I have always used a long wooden handle screw driver to remove the springs On mine. I run the shaft of the screw driver through the attaching loop of the spring, holding the handle in one hand and the shaft of the screw driver in the other. Mine have always come off easily using this method. I take them off over the winter, and this has allowed the hood to just relax back into it’s normal contour. The car is 53 years old and unrestored, and I’ve never had any form of serious hood arch doing this.