lowering springs

[JohNneGST]

has any one cut there springs to lower there car , and if so how much do i cut off to lower the car about one inch?
also , another question , how you deal with scraping your front lip, i my car is stock height and i must scrape it atleast 2 or 3 times a week , not bad , it just looks like ass , when my frony lip is all white at the bottom.
-john

 

[ECLIPSE4x4]

I hope you are not serious....

You will probably NOT find anyone here who has done that to their car let alone admit to it.

Do it right the first time and buy a quality spring and dampener.

 

[90AWD_aSiAnGiRl]

I hope you are not serious....

You will probably NOT find anyone here who has done that to their car let alone admit to it.

Do it right the first time and buy a quality spring and dampener.

DITTO!!!!!

Yeah don't even try heating your springs... your better off just keeping the stock springs and saveing for good quality springs

 

[wret]

Roland Grath of H&R explained this: "Cutting your factory springs will result in spring rates that are impossible to determine. In addition, without precision forming or cutting equipment, each spring will be cut slightly different. This will give you, at best, unbalanced handling. It could be a very dangerous situation." (HCI Oct/Nov 2000 premier issue)

 

[jtmcinder]

I'm rather disappointed that someone from a reputable company would say that. The math required to calculate what the new spring-rates will be is quite simple. Furthermore, the equipment required to verify the new rates after cutting costs very little (or you can build a very nice set up for about $300, assuming you have a PC), which also allows one to tweak the cuts if they don't match.

With that said, unless you are really broke, there isn't much reason to cut stock springs. You won't create anything better than H&R OE Sports, plus you'll won't have your stock springs for the winter anymore.

But with that said, I don't agree with the extreme reactions that I see against cutting stock springs. There is nothing wrong with this in theory. Most vendors will provide you with scare stories, but keep in mind that you are doing something that effectively costs them money ... since you won't need to buy their product if you do it.

- Jtoby

 

[wret]

Okay, so let’s say one wants to modify ones suspension for the sole purpose of reducing unsightly wheel gap but without creating an unsafe condition, sort of Junkyard Wars style, what are the options?

Cutting the springs?
Cutting the insulator bushings?
Anything else?

 

[JohNneGST]

sorry , i just wanted to know if its been done before , and the consequences if so , so i not going to do it , thanks
-john

 

[jtmcinder]

Okay, so let’s say one wants to modify ones suspension for the sole purpose of reducing unsightly wheel gap but without creating an unsafe condition, sort of Junkyard Wars style, what are the options?

Cutting the springs?
Cutting the insulator bushings?
Anything else?

Think about it logically. You need to do at least one of three things: shorten the springs, lower the perch, or raise the hat. You've covered the first and mentioned one way to do the third. The other options would include flattening the upper mount and moving the perch down on the shock.

- Jtoby

 

[wret]

Think about it logically. You need to do at least one of three things: shorten the springs, lower the perch, or raise the hat. You've covered the first and mentioned one way to do the third. The other options would include flattening the upper mount and moving the perch down on the shock.

- Jtoby

This might be a little unorthodox, but what if you applied some counter tension to the coil with the right sort of elastic material? Couldn’t you in effect create a progressive rate spring?

 

[jtmcinder]

Well, either the spring or the "counter-spring" would have to be non-linear to get a progressive rate. Elastics are often non-linear (at least, at the extremes), so I suppose there might be a way to do it in the manner that you propose, but isn't it easier to just to make the spring that way?

- Jtoby

 

[wret]

Well, either the spring or the "counter-spring" would have to be non-linear to get a progressive rate. Elastics are often non-linear (at least, at the extremes), so I suppose there might be a way to do it in the manner that you propose, but isn't it easier to just to make the spring that way?

- Jtoby

For you and me, perhaps, but it seems there are kids out there trying to solve a thousand dollar issue for a hundred, with the safety aspects being questionable at best.