alignment and enjoy the car.

All parts came from FCP Groton. My 4 transactions with them in as many months have been seamless, and the prices are rock bottom. For rear springs, shocks, strut cartridges, tie rod ends (now 3), and ball joints, parts came to appx $360 shipped. Misc tools were under $50. The upcoming alignment should be about $60. Total about $470. I figure that the work would be well over $1000 at my local shop.