I bought some rear springs off e-Bay a while ago in anticipation of a future need. Drove out yesterday and heard from the rear several new clunks and at least one "boyng", so I'm guessing one of the springs is shot.

I've checked around this forum, and opinion seems to be sharply divided about tackling this job without a spring compressor.

Checking around the Web, I found this:

[MBZ] w126 rear springs question -- followup

to which both respondents suggest no compressor is needed, specifically on the rears.

Can anyone else confirm that replacement of the rear springs can be done safely without a compressor? My mechanic, who has certainly replaced springs on at least one W124, thinks not.

I've checked on compressor prices, only to find that the Klann KL0021-K is $250 more expensive than MB's own special tools for the job, which are about $900 in total. I'm not very confident about finding a local (UK) source for hiring a model-specific compressor (the maintenance PDF shows special tools), but perhaps a universal tool will suffice.