E30 Zone

any ideas on how to undo the top damper bolt with the strut off the car? The guides say to do this when the strut is still attached to the car to stop it just spinning, but I never knew this and have proceeded to remove all suspension and the front subframe for powder coating!

Any ideas? Or will I have to put it all back together again to get to bolt undone

Clamp it in a vice?

Buzz gun. Or if you're replacing the shocks mole grip the shocks and throw them in a the bin.

Spring compressors mate, be very careful as that spring is under alot of load and if it goes off in your face it will K-O you.

i have done it before by putting loads of cable ties on it,compressing it as much as i can then when its on the floor cut them off one at a time!! its very exciting!! good luck!!

I've got spring compressors on it, I'm not having any problems compressing the springs, it's the centre nut on the strut that I can't get loose, it just spins round. I can't cut the dampers as I want to reuse them, they are bilstein inserts, so not going to cut them, just need to get the springs off

I had a similiar problem with mine.

I used an old bit of leather I had in the garage ( From an old glove ) I wrapped it around the shock and then used a set of Mole Grips between the springs as close to the top of the shock as possible. This stops the mole grips from marking the shock.
I kept testing with the tension on the mole grips firstly with a little bit of tension, then tried to undo the nut. When it started slipping I increased the tension a LITTLE bit more and tried again.

It worked for me on the third attempt and in the end the grips only really had a light grip on the shock.

Mick

mole grips but clamp it where it will not travel into the damper , then loosen the centre nut! in the future loosen slightly when still on the car

That's genius with the leather! I couldn't get my mole grips to grip even on a tight setting, i reckon leather will give it the grip it needs, thanks

Grind the nut off and get a new one, or use a nut splitter. you have to be careful not to damage the threads you want to keep on the damper, and use the spring compressors again. I would go with some of the above ideas first, but I always like to have a plan C, D and E

You could compress the spring and try to undo the nut securing the insert in the strut, this would then allow you to remove the spring completely and give you more working room to grip the shaft of the insert.

thanks for all the help, got plenty things to try now