To cut springs or not - that is the question

just to add fuel to the fire, i have welded a broken spring back together*

it lasted 8 years and was still in one piece when the car was scrappaged


RR wouldn't be the same without a cut spring debate every six months



* not an ideal solution ;D

It has been about 7 years since I was involved in one I think.

For the curious,
Clamped with these:

On the car
Angle grinder
On a jack
Someone else

The first time.

Thanks for sharing your experience Mr Hotwire

my take on it -
crappy clamps..are crappy
On the car....MM safe working practice
Angle grinder....standard cutting tool
On a jack.....you weren't under the car but mind your hands/feet (don't ask yow I know )
Someone else....MM safe working practice ;D

The first time....my first time there was blood and tears
.
.
but I got over it


I think we have reached the conclusions :

everyone has an opinion

proper lowering springs are proper

lots of people shorten standard springs with no real adverse effects (depending on the vehicle)

you need to be careful when cutting springs

always use the best tools available to you, and use them safely

Bruce takes cool pictures



play safely and be happy people

I have to admit that if there's a single job I hate doing, it's taking Mac struts apart. A guy I know told me a story (which I think was a lie) about a spring getting away from him and punching a hold through the roof of the workshop.

I'm been umming and ahhing about cutting a coil off the springs on my Audi 100 for weeks. The Audi forum are dead against and I'm not sure either. Suspect I'll wimp out and buy a set of springs in the end.

It turned into tech

Cut springs are a cheap option and they can work, however, it's a bodge job. If lowered springs are not available 'off the shelf' there are several companies which can supply custom made springs to your specifications. Another advantage is you don't damage the originals so you can refit them if you wish.

Just to add my two pence worth, i will never cut springs unless they are have a spring seat deigned to fit a cut end, like early mustangs...

On 99% of cars i disapprove of spring cutting, i certainly would never cut them in situ professionally or personally, i don't think it's horrifically dangerous, but cutting something under tension is just not good practice..

There's nothing wrong with screw spring compressors providing they are of sufficient quality and properly designed, preferably with two points of contact at each end, this said it should be a no brainer that you use decent tools not cheap knock offs to do a safety critical job, i have used screw type compressors for years professionally as have several garages i know personally, the point of a hydraulic spring compressor is speed not safety, these only become necessary when doing many spring changes to save time, plus these can be just as dangerous if used incorrectly...

When i lower a car on coils i will invariably buy proper lowering springs, that way i can be secure in the handling and safety characteristics of the car, plus to me i will only lower a car to improve performance (i like the look of a lowered car, but wouldn't bother unless i was upgrading the handling/dampers/bushes ect at the same time) in fact many of my cars end up with completely upgraded suspension, but only a very very small drop in overall height


Coilovers are FTW in many of these situations..

Broken springs are quite common now, when I fitted Lorinser lowering springs to my Merc W126 I discovered both rear coil springs were in fact broken.

I have seen many quite new cars fail MOTs because of broken springs or need them replaced. Another benefit of fitting lowering springs you get new springs which are less likely to break, for a while at least

It's like brake discs, on old cars you change the pads and the discs last virtually forever. On newer cars discs have become just about a service item!

Unexpected car time on Saturday gave me the opportunity to drop the newly purchased 309.
I've just searched that auction site and the cheapest coilover kit (and remember it's torsion bar out back) is 570 which is way, way out of my league. I'm sure cheaper kits can be sourced for around the 200 mark though that's still beyond justification for a non essential (as in the car will work without it) car part. That leads on to lowering springs at a shade over 60 quid, trouble with them is they drop 35mm and I had a 5 inch arch gap to content with which would entail cutting a fair few coils from the new springs anyway.
So Saturday I dug out the clamps and proceeded with the same caution as I (and many others) have done before.

It's like many aspects of mechanics, especially home mechanics where a certain degree of improvisation is often involved. Proceed with caution and a eye for detail and all is good.
I love free lows