@WagonBoiz / Jon flew me out this past weekend for a short, but sweet first time trip to California. We planned to tackle his (and his wife’s) concern over the rough ride of the GT6. Jon ended up ordering Koni special actives, and all the hardware needed to get this job done. After some short planning, we settled on a weekend, and off I went.
I was pleased to score an exit seat for no extra charge as someone on the taller side.
Surprisingly, Jon’s wife and my flights aligned, both within 20 minutes of each other, and we carpooled to their humble abode. We all hit the sack after some lovely late night conversations. In the morning, we got up earlier than anticipated and headed to the driveway where we worked on the car.
Once we arrived, we immediately started to tackle the rear shocks which was a pure cakewalk. Three bolts, replace, and torque bolts to spec. Jon, below, torquing one of the two upper shock bolts. We also replaced the rear end links to be preventive.
We ended up grabbing an early lunch before working on the fronts. Delicious Banh Mi’s.
Now onto the hard part, the front suspension. P3s are notoriously difficult to repair when it comes to their front struts. It takes a lot of patience and understanding beforehand. I knew the shop way with a lift, but not on a driveway. This process wasn’t too difficult but it wasn’t simple either.
However, no process is ever perfect. I ended up missing the lower spring seat on the old shock while reinstalling the KPAX springs onto the Koni’s. A tad frustrated, we ended up installing the spring upside down. Whoops. The spring compressor was very clunky to use but we managed to fix the mistakes. Till…we realized we built the passenger side strut instead
Yeah…moving on! We left for the evening with darkness approaching, and being sore in places we didn’t know were possible. Time to pick this up tomorrow.
The next morning, we started by jacking up the passenger side in preparation for installing our newly built strut.
The passenger side went extremely easy due to the insight we gained with the driver’s side. I reckon we had the strut out within an hour. We kept up this flying pace with no problems whatsoever. Jon did an amazing job at getting everything tidy and installing my newly assembled strut with new front end links. However, this was not without a new problem. It started with me mentioning how great of a job the dealer did when they installed the KPAX package. Sadly, within moments I realized the top hex bolt on the old passenger side strut was stripped. We ended up cutting the strut to gain access to the spring. Thankfully, both original struts had no rebound in them at all. No wonder even Jon didn’t approve of the ride prior. With this mistake from years ago sorted, we soldiered on.
Once we assembled the driver’s side strut we got it on the car, but not before another issue. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of removing the driver side knuckle nut which somehow was damaged before or during our work. Being an M14 nut, we couldn’t find a replacement local whatsoever. Our friend, @Kyle_carspotting, joined us during this escapade. His R and his driving were beyond appreciated. Jon’s coworker helped majorly through the failure of finding a new nut by managing to create a solution. He removed the bad threads, and we were off to the races. This, understandably, removed a lot of weight off of our shoulders. The S60 will get a new nut during its next service, but for now, it is finally ready for the final bits to be installed.
Jon, with the light at the end of the tunnel, had Kyle and I grab a late lunch while he finished the job. Above, Kyle and Jon putting some serious work in.
Jon got the car on the ground and on the road. Though, with a front right rattle over bumps. It turns out the strut nut wasn’t fully torqued, but thankfully, it was an easy fix. Finally, Hypnos has fresh suspension. It feels so much better, and we really like the special actives in combination with the KPAX springs. Comfortable, but easy to toss into a corner and exit with vigor.
It was quite a weekend. Very busy and stressful at points, but we managed in the end. The car awaits an alignment as a final seal of approval, but it drives very straight. I’m so glad we all were able to help Jon save roughly $2,000 in labor and end up having a greatly improved car. Wife and poodle approved, to boot.