I'm shocked to hear you say that the back struts were easier to install than the front struts.
I thought the front struts (actually strut cartidges) were cake. I rented the W-body kit ($75 refundable deposist and a BIG time saver) from AutoZone and had both of them installed in under an hour. An alignment is not required afterwards for the front because you don't move anything that affects the alignment anyways.
The back ones I had installed at a local shop. They said that they broke a bolt on the upper mount on both sides so I'm glad I had them do it. They said the book says it takes 2.7 hours for both sides for my '95 Regal GS. They only charged me $100 because I work for the place they get their parts from. I thought they looked too hard for me to tackle, mainly because of the leafspring. I also don't have health insurance so that was also a consideration. The Haynes service manual says that the leafspring needs to be compressed with a "special tool" to do the job right. I still need an alignment but I'm getting new tires fairly soon and the told me to wait until I get them because these tires are so bad
I just want to know how you guys dealt with the leaf spring. Had I known it was "easy", I probably would have done it myself.
