I've broken a few sockets that way haha. When I was doing my wheel hubs, I got a nice 26" breaker bar for the axle nut.

 

You can get the springs off without compressing them, but it's pretty dangerous as they have a great amount of pressure on them while they're on the strut lol when I installed my lowering springs I didn't need to compress them as they were much shorter than the stock springs... I bought a nice set of compressors at auto zone, they were $30 I believe. Oh and an impact gun is nice to have when removing/installing the nut on the strut mount

But if it's just the struts that you bought (not the whole assembly with springs and all) then you might not need the compressors when installing the lowering springs.

 

You can also rent a spring compressor from most auto shop stores.

 

Thanks again for the info. I shall use spring compressors for removal to be safe. Unfortunately, I don't have an impact wrench set, so this will all be done with hand tools and my 3 foot long jack handle/breaker bar extension.

 

So I'm guessing you got the whole Strut/spring assembly? Since you don't have an impact for that nut on top of the strut you'll have to use a deep offset wrench to fit down in the washer, then a hex bit on a ratchet to get it off
You'll know what I'm talking about when you look at it

 

Frank,

The new struts are bare without springs. I have the car on jack stands, wheels & brakes off right now. Being as the suspension is at full "hang", aren't the springs fully extended? I don't see the need for a spring compressor to remove the stock strut/spring assembly. Do I really need to go get one?

 

So are you buying the lowering springs at a later date and using your original springs on the new struts?

And nope the springs are still compressed in the struts, you'd need to compress them even more before removing the top strut mounts or else you'll end up hurting yourself

 

No Sir. I am installing the new lowering springs, struts, wheel hubs/bearings, and all new hardware at the same time...today.

Of course I just returned from Advance Auto with an axle nut socket rental kit, thinking nothing of the spring compressor while I was there...

 

There'll be no spring removal In the process then lol but I'd get the compressors just in case you need them to get the lowering springs on, like I said I didn't need them for my Eibachs but then again yours is a 7th gen and you're getting diff springs

How could you forget?? just messing with ya haha
These are the ones I got from AutoZone, $30-$35

 

I'm just gonna do it the easy way and buy the complete ready mount...the rest is probably already worn. I replaced my front wheel bearings 6 months ago to Tempkin, those are some high quality hubs! Do you guys think my car will look funny if I replace the front first? The back ones are done for it too but it's still sitting at a pretty good height. I just don't want my front end higher than the back.