I had a friend that told me he was going to replace his shock springs using Harbor Freight spring compressors, and I told him it was nice knowing him. Luckily it went ok, but that shit will rip you in half if things go sideways.

I actually did do a DIY spring swap on to my new struts with a "cheap" spring compressor from Harbor Freight. I did buy two sets, for a total of four spring compressors. Instead of using just two, I used three total spring compressors and ensured they were fixed properly with the guide pins locked in. Three points of support are inherently more stable than two or even four. I also compressed them with hand tools, as recommended in the instructions, and went around to compress each of the 3 little by little. I not only paid attention to the screw rotations, but to how much force each one was taking to spin so they would all be loaded up equally.

Still cheaper and more convenient than taking it in somewhere. And combining the extra safety factor of using an additional spring compressor, along with keeping the ends of the spring oriented perpendicular to my body at all times, I felt pretty good about it!

Funny anecdote - my first car was a Chevy Chevette. That thing was so under-built, undersized, under-specced …..

• I didn’t know about the existence of spring compressors but had no problem fitting them by hand. All ya gotta do is just press hard to compress them enough
• my brother said it was the easiest car to work on because the transmission was light enough to hold up with one hand while unbolting it with the other