I've heard of it, and I understand the concept, but is it a good idea? I don't really care if it sacrifices handling a tad bit, I just want to lower the car.

 

Seeing as you are asking this question in the first place, no it is not a good idea. You need to know what you are doing. If I were you I would just buy a lowering kit.

 

springs aren't more than 250. Just buy some! You'll end up wasting your time cutting them becasue eventually you'll get springs that are meant to do the same thing.

 

There have been other threads regarding cutting springs; do a search....the consensus is overwhelmingly negative.

 

Cutting springs can be dangerous. Plus you cannot guarantee equal cuts on both sides. I highly recommend avoiding this at all costs. Save your money and get springs, they are not that expensive.

 

please do not cut your springs to lower the ride height of your car.....spend the money and do it right...

 

That's what I thought, just didn't know the general opinion. And I do know what I am doing.

 

You can get cheap springs (not that I'd recommend that), but even really good springs like Steeda Sports or Ultralites run $250-ish shipped to your door. Ultralites are $249.99, Sports $259.99.

Cutting ruins the tempering. You don't know exactly what kind of drop you'll get, and also the spring rate changes too, but often not enough to counter the change in height. This isn't something as 'simple' as maybe building a STB or even something like a PHB. Springs are active, dynamic components that actually hold the entire car up.

 

Nuc - I peeked at your profile.

When you cut down a spring that's OE for the car in question, the strain energy (1/2 Kx^2) per unit volume goes up, which can be expected to result in the spring settling over time more than it would if it was left alone. That's separate from getting the amounts to be cut right (and equal), that the spring coil ends still agree with any required spring clocking, and that the cut is accomplished without either annealing any part of an active coil or adding more carbon to the metal and making it brittle.

I've cut springs before. A couple of times successfully, and once that decidedly was not (the top coil broke free on a spring that was not held captive by either a shock or a strut). An iffy proposition that I can't generally recommend.


Norm

 

So you are basically saying that I alter that potential energy of the springs, making it stiffer in terms of angular strain, IIUC? I am normally familiar with strain energy being altered by some sort of elastic deformation.