Chopped Springs -- YAY or NAY ?

[88smartcar]

seems like some other guys have taken between one full coil and 2 and a half coils out and maintained their stock ride quality. I'll probably start with 1 coil and go from there. i've driven RIDICULOUSLY low cars daily in the past, but im not looking for that at all... more or less i wanted to make the center of gravity slightly lower and possibly reduce a little bit of body roll. i think a coil or 2 can do that for me Thanks for the help guys

[ejp2fast]

i have never cut the coils what i did on my bp festiva is get a buddy to heat the coils with a burns-o-matic then when there red hot get the fat kid(me) to stand on the bumper. doing that dropped mine about 2 inches and still rode nice

heating the spring would change the spring rate for that area.

[Biglay5150]

88smartcar,
Why do you keep copying the same post over and over???? I think you may have found the info you needed. If you have any more questions just ask.

[88smartcar]

i only made that post once. not sure why it continues to re-post the same thing over and over again, but it wasnt my doing...hell, i wasnt even on this site for the past week, but is shows me posting on the 15th and 16th. go figure. if it happens again, just disregard it. my appologies. i got the answer to that question by now...lol

[ejp2fast]

seems like some other guys have taken between one full coil and 2 and a half coils out and maintained their stock ride quality.

physics of springs: when you decrease the number of coils with all other variables constant, the spring rate increases and therefore a little stiffer ride. More coils removed, higher rate.

[FestYboy]

^^ provided the spring hight remains constant.

don't heat your springs with a torch!!! (this falls into the Dumb Ideas list) it drasticly changes the spring rate and not for the better! i've personally seen the results of such behavior and it ruined the car and made it unsafe to drive (customer had to have the car towed from the shop after discovering what he and his friends did to it.)

[Otakuphill]

I would like to drop mine too, but paying for new springs sound a little much too. I like festivawes's ride height. how low did you go, and how does it drive?

[ejp2fast]

I just cut mine.. see this this thread:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19901

[SIBladerunner]

You can chop them all you want, but then the problems with the drivability of the car come. You can have the spring shift in place if it unloads enough. Give it a try and see what happens though. You never know, I've seen people get lucky and not have any problems after cutting or just heating and bending.

[ejp2fast]

You can chop them all you want, but then the problems with the drivability of the car come. You can have the spring shift in place if it unloads enough. Give it a try and see what happens though. You never know, I've seen people get lucky and not have any problems after cutting or just heating and bending.

you know, when i cut mine, i grinded or leveled the bottom of the spring to help it so it shouldn't shift on the strut assembly... but then when i put the car weight on them, they squished down and i am not worried AT ALL that they'll "pop" out of the strut... the bottom 0.75 of the coil is sitting in the strut.

[Otakuphill]

i cut mine 2 coils and it rides great. It feels allot more stable to me.

[ejp2fast]

i cut mine 2 coils and it rides great. It feels allot more stable to me.

looks like you cut about a half a coil less than me... from your ride height.