Kiwi, I compressed the springs to remove them and to reinstall. Really glad I did too, the amount of compression needed on my car to remove the springs was quite surprising and I fear that using the ‘blanket of Hope’ method I’d have ended up with (at best) a spring flying uncontrollably around the wheel arch. Like I said above I had to compress the spring about 20mm to reinsert it!
Good luck with you endeavours.
