Do I need a strut compressor or anything special to change my struts?

No.

JamesC

make sure you put a hydraulic jack under the lower control arm in the front on the strut you're changing and put a chain looped through the spring and secure it through the arm and lock the ends together. if that spring pops out bam. injury. and scribe the top strut mount bolts and when the strut is removed, much sure the upper strut mount bearing spin freely, or youre looking at new strut upper mounts. i recommend KONI struts, but im going with KYB strut mounts and struts. and most importantly. TORQUE TORQUE TORQUE to specs. its recommend its final torqued with car in level position. but not practical most of the time. i also recommend rebuild the front end steering components and ball joints. because 50% of the time\s ONE might need an alignment after strut install, so having already replaced the worn out steering component, thats like two birds with one stone kinda deal. although you may save on the alignment job, but in the end its costly to rebuild the front end. if you go as far as the bushing in the lowercontrol arm, then yes youd have to have a spring compressor, or if you are brave, id put the whole car on stands, high enough to slowly let down the lowercontrol arm enough o remove the "deadly/scary tensioned" spring.