My stilo 1.2 broke a front spring earlier whilst crossing a speed hump. Fortunately it as around the corner from my fathers house and I was able to abandon the car there.

Now I have to repair it and would appreciate if someone could advise to the sizes of sockets, spanners and Allen keys needed to remove the old strut.

Any advice that can be offered would be appreciated!

As I remember it, you will need:
-to remove the nut from the top of the strut you need a 18mm (or 19 mm) ring spanner, and a 5mm (or 6 mm) Allen.
-to remove the wheels you need a 17mm socket.
-to remove the drop links (depends on which you have): you need the same 5 (or 6mm) Allen and a 15 or 16 or 17 mm spanner.
- to remove the bottom strut bolts: you need some 17 and 18 mm sockets.

You also need a liberal amount of penetrating fluid and some small wire brushes.
A hammer might be useful.
As a side note the drop link nut might not come out, so you might need to cut it, a dremmel would be nice.

Job done and thankfully not too bad in end. The sockets / spanners used were

19mm spanner and 6mm Allen key for the shock top bolt

The two strut to hub carrier bolts were removed with a combination of 17mm socket on the nut and 15mm spanner on the bolt head

The upper drop link needed 17mm spanner and 5mm Allen key. Note that my drop links are not OEM and other manufacturers may use different combinations of sizes here.

Copious of penetrating fluid also helped!

Many thanks to those who took the time to reply!

Folks!

A minor gremlin continues with this. When traversing a speed hump now, there's a noticeable clonks when the suspension compresses as the car lands. It sounds like the clonk one gets if the drop link or large wishbone bush are worn. Both components were replaced recently and checked out fine. The shock itself is fine in that it behaves perfectly both driving and if bounced by hand. All bolts have been rechecked to confirm that they're tight and not loose. I'm now wondering if a worn strut top besting could be responsible? Or have I missed something?

Always a good idea to replace the top mountings when fitting a new spring or shock absorber.

Check that the bottom of the spring is seated correctly in the rubber insulator ring, and that the end of the coil is against its stop.

Is the bearing ring between the 2 parts of the top mounting fitted the correct way up?

Did you align both parts of the mounting and the shock absorber correctly? (As in the diagrams below). When the shock absorber, spring and mounting parts are assembled, the hole and cutout in the mounting parts should be aligned with the center of the hub mounting brackets. If everything is aligned correctly, a 4mm diameter rod (screwdriver) should easily pass through the hole next to the suspension turret and both parts of the mounting when the wheels are in the straight ahead position.
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Thanks for the latest replies folks! I'll be looking at this when the weather clears up. It's been pouring rain here since late yesterday with no signs of it letting up yet

Ok, an update on this. The strut I fitted was one from a scrappie as I don't have a spring compressor, and the age of the car is such that good second hand parts are probably more cost effective than new. The complete strut was half the price of a new spring.

Anyway, in Davern's diagram above, it appears that the shock top mount is totally out of line with everything below it, and in fact is out by 90 degrees. I reckon that someone replaced the strut top bearing and didn't line the top mount up correctly. So my only option now is either get another strut or get he top mount replaced. I say replaced because the rubber in the top is now all chewed up, presumably because of it all being misaligned.....