heliace

Hi All,
Feeling pretty silly right now. I jacked up my wife's 958 to R&R the rear struts and realized the upper mounting bolts are inside the trunk ( unlike my 955 CTTS) - bummer. I cannot find any references to how to remove the floor panel so I can pull the upper mounting bolts. I have no idea how that panel is attached to the car. Will someome please take pity on me and either point me to the doc that has this covered or tell me how to get the cargo floor out of her 958 without damaging it ? It's the panel over the spare tire that extends forward to the rear seats.

Many thanks in advance --
Paul

heliace@yahoo.com
1997 Boxster show pony
2006 CTTS (yippy skippy)
2015 Cayenne Diesel ( road trip special)

heliace

Many thanks to Alyssa at IPB Autosport ( Ron Kain's shop in Sacramento ) -- she sent me a link to the Bilstein video show this panel just slides back - nothing really holding it at all.

rob76turbo

Funny I asked the same thing, then of course when I saw the video, I was like - no it can't be that easy. Yep it is. Thanks for posting that video.

RAudi Driver

You doing you rear air suspension?

rob76turbo

Steel Struts / shocks. So far so good. Rears came out very easy, just rebuilding them with OE Bilsteins B4's. Wanted to go with the heavy duty B6 but some of the struts / shocks are not available (and with no ETA on when they will be available again). I found a really good spring compressor so I am breaking down, cleaning the components and reassemblying the new shocks / struts in my office so as to keep out of the 99 degree heat.

dollarlongnecks

The hardest part of the job is getting the bottom bolt started. The rear suspension is preloaded and doesn't move much, so you have to force the wheel down so you can get the bottom of the wheel carrier lined-up with the reassembled strut. I had a heck of a time when installing the B6s because they are 2" longer, but maybe the B4s will be slightly easier. Good Luck.

rob76turbo

Yep! Just ran into that. How did you force the wheel down? About a 2" gap. I tried to use a floor jack to move the shock assembly up, but it digs into the wheel carrier. Should you mount the wheel and let the weight pull down the suspension? If so, is there enough room with the wheel mounted to run the bottom bolt through the carrier / bottom of shock?

rob76turbo

Bump due to multiple entries

dollarlongnecks

Yeah, you're trying the same things I did, it's a PITA, so here's what I did:

Use the jack that came with the car as a sort of "pry" tool - But be super careful! The first side I did, I installed the wheel, filled the wheel well with something to keep from destroying the trim/liner and then put that jack between the tire and wheel-well and opened it until it forced the suspension down far enough to get that bolt in.
On the other side, I used the same method, but without the wheel - I put the jack between the frame and one of the control arms. Its a tight fit, and on the driver side there is a cable right in the spot you want to be, but it seemed a bit more secure than the first attempt.

I have to redo them because I stripped one of the bolt-holes on the shock mount, and I plan to do the following:

• Mount the wheel so the suspension is pushed down a bit more than without it
• Find a location where there is enough space to place a wedge, like a block of wood, between the frame and one of the control arms - NOT the one you plan to jack - so when you remove the wheel you have more room to work with the jack
• Remove the wheel
• Use the jack like described earlier, but now there should be more room for proper placement because the wedge placement

Hope this helps.