
Let’s start by jacking your car up, if your vehicle has a sway bar, you want to make sure the whole car is jacked up, this is because the sway bar can only travel so far with only one side jacked up. This also effects your control arm and spindle because in relation to the sway bar, it can also only move so far. Moreover, if you are having trouble with the sway bar link reaching the tab, you can jack up the entire hub assembly with the strut installed from the lower control arm to bring it in place.
If you are having trouble loosening the old bolts, try any of the following:
When removing your strut:
Use a spindle/knuckle separator to spread the spindle/knuckle open and release the bottom of the strut, if you don’t have the separator or do not want to purchase one, you could use a mallet.
When installing your strut:
Lastly, you always want to use the new supplied hardware with your kit. Your old hardware is not only worn and dated, but it can be a different thread pitch then the hardware on the strut. This could cause damage to the hardware on the strut and can be potential for a failure in the future.
Following this cheat sheet will guarantee that your new strut install will be headache free.