Acura CL (1G) Front and Rear Spring and Strut Replacement

Several days ahead of the job, coat every suspension fastener you will touch with a penetrating solvent, paying particular attention to the front and rear lower bolts, and reapply once or twice a day. On this chassis the rear lower bolt corrodes into its bushing sleeve and is the single most likely thing to defeat the install, so this pre-soak is not optional. Confirm you have two jacks, a pair of jack stands, a proper coil-spring compressor, the common metric sockets and wrenches, an impact gun if available, the factory hex key from the trunk kit, a hammer and a flashlight. Line up a second person, since the springs and the rear assembly are awkward to handle alone.

Crack the front lug nuts loose while the car is still on the ground. Lift both front corners and set the chassis securely on jack stands; supporting both sides at once gives the lower strut mount room to swing free later. Under the hood, unbolt the upper strut brace — two "12mm" fasteners at each tower plus two at the center — and lift it clear so it is out of the way for the rest of the front work.

Remove the front wheel. At the base of the strut, take out the lower through-bolt (about "17mm") and the pinch/fork bolt that clamps the strut into the knuckle. If the strut will not part from the fork, disconnecting the sway-bar end link — and, if needed, freeing the upper control-arm attachment — drops things enough to release it. Back off the three strut-mount nuts at the top of the tower ("14mm") last, holding the strut so it does not fall once loose, then wiggle the strut and spring down and out of the arch.

Fit the spring compressor and draw the front coil together; the fronts carry far more preload than the rears and require noticeably more compression. With the coil captured, hold the strut shaft still with the factory hex key and remove the single top-mount nut ("14mm"). Lift off the top mount and slide the old spring free, then transfer or fit the spring onto the replacement strut, seat the top mount, and tighten the shaft nut back down. Keep the compressor fully engaged until that top mount is secured.

Feed the assembly back up into the wheel well and start the three top-mount nuts by hand. Locate the strut base in the fork/knuckle, install the pinch bolt and the lower through-bolt, then tighten the lower hardware followed by the three upper nuts. Reconnect the sway-bar link if you removed it, and refit the wheel. Complete the identical front procedure on the opposite corner before lowering the front of the car.

Lift both rear corners onto jack stands and pull one wheel. The rear lower mounting bolt passes through at an angle and sits under constant load, which is why it fights removal. Place your second jack under the rotor or hub and raise that corner just enough to unload the bolt; it should then slide out, and it goes back in the same way without cross-threading. Have a helper push down on the caliper or hub to shed tension if the jack alone is not enough, and stop immediately if the bolt head starts to round.

In the trunk, remove the two upper shock nuts ("14mm"). With the lower bolt out, let the shock swing down, then guide its upper end high into the arch and draw the bottom clear first. The rear unit is stubborn to extract and takes patience to thread out, so leave yourself plenty of time here.

The rear coil often needs little or no compression — compare the free lengths of the old and new springs before assuming otherwise. When you build the spring onto the new shock, index the top-mount stud to the very tip of the spring's end coil so the mount clocks exactly as it came apart. Getting this alignment wrong forces a complete redo and is a common cause of a rear clunk after the install.

Maneuver the assembly back into the arch upper end first and start the two top nuts by hand. Realign the lower mount, relieve tension with the jack under the hub as before, and slide the lower bolt home. Tighten the upper nuts fully — an under-tightened top nut lets the washer rattle and knock, which tends to appear once the weather turns cold. On shocks whose top stud is a flat tab rather than a hex, grip it with vice grips while you tighten the nut. Refit the wheel and repeat on the remaining corner.

On rust-belt cars the rear lower bolt frequently welds itself inside the bushing and shears off. When that happens the lower mount bushing has to come out: cut away the remaining nut and bolt with an angle grinder, melt the rubber with a torch, and remove the metal bushing sleeve with a dremel or reciprocating saw. Pressing or hammering the replacement bushing in usually calls for heating the control-arm eye and, ideally, a press. Bushings are sold by KYB (about "$27") and new bolts cost only a few dollars, so buy them ahead of time. Disregard any claim that the whole spindle must be replaced — it does not.