thinking about cutting my stock springs to lower my car

[cutlass79]

You need to figure out what kind of ride you're looking for. If your looking for appearance factor then I'd go with Blake's suggestion. With the S 10 springs cut the spring rate is 650 give or take a few pounds and my rears are Phoenix springs cut and are 175 give or take a few pounds so in the eyes of some it's a stiff ride but for me I like it..

im jut manly looking for it to sit a little lower like i said its just a daly summer car and a little weekend fun here in there this car wont make any runs on a track thats what my trans am is for.how much stiffer is the ride form stock would u say? the car kinda flots like a big body caddy right now and i wouldent mind it being a litter stiffer i plan on putting in a fornt and back sway bars out of a trans am gta to help with the body roll

 

[online170]

Nothing wrong with cutting your springs. Just remember it makes the spring rate go waaaaaaaaaaay up. Thats why aftermarket springs are so popular. If you have done the math for the spring rate you want, and it happens to agree with the height you are aiming for then great. If you are purely cutting for height, you might be disappointed when the ride is too stiff.

Don't cut your springs.

Because you said so?

They are made in a specific length with a specific resistance. If you cut them, you mess with those specific parameters as well as the geometry of your entire suspension.

Isnt that the point?

Cut springs is pretty much a ghetto way to drop your car.

If by ghetto you mean inexpensive, then I agree.

if you don't care about your ride or your safety.

Safety has nothing to do with it. Cutting springs is perfectly safe (so long as you dont heat cylce them to much, which is impossible to do with a cutting wheel on a grinder). If you think you can prove me otherwise, challenge accepted.

 

[online170]

I've cut springs without issue, BUT, they were grossly oversprung for the car. The correct way is to use a high speed cut-off wheel so you don't overheat them and ruin the temper. What I do is use a spring compressor to hold them up in the coil tower, then cut off 1/4 coil at a time, NO MORE! You can cut more off, but you can't put it back on. Then re-assemble it and see how she sits. If I need more, I do another 1/4 coil. It's a lot of work, but it must be done incrementally, as there is no formula that says "cut this much to get this much drop". Doesn't exist. Cutting it effectively shortens it, and that raises the spring rate, so expect a firmer ride, as previously stated.

I agree, you hit the nail on the head with all of this.

 

[pontiacgp]

it may help you to know that the Eibach springs for the G body has a 660 lbs spring rate for front. The rear are progressive so the spring rate changes and that's why I don't like them but I did use them for a few seasons till the front springs broke. There are lots of guys using the Eibachs so they arn't too stiff. I went with the moog springs cause they are about 1/2 the price of Eibachs.

 

[85cut420]

Nothing wrong with cutting your springs. Just remember it makes the spring rate go waaaaaaaaaaay up. Thats why aftermarket springs are so popular. If you have done the math for the spring rate you want, and it happens to agree with the height you are aiming for then great. If you are purely cutting for height, you might be disappointed when the ride is too stiff.

Don't cut your springs.

Because you said so?

They are made in a specific length with a specific resistance. If you cut them, you mess with those specific parameters as well as the geometry of your entire suspension.

Isnt that the point?

Cut springs is pretty much a ghetto way to drop your car.

If by ghetto you mean inexpensive, then I agree.

if you don't care about your ride or your safety.

Safety has nothing to do with it. Cutting springs is perfectly safe (so long as you dont heat cylce them to much, which is impossible to do with a cutting wheel on a grinder). If you think you can prove me otherwise, challenge accepted.


Not cause I said so, because there are much better ways to get a lower ride and better handling unless 150 is too much money.
While that is the point, you can do it with materials made for the job (lowering springs, etc), not try to make something into what it is not. Manufacturers choose a size for the springs for a reason, and lower springs need to be a little thicker as you stated.
Yes ghetto means cheap, but it also means it's done only when one does not have enough money to get it done the right way.
When you do something to your car that it is not meant for, what you did is more likely to fail. Lowering springs are made for the car, as are stock springs, but cut springs are that much more likely to fail because they are not meant to be lower. Plus the bad ride will impact the car itself, the shocks, other suspension components, and may even cause leaks under the hood because the stiff ride will shake everything a lot more. My GS wound up with a cracked spring, a shot shock and a horrendous ride. I don't even want to think what would have happened had I been going 75 on the highway when the spring suddenly gave out and the wheel was at a almost a 45 degree angle to the ground when I finally came to a stop. And I was going like 40 on a nice road!

 

[pontiacgp]

Cutting springs is perfectly safe (so long as you dont heat cylce them to much, which is impossible to do with a cutting wheel on a grinder). If you think you can prove me otherwise, challenge accepted.

do you have a degree in metallurgy?...just how hot do you think the metal gets when using a cut off wheel cause you have to get metal up to at least 1420 F in order to make any changes...

 

[Phoenyx]

I used to know an old guy that had been cutting coils since the 60s. To avoid the heat problem, he would submerge the whole spring in water. And then use a hacksaw to cut them.

Personally I don't like to mess with stuff like that, would just buy lowered coils.

 

[Bonnewagon]

If you dilly-dally with the cutting they can get hot locally. I just use a new cut-off wheel and bear down on it so it cuts fast. Worst advice I've ever seen was in Hot Rod magazine, where they advocated using a torch to heat the spring up until the car just dropped. They wedged a block of wood in so it would land at the desired level. Now THAT"S ghetto!

 

[cutlass79]

ok so i have air bags for a air ride set up and im kinda worndering if i can set up air bags like air shocks.i was thing have the fornt 2 bags going to one fitting and the rear 2 bag goin to there own fitting.if i do the air ryd i want it as simple as it can get i dont want a tank and switchis and all that. i have eveything i would need to put the bags in the car that way as well sep for the brackets.id like to try my hand at making the brackets b4 going and buying them.so does anyone have any pics of a set of bolt on upper and lower fornt and rear air bag brackets that thay could post pics of and maybe even measurements of the brackets?

 

[pontiacgp]

you can't cut airbags....what happened to the springs?