cutting springs

[BAbuyh76gt]

cutting springs every week! lol

[McRib]

Quite simply, don't.

It's people who cut springs and install budget drops (eBay garbage) that necessitated strict laws on modifying cars because they were plain and simple dangerous. By saving a couple dollars, you risk totaling your car when (potentially) a spring comes loose or something vital fails and all control of the vehicle is lost. This not only endangers you but the drivers around you. Imagine swerving to avoid a child in the road only to find your car is on a dead skid towards said child.

Now I'm not telling you to not do it (I mean how could I ever enforce that) but I'd strongly advise against it if you value your car or the lives of the people around you. By saving up spare dollars on a regular basis, you could afford a decent set of coilovers and struts that you could be proud to tell everyone about and would offer honest handling gains.

I'd even go as far as saying invest in something as simple as namebrand coilovers (Skunk2, Megan Racing, Ground Control, Etc...) and throw them on your stock shocks. At the very least you will get the look you desire without nearly as much risk.

My brother ran a set of Skunk2 Coilover Sleeves on his Integra and drove that car very harshly for a few months without any noticeable problems. People may point to blown shocks as a problem but you would have that problem regardless with cutsprings.

thiss

[Daviticus]

Too much thought in this thread.

Guaranteed, I could start pulling stock springs at junkyards, slicing coils off them, bending the cut end to sit properly on the original perch, powder-coat them a ridiculous color, and sell them as lowering springs. People would buy that shit up. How do I know? I've done it.

The main issue with cut springs, is that the majority of people who do so, don't do it properly. Especially in the instance of the gentleman above who had his coils heated and compressed - that is an absolute no-no. By heating the springs you change the composition of the spring metal, which in turn severely weakens the spring, greatly increasing the risk of breakage.

Second issue, the same people who are running shortened springs aren't compensating for the increased spring rate by replacing the struts/shocks, and instead are using their [likely blown] stock units instead. THIS is what is mostly dangerous, and can cause the ridiculous scenario posted earlier by kboers. Yes, it has happened. Yes, it is preventable by doing things properly or buying the proper equipment instead. Yes, it is a fairly unlikely, extreme-case situation, but is also one that should be kept in mind.

All this having been said, if you're going to do something, do it properly. That does not insinuate that you absolutely NEED $3000 coilovers, but that doesn't mean its' generally accepted to torch some coils in half and be hot shit. Just use common sense and a little bit of intelligence.

[agustingig]

If you want to put it on the ground cutting will not do it for you . The result will be laying on bumpstops and that gives a unsafe and bumpyride. Save money and drive safe.

oooooooooooooor cut the bumpstop! All my beaters have had cut springs and not once have i had a problem.. Except my MK4 golf beater literally had no springs in the front and was still high as shit.

[Rob&co]

am on cuts! Seems all the e30 guys are lol hehe

[Daviticus]

I placed 3rd in a Street Mod autocross class with a friend's '85 Corolla on cut springs [behind a prepped Neon on Koni's and an MR2 on sticky tires], and several suspension "gurus" [I use that word lightly] were mystified that the car handled so well and dampened so effectively on "garbage springs". They couldn't tell someone Sawzall'd 2 coils off the stock springs ... well mostly because it was more than that. The cut end had been heated with a torch until it was able to bend flat, to resemble the stock end of the spring. After they had air-cooled for a few hours, they were sprayed with cheapo $3 high-temp engine enamel, and installed onto brand new Tokico Blues.

Long of the short, just do it right if you're going to do it. I'd almost guarantee the people who shun cut springs rocked a set of cut stockies on whatever car they had in high school that made them cool.

[Wyatt Lay]

Yeah, Id say compress first and then if u wanna go lower, cut. You can come down a good amount just by heating them up, maybe even as low as you wanna go if you are persistant. Personally, ive never gone as low as a wanna by compressing, but the ride is 100x better that cut.

[Daviticus]

Never heat up springs to compress them. That weakens the spring and greatly increases the risk of breaking them. Not to mention they ride like absolute shit once heated.

If you do anything, cut them and bend the end to fit into the stock holder. Else, leave them alone and save up for lowering springs or coil-overs.