nelapse

iTrader: (17)

I know this is a touchy subject, I know this has been done before. I am making a poll. So hear me out. If you have an opinion, give us all some solid reason why your opinion is valid. Do not just say NO YOU WILL DIE or some childish statement.

There is alot of threads which say, if you do it right cutting springs is not a bad thing. I am not looking for a 2" drop, but I was thinking about taking a coil off the rears and a coil and half from the fronts... drive around a bit and see where I am at. The springs from the front are obviously different rate than the rears, so I am estimating 1 1/2 coils. I will probably do 1 coil from the fronts the drive it around and see where I am at.

I hear alot of rubbish, about not doing it, and alot of rubbish on why I should. I want to see some facts if someone has them? The only effective way to lower a car while keeping proper geometry is spindles. So the springs are going to be jacked anyways.

Keep in mind, I am not looking to slam my car down on the ground. maybe an inch or so for better handling, not ride quality.

Floor is now open.

smartman__007

iTrader: (1)

Got a question. You've helped me with some stuff I'll see if I can shed some light.

First: If these are aftermarket springs, it will definitely reduce ride quality as it will if it is stock springs

Second: Cutting coils off of springs actually makes the ride very stiff because , now no hard evidence just my experience, when you cut the bottom or top coils off of a spring, you are changing the spring rate. The first few inches you have of travel is soft so your response and ride quality is there, after that the "Softer" coils are bottomed out and the "Stiff" coils take over which only move with some hefty reason to.

Finally: My personal opinion is if they are stock springs, (which I am assuming), I'm sure it couldn't hurt too much to do it just do as you said in the explanation, cut off little at a time, if you start to get worse just by a small increment stop before you really hate it. If you'd like a lower ride height, just save up some cash for a good set of eibachs or other similar aftermarket quality spring.

Anyone who has hard evidence on "ANYTHING" related to this please chime in, i'm just making some educated guesses here with some intuition.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

i cut 1/2 a coil off my front because of how much weight I took out of it, still lowered the car a substantial amount with only 1/2 a coil cut off, I couldn't imagine cutting off more than that.

nelapse

iTrader: (17)

You are right... I will start with a 1/2 a coil and ride around if that doesn't do it I will cut another 1/2 off.

These are stock springs. This is hearsay but I what I read was that cutting a stock spring can be as good as a lowered aftermarket. I also read cutting an aftermarket spring should be completely avoided.

I will start off small. If indeed I do it. I will use a pneumatic cutoff wheel or sawzall. Some people will be upset saying cutting will heat up the spring and ruin the spring rate. I doubt 4 seconds of cutting will heat the whole spring maybe the first inch from the cut.

MikeH

iTrader: (10)

Depending on the spring type theres nothing wrong with cutting a little off.

You hear negative stuff from the guys who spent all that money on aftermarket springs.

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

good luck on planning on cutting through it in 4 seconds, i went back and forth on each of the 2 springs for probably a half hour as they would get hot so they could coil a bit. Took me around 30 minutes with an air cut off wheel.

z1bam

talked to the old man and back in the day they cut springs on their bikes with no ill repurcussions, even after a while of use.

a bit of google searching also turned this up:

http://www.off-road.com/dirtbike/tech/2002spring/

nelapse

iTrader: (17)

I really could not imagine it taking that long. Then again, I have never cut through a spring. I am guessing the metal is hardcore. For such a small diameter to be so stubborn.

BMmonteSS

Any one that says your going to kill yourself by properly trimming your springs is an uninformed dolt. With that said it is very easy to cut your springs too much. If you were to cut your springs 1.5 coils like you want your 600 lb/in springs (assuming stock Iroc springs) would jump up into the neighbor hood of 900 lb/in which is pretty stiff but about right for a competitive auto-x car. The problem is that you wouldn't be able to get the jack out from under the car and you would be on the bump stops. It's a delicate balancing act to get the desired ride height and spring rate.

