this guide was indispensable!!! i wouldn't have had the courage to do something like this otherwise. if you're ever in town, i'd get you a beer.

there was a nut that you take off in the installation process that fit the threads. i dont remember which one... but i just grabbed all the nuts i took off, and tested to see which one would fit before going to home depot and getting one.

we did my buddy's 3is without the ball joint (he was apprehensive about pulling it) and we did mine with the ball joint puller. it makes the front installation go by about 30-45 min faster.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I am about to start tonight and was about to go the arm route because I've never pulled a ball joint, but may have to try to cut down on time.

 

using the ball joint separator is really easy (you can look up youtube videos on how to use it). Most important thing is that you be careful not to tear the rubber boot with the tool because if you do, then you need to replace the boot. If you leave it torn, the grease will dry out and your ball joint will need replacing sooner than later.

 

it's REALLY easy, the 3IS ball joint will pop out with a few turns of the puller. not much pressure at all

 

So I took out the front springs, and I'm confused. Tanabes do not appear to be lower than my existing F Sport. I bought my used, could they have already lowered it? Should the spring height be the same?

Also, tanabes says to cut the rubber bump, anyone do this? What about the spiral bind? These were not mentioned before so it is throwing me off.

 

Free length of the spring doesn't matter. The Tanabe's will compress more than the stock springs. Different spring manufacturers, make springs of different materials, different thicknesses, different spring rates, different amount of coils, etc. which all contribute to the ride height and quality, so you can't simply look at spring free length to judge what will be lower than the other once installed. Your Tanabes might be a softer spring rate than stock, which could be why they are longer but will sit lower.

If the instructions call for cutting the bump stop, then you should definitely consider it. It means the drop is so significant that you may hit your bump stops more frequently, so they want you to trim the bump stop to be shorter so you can have more shock travel before hitting the stop.

The spiral bind is just a spring silencer sheath so that when the springs make less noise when they hit each other (called binding). you should put that on if you have it, but it's not a life or death thing.

 

CLUM, did you cut for your wife's IS when you first had tanabes? If not, was there an issue?

 

Tanabe installed the springs because it was a test vehicle. They did not cut the bump stops. Are your springs the same model that I had though? The more aggressive drop, the more necessity to cut the stops.

anyway, I would just cut the stops if the instructions say to do so. It won't hurt the car nor will it hurt if you ever go back to stock springs.

 

what do you torque the rear lower shock bolt at?

 

and i'm also installing SPC camber arms. do you know what the torques are for those bushings?

 

Sorry about that! it's 81 ft*lbs

Sorry i don't have the camber arm torque spec in the manuals i downloaded.

 

Ops, I torqued it to 107 ftlbs

 

The hub to lower arm is 107 ft/lbs while the shock to lower arm is 87 ft/lbs.
Sorry i didn't realize i had left out the shock to lower arm torque spec.

20 ft/lb extra on the shock bolt probably won't do any damage to the bolt or any suspension component. I'd expect the bolt to shear at a much higher torque value. But for sure, go back and torque it to the correct, lower, spec for good measure.

 

i corrected these two images with the torque value for the Front Ball Joint in the Front Spring Install section and the rear shock to lower arm torque value for the Rear Spring Install.

 

just finished my drop. the fronts are dead even. the rears however... the passenger side is 4mm taller than the driver side... hmm, that's going to bug me