Can i cut springs

A stiffer spring will help reduce bottoming out. A safe place to start is by measuring how much you want to lower the vehicle. Then take her for a drive, and drive it like you stole it to get the springs well worked and seated properly. Now check your ride height. Because as a vehicle is lowered, the amount of travel left in the suspension before there is a jounce, metal to metal contact, condition is reduced also.

Too much lowering can cause other parts of the vehicle to hit each other, and this would be a bad thing. Once in a while, a customer will call and ask if cutting coils is a good idea. I once lowered a car just on springs was only 40mil down and all shocks were fine when I put the springs on. Fair enough that was on my Fiat Bravo but still the springs killed the shocks.

Your saying you have an uprated suspension kit, maybe thats why the shockers haven't worn out if they are uprated too? Get mr grinder out, chop those badboys. The ride is shit but its shit anyway with coilies wound right down so makes no difference to me. Rapidly becoming the largest and most active club of Polo enthusiasts in the UK.

It is hoped that members of the club will contribute pictures and spec lists of their cars to be published in the gallery and articles on any hints, tips or modifications they have carried out. There is also a number of pages detailing the discounts and merchandise available through the club and links to other related sites.

So if you are part of a local club bring everyone down and grab a spot in the field. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings , otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Terms of Use Privacy Policy Guidelines. Existing user? Or sign in with one of these services Sign in with Facebook.

Sign in with Twitter. Sign in with Microsoft. Please add our email as a contact to your email account. Recommended Posts. Posted 21 April, Link to post Share on other sites. Replies Created 13 yr Last Reply 13 yr. Top Posters In This Topic 26 22 Guest saint polo Posted 21 April, Guest hypojam Posted 21 April, Don't care what anyone says, it is unsafe.

Either way, it is inconclusive, but it raises some doubt on the assertion that cut springs will cause endangered baby panda bears to die. Cutting a coil spring should decrease its length and increase the spring rate.

Both of these are good things, and it is exactly what an aftermarket spring provides. If spring cutting has been used with some success, maybe it can be okay. Let's compare some aftermarket springs to cut springs. We began by finding data on aftermarket springs.

We looked at the front spring rates and how much drop they provide over stock. We tried to find options in a broad spectrum, from mild street springs to full race springs. Next, we needed to see what happens to spring rate and ride height when we cut the springs.

Instead of actually cutting springs and measuring spring rates and ride height drop, we just used a mathematical model. Springs are very well understood and equations have already been created to accurately describe spring characteristics. Where k is the spring constant, d is the diameter of the coil wire, G is Young's Modulus of the material, D is the diameter of the coil, and N is the number of coils in the spring.

I'll spare you all the math that follows, but the main point is that springs have already been modeled mathematically, and there shouldn't be much debate over what happens to the spring rate when you cut springs. Below is the chart that resulted. The blue data is from springs that exist on the market. This shows that generally, you want an asymptotically stiffer spring as ride height drops.

This makes sense, because if your suspension is bottomed out, there is no upward travel left and you would need an infinitely stiff spring to keep the suspension from compressing any more.

The red data points are theoretical spring rates that you would get from cutting the factory spring. What this tells us that cutting springs drops the ride height and stiffens the spring, but the stiffening effect is not as much as typically is desired.