I just go down to AutoZone or O'Reilly's and rent/borrow their strut spring compressors. You pay them $50 or so, and you get it all back when you return the tools. I prefer the ones from AutoZone because you can put a socket on them and use an impact driver. The ones at O'Reilly's have a mushroom head that requires you to use a wrench. I'm sure they think it's a safety thing, but it just makes them inconvenient to use. AutoZone now rents a type like the official Saab strut spring compressor, which uses a pair of large c-shaped pieces to compress the spring from one side, but you have to fork out something closer to $150 initially to rent that one. I'll try it next time.