With that said you can calculate hom much of a drop you will get by cutting the spring. The problem is that calculation doesn't take into account every variable. The best way is to just cut and check in small increments. A 1/2 of a coil will drop you in the neigbor hood of an 1". Some cars more and some less. I wouldn't go any further than a 1/2 coil at a time.

Using this handy dandy formula below you can accurately calculate the new spring rate once you cut your spring. You can decide if you are going to be too stiff or soft before you take the plunge and make a cut. There are two problems you can run into with cutting springs.

1: The spring gets too stiff and ride quality suffers. This is really not likely, you will usually end up way too low before you get too stiff.

2: The spring rate is too soft for the amount of bump travel you have left after lowering. This is where people get into problems and where you get the usual "cutting my springs made my car ride like ^&#$" type comments. A car with soft springs that hits the bump stops will ride worse than a car with stiff springs that does not.


K=G*d^4
8*n*D^3

K= Spring Rate
G= Material Rigidity (11,500,000 psi)
d= Wire diameter
n= number of coils
D= Avg. coil diameter

I would like to work throughthis formula and do the calcs for stock Iroc springs, but I can't seem to locate my notes. If some one could post up the number of active coils then I'll show you exactly what your spring rate would be if you cut 1/2 coil.


d=.750"
n=
D=5"

Edit: I would like to add that cutting a spring with a rotary cutter of some kind will NOT get the spring anywhere near hot enough to mess with the temper. If you cut fast enough you could even do it with a torch. I don't suggest it though. I use an angle grinder with a cut off wheel, much faster than an air grinder, it takes me about 30 seconds to cut off a .750 coil. What you don't want to use is anything with teeth, you'll dull a sawzall blade in about 3 seconds.

smartman__007

iTrader: (1)

Great Info. Been looking for formula's for spring cutting. I've never even thought about bottoming out and hitting the bump stops. I say just cut off and go trial and error, if need be i'm sure someone has a cheap set of stock replacement springs that they no longer need.

IROCZman15

iTrader: (25)

i've cut 3/4 of a coil off of my rear MOOG replacement springs about a month ago, lowered the rear about 1.25 inches (about)... the rear is real easy, and ive heard the fronts take a while...

use a grinder, with a metal cutting blade, cut in 3 increments (cut, let cool, cut, let cool, cut) -shouldnt take more than 5 mins

there is nothing unsafe about cutting springs that ive heard

Orr89RocZ

iTrader: (20)

i was thinkin of trimming a 1/4 to a 1/2 coil off the rear to help even out my stance. but i cant now with the 4th gen rear or else the fender might be taken out by the tires...esp the taller slicks.

but i have heard alittle trimming doesnt hurt it much. just stiffens the ride, which on our cars is stiff anyway

badazta87

iTrader: (1)

Well i cut my moog replacment springs 1/2 a coil, and rebent the spring to correct the form. (so the tail of the spring rests on the coil under it) I got a really nice stance, but never got to drive it sience then so i dont know how it rides. (damn the salt on the roads)

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

The most i ever cut my stock coils was 1/4 on the front.It lowered the car about 7/8in.On the back i believe i cut around half,maybe 3/4 coil tops.Rear dropped 1 1/4in or so.1 coil coil removed will yeild about a 10% higher rate.As for cutting them my hi-speed grinder cut the front coil in about 20sec.

jcurrieirocz

I cut a 1/2 of a coil off my lowering dropzone fnt springs and it was almost too much and left the rears alone.

On my z24 stock springs i cut off a full coil and it was too much and i had to replace the spring so it sucked that way if you cut too much off....
an a stockj camaro spring id recomaned not to cut off more then 3/4 of a coil first then if you need more go a 1/4 of a coil at a time...remeber to keep checking your bump stops cause even if you cut off too much you cant tell when you let the car down cause the car will ride on the stops and make you think you want to cut more off to get it lower ....keep the ride off the stops!!!!