Cutting springs to lower ride height..
12-24-10, 02:25 PM
#3
DILLIGAF
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a coil or two should hurt it but i dont recommend cutting springs. ive rode with cut springs for a day, **** sucks. then again my struts were bottomed out before i even hit a bump lol. if you hate your life and want to hate it even more then cut the springs.
12-24-10, 02:27 PM
#4
If you cut 2 coils the spring rate will be too high and the ride will be too stiff.
12-24-10, 02:35 PM
#5
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Don't be cheap man, If u want to lower get a set of springs. It's worth the extra money. (which is not much) If ur not gonna drive the car and all u want is looks go be a cheap F#(% and cut them.
12-24-10, 02:37 PM
#6
What you need to pay attention to is the spring rates. About 1/2 a coil is all you can cut off before you start removing active springs which will raise the spring rate.
12-24-10, 02:38 PM
#7
Its perfectly fine but the increased spring rate will probably blow your shocks resulting in a bouncy ride. Back in the day racers had no choice but to cut springs to the desired spring rate so it was common. If you only want to lower the car and don't care as much about performance then go for it.
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12-24-10, 02:39 PM
#8
The Big Ugly!
I have rode in a few cars with cut springs, they had only cut one spring though. It was a little rough, but some of those cheap *** springs are just as bad. A decent spring is a good investment if you have the money.
12-24-10, 03:02 PM
#11
No, cutting springs is a terrible idea and everyone who said it's ok should be ashamed of themselves. Coil springs are designed to have variable spring rates. See how it's tighter at the ends than the middle? That's because as it compresses more, it's designed to get stiffer. You start hacking that off, you're going to get a car that handles like it's made of marshmallows. In addition to this, you will probably not be able to cut them all to the same height. So now your car will sit lower on one corner. Now you're wearing out suspension and steering components, tires, etc. Bad idea all around, don't do it.
12-24-10, 03:06 PM
#12
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Never do that. It is potentially dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. There are actually legal cases in which it has been proven that cut springs contributred to collisions involving injury and death, and the person who cut the springs was held liable.
12-24-10, 03:33 PM
#14
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do what i was told to do by an older mexican man. put bricks under the car to the height you want it then heat up the coils. should give you a ghetto lowering job...
or do the right thing and buy new springs.
or do the right thing and buy new springs.
12-24-10, 04:57 PM
#19
I had a 190e 2.3 16v eurospec, rare car
I started with cutting half a coil on the front, then did the other half , making it one coil. Used a dremel tool while still on the car, just took my time and was careful.
For those cars though, a trick is to get the springs from a 400e or 500e and cut those down, stiff low ride teamed up with some new struts/shocks , say kyb agx or another performance strut.
With our cars though, there are soo many options, it is hard justifying cutting springs.
I started with cutting half a coil on the front, then did the other half , making it one coil. Used a dremel tool while still on the car, just took my time and was careful.
For those cars though, a trick is to get the springs from a 400e or 500e and cut those down, stiff low ride teamed up with some new struts/shocks , say kyb agx or another performance strut.
With our cars though, there are soo many options, it is hard justifying cutting springs.
12-24-10, 05:10 PM
#20
All very good points. I appreciate all the input guys. Was looking for something free to improve the ride height of the car. I feel like my car is lifted sometimes... lol. I was planning on doing RB springs, but if it didn't cause problems, and was free, I was going to cut them. I know new springs have a higher spring rate anyway, so I wasn't worried about that. However, Alignment problems, really sloppy steering, etc were what I was concerned about.
12-24-10, 05:44 PM
#21
Thinking back about this, I also read in "How to Make Your Car Handle" (Fred Puhn) that lower ride height can be acheived by removing the springs, compressing them with spring compressors and putting them in the oven. I don't remember the specifics but I have the book still. IIRC this was used along with the cutting to achieve desired spring rate and height (since there were few, if any aftermarket options in those times). Stock springs compressed this way without being cut would result in massive body roll because the roll center would be changed without the added stiffness of springs to compensate (like with an aftermarket spring setup).
You will have no problem with the steering and alignment that you wouldn't have with an aftermarket spring/shock or coilover setup. Alignment will be thrown off (toe out of whack, more negative camber in rear) but there will be no sloppy steering.
You will have no problem with the steering and alignment that you wouldn't have with an aftermarket spring/shock or coilover setup. Alignment will be thrown off (toe out of whack, more negative camber in rear) but there will be no sloppy steering.
12-24-10, 07:43 PM
#22
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No, cutting springs is a terrible idea and everyone who said it's ok should be ashamed of themselves. Coil springs are designed to have variable spring rates. See how it's tighter at the ends than the middle? That's because as it compresses more, it's designed to get stiffer. You start hacking that off, you're going to get a car that handles like it's made of marshmallows. In addition to this, you will probably not be able to cut them all to the same height. So now your car will sit lower on one corner. Now you're wearing out suspension and steering components, tires, etc. Bad idea all around, don't do it.
) your spring rate's won't match on the corners which can cause erratic handling, and that is pretty dangerous.
Last edited by thegreenarrow; 12-24-10 at 07:53 PM.
12-24-10, 10:48 PM
#23
No problem to do if its done right. Do some math and you can get just about any rate you want with a reasonable ride height. If you find you can get the height you want but then your springs can't keep the car off the bumpstops then you can stiffen the spring by adding spacers to effectively remove a coil from the equation. I had used some of the spring wire I cut off a spring as a spacer and held them in with about 6 hose clamps before.
Once you build your monster springs for nothing, your shocks will have a hard time damping them so don't expect to have some great combo. The ride will be bouncy if you go too high on spring rates for sure(or you're on the bumpstops anyway...)
Give it a try, cut a quarter coil off at a time and run the car around the block.
Back to shrinking a spring mentioned above. You need to compress them down to coil bind and put them in the oven at 500F for about an hour. I shrank springs for my ITC Fiat this way and lost about 3/4" of free height.
You should have seen the look on my mom's face when she came home from work one day and smelled something funny. I used cooking oil to lube the threaded rod and it smelled a little. She looked in the oven and knew what it was right away. She looks at me and says, "If that thing lets go, you're paying for a new oven"
Once you build your monster springs for nothing, your shocks will have a hard time damping them so don't expect to have some great combo. The ride will be bouncy if you go too high on spring rates for sure(or you're on the bumpstops anyway...)
Give it a try, cut a quarter coil off at a time and run the car around the block.
Back to shrinking a spring mentioned above. You need to compress them down to coil bind and put them in the oven at 500F for about an hour. I shrank springs for my ITC Fiat this way and lost about 3/4" of free height.
You should have seen the look on my mom's face when she came home from work one day and smelled something funny. I used cooking oil to lube the threaded rod and it smelled a little. She looked in the oven and knew what it was right away. She looks at me and says, "If that thing lets go, you're paying for a new oven"
12-25-10, 03:51 PM
#25
No, cutting springs is a terrible idea and everyone who said it's ok should be ashamed of themselves. Coil springs are designed to have variable spring rates. See how it's tighter at the ends than the middle? That's because as it compresses more, it's designed to get stiffer. You start hacking that off, you're going to get a car that handles like it's made of marshmallows. In addition to this, you will probably not be able to cut them all to the same height. So now your car will sit lower on one corner. Now you're wearing out suspension and steering components, tires, etc. Bad idea all around, don't do it.
Save for a good brand. (not eBay bomz springs)