Lowering the Astra

		Lowering the Astra
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		Craige from KC Motors Phone no. 07974 637452 who is a mobile mechanic was the person we used to do the job of lowering the Astra. The springs came from Personal Identity (Car Styling) Ltd.
		The Back. He started on the back first. He used two jacks to do the back, but it can be done with one jack and a axle stand. First job was to jack up and remove the rear wheel, then jack up on rear trailing arm. Undo the bottom bolt on the shock absorber and remove. Jack up on side to release spring and remove. Take off the spring seats and replace on new springs. Put the new springs back, and jack up a little on bottom arm to re-attach shock absorber. Put the wheel back on and lower jacks slowly to make sure the spring is seated properly. Tighten up the wheel nuts, and one spring is finished.

The picture above is a new spring and an old spring with the spring seats still on.		A note in the Haynes manual is "Due to the design of the rear suspension, it is important to note that only one coil spring should be removed at a time."

		The above pictures are before the spring has been removed, the new spring in place and the position of the jacks and everything re-attached.
		The front. He used one jack for the front. First remove wheel. Undo top bolt on the anti roll bar. Remove bolts on shock absorber. Open bonnet and remove shock absorber cover and undo top bolt, now remove shock absorber. Use spring compressor to tighten spring, undo top nut of shock absorber. Remove cone and strut top, remove spring and carefully remove spring compressor. Clean cup on shock absorber. Re-assemble new spring on shock absorber with the cone that came out. Reposition the spring and shock absorber and attach the top first, replace bottom bolts on shock absorber and re-attach anti roll bar. We put a bump stop on the shock absorber. Replace wheel and lower jack slowly to make sure it all seats OK. Make sure top of shock absorber nut is tight and replace cover. The car has now been lowered by 40mm.