rear shocker change

[keith-vznby]

I am going to uprate my rear suspension unit, could anyone advise if the standard bilsteins require the springs compressed to remove cheers Keith

[Pupp]

Not for removal/replacement of the units, no. But possibly if you mean you wish to change the springs

[QBee]

Cannot comment on Bilsteins.
When I removed my coil overs to change the springs over, I simply unbolted them from the car. Then to take the springs off the dampers, I simply unwound the ride height rings/nuts to the bottom, lifted the top caps out and lifted the springs off.

[Plan B]

I replaced my rear Bilsteins last year and you will need to use a spring compressor. The spring coils are very close together and can be too narrow to get the fingers of many compressors to fit into. I used an adapted Clarke compressor (which isn't the greatest) . Since then I've heard it's better to use one of the motorbike compressors as they have narrower fingers.