Funny, i just got done replacing my front 2 shocks w/ bilstein 5100s about 10 mins ago. It wasn't very hard at all i didn't even take off my wheel. If i remember correctly all you need is a 12mm wrench, a 17mm wrench and a 16mm socket for the lower shock mount, so basically hand tools. To remove the stock shocks you can just hang onto the shock body and loosen the top nut. With the bils your going to need an allen wrench to keep the piston of the shock from spinning when you try and tighten it. That being said, just remove old shock replace w/new shock, very simple. Hardest thing for me was trying to compress the new bilstein to line up the lower shock mount bolt. Thats' why i'm putting the rears on tomorrow, my damn hands are tired.