W126 - Front Strut Question

[hbofinger]

I am doing the front struts of out 560SEL. Since I was getting some clunking over bumps, my friend Chuck suggested I also replace the rubber spring caps. So I went and got myself the Klann Clone disk compressor, and just finished doing the passenger side.

It struck me though: How can you remove the strut WITHOUT removing the spring? The screws holding the bottom part of the strut are at such a weird angle that I could not get to them with my 10mm socket had I not removed the spring first and then significantly lifted the the suspension assembly using a jack under the disk.

Has anyone else come across this? It's a pair of twelve point bolts that work with a 10mm socket, but there is no way you could use a wrench on them.

Oh and something else funny: Not even on Mercedes everything is perfect. The top metal shim below to two nuts at the top of the strut was put in upside down! Not that it matters much, but I got a chuckle when I though whoever put this may have had too much Dinkelacker the night before... (I am from Stuttgart, and Dinkelacker is a beer from Stuttgart)