H&R springs intallation advice needed, local shop experience

[Mihnea Cotet]

Fellow listers,


Before the "new" replacement tranny goes in my coupe quattro, I've started
rebuilding the suspension and I have some questions.

I bought an H&R performance set with Bilstein struts (in Germany they are
called "Sprint" and it's the ones that look huge, the stem is almost as big
as the cartdrige itself, am I right that these are called HD in the US?)
with H&R lowering springs (about 45-55mm on a type 89 quattro car)... I'm
still hesitating wether to use these springs or the Eibach pro-kit I also
have at home.... What are the pros and cons? Also, when doing a test-fit
earlier this evening, I noticed the H&R front springs seem to be
progressive (the coils get closer to each other on one end of the
spring)... what is the right way to install them? In all the pictures with
progressive springs I've ever seen the progressive part seemed to be at the
top, though on these H&R, if I install them with the progressive part on
top, the H&R PN will be upside down.... so do they have to be installed
with the markings on them upside down or the "right" way and having the
progressive part at the bottom of the spring?

Also, on a side note, I went today to a local shop (Midas-like, they
usually do exhausts, oil changes, brake pads and such) in order to have the
front wheel bearings as well as the control arms bushings installed. To my
surprise, the mechanic told me he never did such a job and that he wasn't
sure he was supposed to do it... the shop's owner had told me 20 minutes
earlier that hey had a hydraulic press and that it would be no problem for
them to install my new bearings... oh well. so actually, I spent 75 Euros
this evening doing a wheel bearing myself and teaching the mechanic how to
replace a wheel bearing, though I didn't do it ever before, I seemed to
know better than him how to replace one... same thing for the control arm
bushings BTW.... so this time I decided that as soon as money permits, I'll
make myself a hydraulic press and forget about those losers who call
themselves mechanics and who don't even know how to replace a bearing!!!!
Well now he does...


Anyway, thanks for your time and your answers,


Mihnea