AndyK

Replacing the drop links requires an 18mm socket? And I wouldn't need an alignment after, or would I?

redridge

dont know about the socket size... but yes, no alignment needed.

ivangene

18 and/or 16 - I forgot

might as well get both yur gonna need em'
the trick is to release a little weight off the suspension - there is a sweet spot between it hanging and it lifting where the big bolt slips out with no effort at all, just put the scissor jack or other jack under the lower control arm and search for it... then its cake!!... really only a few minutes/side job and no real "instructions" needed....nothing will fly off and knock you in the head or anything

AndyK

Ah, so put it on stands in the front, then use the jack to take the pressure off and it's plug and play?

ivangene

yup...you can even do one side at a time if you dont have enough equipment... its plug and play... no adjustments or whatever

redridge

just remember..... safety first.

ivangene

ehh???

redridge

^^^^^ BAWAHAHAHAHAHAH

ivangene

HAHA thats like a mobile second story window washing unit !!

redridge

and one for Andy... at least they got the brick right...

CrossT

Yup. There's an 18mm nut there; the top nut. The lower nut is smaller. Like Ed says, slightly loading up the suspension is key getting to making it easy to remove/replace the bolts.

Please report back on the rears. I may also do those.

Todd
99 coupe

ivangene

the rears are a 5 mintue job... nothing to them.

AndyK

Those photos are a riot! I could have saved money on a jack by using my neighbor's fence posts! Who knew?

I pulled up and down on the front bumper this morning, and can hear clunk-clunk every time the suspension moves up or down. Something's loose under there!

AndyK

I brought the car to my mechanic, who found nothing. He said it could be a shock bushing, but it would take 2 hours of labor to remove the shock(s) to see if that's the cause.

He basically said if it keeps doing it, bring it back.

Love when they find nothing!

Melchior

I have a '99 996 C4. The C4's have a two-piece upper strut mount due mostly to the geometry necessary to provide clearance for the front drive shafts. These vehicles are notorious to have the cheaper of the two parts, the ring bearing $30, fail and cause a clunking noise described in this post. Replacement of the bearing is a little tricky and is not for the inexperienced mech. Is anyone has this problem, feel free to PM me.