RE AND CHERYL

I just finished lowering my car and the results were awsome and quite cheap. Because the front strut bolts rust up you will almost have to replace the struts if they are original. I used a set of SLP take-off shocks.

To lower the front I simply cut off a little more than 3/4 of a coil. To lower the back I removed the rear coil spring upper rubber insulator, cut about a 1/4 coil off, and slipped 1/2" heater hose over the spring coil to keep it quiet. I only cut some off the rear springs to make it easier to install the heater hose on the spring.

I worked awsome! Both the front and rear came down almost an inch and there is no change in ride quality. I wanted to lower the car a little, but didn't want the harsh ride of most lowering springs. This worked out fine.

Z95m6

good info. I've always read on here not to chop the springs but i've read in car resto mags that its ok. Who to believe I guess we know its ok to do now.

RE AND CHERYL

The inportant thing about cutting springs is to not induce heat into the spring as it would destroy the temper and cause them to sag. I've cut springs in the past and have never had problems. But I would only recomend it if you are only lowering the car a little. Otherwise you will have a rougher ride because there is too little spring rate to keep it from bottoming out.

bruecksteve

It's ok to cut springs IF you know how to do it right.

You never want to heat them anymore than you have to. Keep wet rags on the portion of the spring below where you're cutting. You might have to heat the upper part of the spring where it seats in the upper spring pocket so it will fit properly. NEVER water cool the spring after cutting, let them air cool.

I've done it on two of my cars that I've autocrossed but it's my preference to buy new springs.

You probably increased your spring rate by about 10%. Assuming that's close, you went from about 292 lbs/in in the front to about 320 lbs/in. As a comparision, the Eibach springs are from 360-377 or so in the front.

Z95m6

Saying cutting 3/4 of a coil off is kind of vague and hard to judge. Would you by chance have the piece of scrap coil you cut off that you could measure? That way i could just go measure how long of a piece i need to cut off and that should be more accurate. I only want to lower my car about 3/4-1inch at the most.

AW/whiteZ-28

We just did my buddies 03 cobra we cut 1 coil off it lowered it about 1.5-2 inches and it actually got rid of the wheel hop

bruecksteve

It's really a hit or miss proposistion when cutting spring coils. It's even worse when flattening the top of the spring after you cut it.

Just buy some new springs.

Deckstripes

To those who've heard that cutting springs is bad-
First let me say I'm a long time spring cutter. First with a carbon rod hacksaw blade, lately with a die grinder and cutoff wheel. When you're hot rodding uncommon cars, the only other option is to open the spring catalog's specification chart. And that's even less predictable than cutting
Anyway, bout 5 years ago, I helped a friend do some rear suspension work on an 85 monte SS. It had lowering coils in the rear. Anyway, these springs had 3 coils stacked on one end. You were supposed to tailor the car's ride height by cutting the coils. It was the manufacturer's instruction. Never seen anything like it before or since, but a fabulous idea. Later