unitedwestang

My car currently has H&R progressive lowering springs on it. They were on it when I got it. I have no real problems with the handling of the car, especially in the front. The rear however, is almost like its dropped too low. I have 18x10 Saleens in the rear with 295/35 Nitto Invos and they are getting cut by the rear quarter panels. So I'd like to make raise the rear a little and stiffen it up a little.

This is just a for fun car and not a daily driver so I'm not worried about a little extra stiffness through town. I'm thinking the initial "soft" section of the progressive springs is letting the wheel come up too fast on bumps and hitting the quarter. Would the linear rate of the stock springs help with this initial bump? I would probably cut stock rears to sit about 1/2" higher than it does now in the rear and maybe leave the H&Rs in the front. Unless you think I should put cut fronts in to match so I don't have a mismatch between progressive/linear front to rear.

Thoughts?

school boy

Personally I have seen people cut their springs with no issues. Since its a toy, I would cut your stock springs and see how it works. Then keep a look out for a set H&R Race springs or similar to replace the rears.

proeagles

Cutting springs is never a good idea. Either roll your fender lip or put on a narrower tire.

school boy

Give your reasoning.

unitedwestang

I'd rather ruin a set of stock springs than ruin a fender. I also don't plan on buying a set of narrower wheels so I can run a narrower tire. There's plenty of people that run wider tires than myself with no problems. My problem is that the car is too low, due to no fault of my own.

UPRSharad

Just thinking outside the box here... what shocks are you running?

unitedwestang

Currently has Tokico blues from previous owner

UPRSharad

Adjustable shocks might be a good option. You could stiffen the compression stroke to keep the tires from hammering the fenders.

unitedwestang

I was always under the impression that matching shocks and springs were important. i.e. pairing too stiff of a shock with a spring will cause premature shock wear since the shock will be trying to take some of the load rather than just damping it.

Or am I just over thinking it?....

Derf00

You're worried about matching the shocks/struts to the springs...but not about cutting stock springs because you don't want to get the correct spring(s) to get the height you want?

Those two lines of thinking are totally divergent.

Most OEM springs are linear rate meaning they take the same amount of force to compress throughout their range of movement. The spring rate (in lbs/in) is designed around an expected amount of suspension travel among other things.

Most lowering springs are progressive meaning the more you compress them, the more force is needed to continue to compress them further. This allows them to be shorter (lower) because they can provide better control in a shorter distance.

When you cut a stock spring to lower a car you end up with a very bouncy suspension because you change the distance that the suspension was expected to travel. Stock springs weren't meant to work properly on lowered cars just like lowering springs would never work properly on a stock height car (if you could stretch them).

Notice I said weren't meant to work properly. I didn't say you can't do it.

Go ahead but if you're worried about matching shocks/struts to ride height, I would think properly lowering or raising a vehicle would also be of interest.

On a side note, I also see you wouldn't mind leaving the HR Brand Progressives up front and the modified OEMs out back...that could have unintended down sides like creating excessive over steer from having too stiff of a rear vs front. Springs (front/back) are matched for that reason, for balance.

Do it once, do it right but, in the end it's your car. Do what you want.