Here is a walkthrough on how to swap out a single strut on a GD Impreza. If you're installing coilovers, this would be much quicker and easier to do. In the case at hand, the suspension that I wanted is backordered for another month or two and I need the car drivable for now. So, I replaced the bent strut with a boring OEM replacement, KYB Excel-G
What you need:
Impact wrench and sockets (or hand tools)
Jack and stands
Spring compressor (if needed, lowered springs will not need this)
New strut
Passthrough wrench set, or vice grips
Allen keys (I forget which size it was)
Here are some of the tools you're gonna need
With the car fully on the ground, loosen the top nut of the strut (BUT DO NOT REMOVE!!)
Jack up THE ENTIRE FRONT OF THE CAR. This is important so that you take the tension off of the front swaybar to give you room to work. Remove the wheel and expose the full suspension assembly. Unbolt the brake line and abs/wheel speed sensor line
Remove the bolts from the lower bracket and the hub
Remove the 3 small nuts from the top of the strut tower and slowly pull the full assembly out of the wheel well
If needed, compress the spring using the tool you rented from Autozone (or wherever)
Once the spring is compressed, fully remove the top hat and pull it off of the strut. If you don't have an impact gun to zip it off, you may need to use your passthrough wrench and an allen key
Bent strut housing compared to the new one... Chicago salt is nassssty!
Reassemble the new strut
Put everything back together, and do your best to get the alignment set up on the new corner. But unless you really know what you're doing with the alignment, you should still bring the car to a good alignment shop to avoid burning through your tires quickly.
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