Dave:

Reading your post makes me believe the best advice I can give you is stay away from that job. Spend $180.00 for a pro to do the job and you won't go through emotional trouble and despair. I am serious!

First, the struts are a "killer" job for someone unexperienced. If you are suicidal, please shoot yourself (read my earlier response on that), but don't rent strut compressors and hope that you will still have a face afterward.

Secondly, you will have to find out what parts you'll be needing. How do you think we can tell you that? Put your car on a hoist and check it out, or buy everything! And, without me going to deep into the subject, the control arms are sometimes serviceable, sometimes not. If not, you will have to spend $106.00 each at the dealer. Now, if you ask me how to tell whether they are serviceable or not, please look at my initial response. Brakes and suspension are nothing to experiment with. Learn to do it with the help of an experienced person, then after you have done that several times, you can do it yourself without asking how to do it.

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but your post shows me that you can't do this on your own.

And one more thing. You will need new dust boots for the struts, and also you will have to check the upper strut mounts before you order. Nothing uglier than having a car on the hoist and parts have to be ordered by mail.