excuse my ignorance guys, but this being the first time ive worked on a mercedes, im a little cautious. so you're saying that the front HAS to be supported by some means to keep the spring compressed when i remove the strut. so the strut holds the control arm in place and consequently keeps the spring "in place"? secondly, are the rear shock assemblies similar in design as the front struts? in other words, will i have to keep the rear compressed as well when i remove the shocks to prevent a spring from flying out? sorry for all these questions. only other car ive done suspension work myself on is a vette, and those leaf springs are completely independent of the shocks and have no chance of taking my head off.