Rear shock replacement

[A6avantowner]

Just about to replace rear shocks on A6 C5 Avant. Looks straight forward.
However:
The workshop manual says to only tighten the bottom bolt with car standing on it's wheels.
I've seen a few online videos but they don't do this. I suspect it's the right thing to do to keep correct alignment, but I'm working on my driveway so not sure how I'm going to get access to the bolt to do this.

Maybe put wheel back on and lower onto wheel ramp, but manual suggests all wheels on the ground ?

Any advice most welcome...

[Crasher]

The suspension must be at ride height when any bolt is tightened which is through a rubber bush such as the lower damper eye, otherwise if done in the air, the bush will be preloaded (twisted) at ride height and will fail prematurely.

[A6avantowner]

I think that I can actually get to it when it's on the ground, even though it's quite low suspension.

Unfortunately, just discovered that the strut mount is in bad condition so just ordered two as I suspect the nearside will be the same.
Now have to wait for delivery, I could use the existing strut mount but rather do a proper job.

[A6avantowner]

Thanks Crasher for earlier response.
I have another question (I usually do!):
The manual advises to change bolts on replacing shock.
I've managed to get high tensile 8.8 bolts for bottom of shock, but existing bolt is 10.9.

Is 8.8 up to the job?

[Crasher]

8.8 won't take the angle, only use genuine Audi bolts, we keep a huge stock and before each job comes in, assess what we need and order them but even then we make mistakes but TPS keep an excellent stock.

[A6avantowner]

Thanks
I've managed to get some 10.9 bolts, I think it wouldn't make sense to risk 8.8 bolts despite lots of people on different forums saying they'll be OK, if they were OK Audi wouldn't have spec'd 10.9s.
I don't want to revisit the job over a snapped bolt.
Regards

[VAG-Abound]

VAG parts desks keep a decent range. They aren't exactly cheap, but a few pounds on just the right item (flange, head, etc) without chasing around town seems like decent value sometimes.

[Crasher]

There is also Error page | eBay, never used them but some of their prices are more than from an Audi dealer...