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Hey guys,

This may seem like a dumb question, especially since I've performed this procedure several times myself, but I wanted to know an easy way to tighten the strut cylinder nut (the one that secures the strut mount).

In the past I've had problems getting this nut tight, because once it's on, the cylinder turns with it and cannot easily be tightned any more. I've tried securing the cylinder a couple different ways, but I just can't get a good grip on it (without damaging it).

Is there some simple solution I'm overlooking? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated -- I'm taking them out in a couple days.

Thanks in advance!

i use an air gun seems to tighten it perfectly if you limit how much power it has

i just tightened it all that i could outside of the car, and then put it back in (bolted the bottoms and had the top strut mount bolts through) and then tightened it the rest up there. yea use an air gun thats always fun. but the strut mount attached to the car should hold it for u
~ sam

use an "impact gun" aka an air gun... it will tighten it untill it starts to twist then it will stop and tighten it again... its weired how it works... but it works good and gets it REALLY TIGHT... i used on to put my lugnuts back on... and i couldn't get them back off w/o one.. it kinda sucked... but it was tight lol

I use my Craftsman torque wrench with deep set sockets and do a final tighten once they are on the car. Good Luck.

I took a pair of vise grips, clamped them to the metal shaft of the strut through the spring coils using a peice of rubber glove to "insulate" it from marring up the shaft, and then tightened the top nut with an impact wrench. The vise-grips didn't slide at all, and when i removed them, the shaft didn't look scratched at all.

Originally posted by dj inferno:
use an "impact gun" aka an air gun... it will tighten it untill it starts to twist then it will stop and tighten it again... its weired how it works... but it works good and gets it REALLY TIGHT... i used on to put my lugnuts back on... and i couldn't get them back off w/o one.. it kinda sucked... but it was tight lol

Yeah dont tighten your lug nuts with the impact gun. You can strip your studs and also warp your rotors. But anyway, just do what everyone else is saying. The impact gun is the easiest.

Thanks guys, I was actually able to do something similiar to Wil's suggestion: I used a towel lined with a piece of thin rubber over the shaft, clamped down with some robo-grips and used my breaker bar to tighten the nut. I also had to kinda hold the strut assembly down with my foot as I did this, so the whole thing wouldn't turn.

By the way, Luc's coilover shims work like a charm. I only hear the slightest bit of noise now -- nothing like the awful banging from before. I HIGHLY recommend these to anyone with coilovers.

glad to hear good things about the shims, i haven't installed mine yet