1. Remove the tire puncture repait kit. Just loosen the strap and toss it aside.
2. Remove all of the fasteners for the trunk lining. These are a pain, tiny little plastic screws that will strip if you look at ‘em wrong. Take your time. I broke a couple.
3. Remove the damper bracket nuts. 2 14mm nuts. A small 3” extension helps to clear the tower brace.
Note: The entire strut bar comes assembled with the brackets installed on the bar. To remove, you’ll need a 17mm socket, and the correct Allen key (which I didn’t have, appears to be about ¼” or 5/16” head. Otherwise, you can use some vise grips, as the area is easy to grip. You need to remove the brackets for install.
4. Install bracket and tighten to 27.4 -38.8 ft-lb.
5. The fun part: trim the trunk lining appropriately with a box cutter to expose the brackets. Be patient.
6. Reinstall the trim pieces and fasteners.
7. Install the main bar to the brackets. Tighten the 17mm bolts to 27-38 ft-lb.
8. Reinstall the tire puncture repair kit. I used the strap, and attached it behind the strut bar.
If you trimmed too much of the lining, which I did, use some sheet styrene, or other plastic you may have available and make some trim to surround the brackets. I’ll take pictures of that once I complete it.
