That's a decent enough guide, but make sure you use a soft drift on the end of the driveshaft when tapping it out (its easy to damage the spline ends otherwise).

thanks - i was hoping to get away without removing the driveshaft, if that's possible? If the spring is compressed in situ, is there enough clearance to get the strut out?

There may be but in all honesty I don't see why you would be bothered, removing the drive shaft is no big deal. Also getting the strut out of the hub carrier can be quite tight if they've been in there for a while, not something you'll be wanting to do in limited space.

cheers stu - the only reason was me trying to limit the "damage", if you see what I mean, since I've never done this before but if it's gonna make it a lot easier I'll bite the bullet and take it all out. Is loosening the axle bolt difficult? I never imagined doing it with the wheel on?

I have never done any work on an Octavia, but have removed this design of strut on other cars.

My concern about doing the job 'in situ' and just trying to remove the strut would be that as you push down on the hub, the driveshaft will hit the suspension wishbone - i.e. not enough vertical movement to get the strut assy out. Just my speculation though.

You ideally need the wheel on to get them undone, you need the grip that the tyre on the road will give you to stop it turning, you may well also need to have somone put their foot on the brakes. To get access you'll need to remove the wheel and push out the centre cap from inside.

Also best to leave the caps out so you can torque up the nuts after.

Let me know if you are going to do it and I can provide some instructions.

And here's another guide:

VWvortex Forums: Springs installation DIY for 06-07 Rabbit

Thanks very much everyone - if i can't get it right with all this info, I might as well sell my spanners! That last guide raises an interesting point about replacing axle bolts too, which I hadn't expected.

It might be a while before I get started (spending the xmas fund on konis is likely to result in divorce ) but I'll post back with my experiences afterwards in case anyone else is thinking of having a go.

There are a few nuts and bolts you 'should' replace if you were being thorough.

Yep better safe than sorry. Dont think I'd trust any bolt that's been torqued to 200nm + 180 degrees more than once!