Front shocks & springs replacement

From THE Corrado Forum Knowledge Base

This is for a 16v Corrado, but should be the same for all 4-pot Corrados.

First off is safety. Use axle stands and car jack in the right safe locations. Never work under the car or within the wheel arch alone, always have someone watching. Firstly park the car up on level ground with handbrake on. Chock the back wheels with bricks in front & behind.

1. Slacken off the wheel nuts; you may even remove two opposing nuts. Pop the bonnet now too.

2. Jack the car up and place on axle stands. Then loosen the jack but keep it loosely supporting the car as extra stability.

Hub and brakes

3. Remove the wheel. Unclip (small nut) the brake hose [see below picture- point C] from the shock (this is the thickest of the two hoses). Now carefully pop open the plastic ‘U’ shaped holder, which houses the smaller hose [D] (ABS – under dangerously high pressure, do not break or tamper) – if yours has ABS. All hoses are now fairly clear.

4. Undo the two large bolts [A] at the bottom of the shock but do not remove them fully yet. To get to the lower bolt you will need to remove that plastic ‘U’ shaped holder – pops off. Before you loosen these bolts you may wish to note the position of the shock in relation wheel bearing housing by scribing a mark on both. Failing this you will need to set the camber upon reassembly. Torque to about 80Nm (higher) 60Nm (lower bolt) upon reassembly.

5. Remove the brake calliper by taking out the two holding bolts [B] – these are easy to get to, do not try to remove the whole brake housing. This is about a 13mm socket, where you MUST also use an open-ended spanner on the inner nut to ensure this does not rotate and break the rubber sheath. The brake can now be removed and hung to one side, with the brake pads remaining on the disk.

6. Open the bonnet. Pop off the plastic cap over the shock housing. Remove the nut from the top of the strut, for this you may need a box spanner. You must prevent the shock from rotating – look into the top of this threaded top section of the shock; it will probably be an allen-key.

7. The shock is almost ready to take off. Now remove the two bolts at the bottom (from point 4), but be careful not to break those hoses, this is heavy – do not drop it as you could damage the rubber boot. It should slide out with spring included.

8. To replace the new set just do the reverse.

9. Replacing the spring or shock alone you need to separate these two. For this you need spring compressors. These are fitted opposite each other on the one spring. Compress each side evenly say six half turns each. Remove the top bearing by undoing the special nut, which has two grooves in it; use either the correct tool or thin-nose pliers. Slide off the spring plate and washer. Transfer the rubber stop to the new shock, or leave in place if you are replacing the spring. Reassemble in reverse.