Further, the spring compressors must be compressed and left on until the strut assembly is in the car.

Next time you do this, or the other side, use the weight of the car to compress the strut as much as you can (put a jackstand under the lower suspension arm) before you put on the spring compressors. A couple turns of the spring compressors and you can then loosen the jesus nut on the strut and remove the three nuts on the strut bearing holder and then raise the car and the strut comes right out.

I've often removed/replaced the ball joint at this time because it's so easy and relatively cheap. If you unbolt the ball joint the strut comes right out. Watch out for the abs cable...if you remove the strut from the car you should unhook the abs cable from its connector inside the engine compartment and snake the cable out. Do NOT try to remove the sensor from the spindle unless you want to replace it.