hmmmm....... good question. To get them I dunno, the dealership definitely if you want to pay a ton for them. Check with the person you got hte struts from. They should be able to find some for you.

As for their purpose. They are the pieces that you attach the bolts to to keep them on your car's body/chassis. They are also the pieces that hold the spring in place on the strut. It's a piece of metal with some rubber, and ball bearings in it.

 

yea.. they allow the struts to rotate and they keep them properly aligned for caster and camber.. they are also part of the actuall suspension.. they can move up and down about half an inch in either direction.. so instead of your shocks having to soak up every little imperfection in the road.. these do.

 

Plus they look a ton nicer. Soon I'll post pics of my ugly ones that will just take to much time and money to change now. That's why i suggest waiting and doing it all at the same time.

 

i woudlnt say a spring compressor is necessary.. i've lowered many cars without a compressor..
as for tools.. just make sure u have a good breaker bar if u cant get an impact gun.. and make sure u dont strip the bolts on the top of the struts if they are hard to get out..