Well im about to buy some 18" Z06's and want to lower it when I do. I want more than a 1" drop and read that some of you cut your stock springs... first off, it is safe to do this? Second, I'm not sure how much of a drop I want with the Z06's but I think about 1.5" I want to go as low as I can without bottoming out everytime I drive. So for a 1.5" drop how much of the spring to I cut off? Will this make the suspension stiffer like aftermarket springs will? And also if I cut them and get new shocks/struts, I'll have to get an alignment right? is that all or would i have to get anything else? Also it wont cause my tires to wear abnormally afterwards will it?

Thanks
Matt

 

Dont cut your springs, the spring rate will increase, the ride will get worse, just save some cash and buy lowering springs....

 

Actually your right, and yoru wrong.

Your right in that cutting your springs will increase your spring rate, your wrong in that it will make your ride rougher.

I'm guessing V-6 springs are in the neighborhood of 350-450 lb/in. Cutting one coil off should stiffen them up to about around 500 lb/in (I could calculate it if I had the wire size and number of coils). Stock IROC springs are around 650 lb/in springs. So you see your still pretty soft, the problem with this is that now that your lower you have less suspension travel to obsorb bumps, so your bouncing off the bump stops all the time. This is why cutting your springs too much can be bad. Find out how high your car sits now, measure to the top of the fender arch, and measure how tall your tires are. From this we can decide how low your going to be, and then we can suggest a spring rate that will keep you off the bump stops.

I once cut some pretty soft springs to get the stance I wanted, with only 2" of bump travel, I was pretty much hitting the bump stops constantly and it rode like crap. I then went to convertible IROC springs with one coil cut, which put me at 800 lb/in of spring rate, believe it or not the car rode much better than with the too low stock springs. It was still firm, but not harsh.