E30 Zone

There are plenty of cheap springs out there and without a doubt they aren't the same quality as the more expensive brands, but how are they compared to a standard factory set of springs? I intend to lower my car which is a 318i, im not looking to improve its handling, which as standard isnt great of course, im just looking to lower the car. Has anyone had experience with any of the cheaper brands? Jamex for example? Again, im aware cheap springs are cheap for a reason, my question is whether these springs are good enough for me, i dont race, drive fast or expect to gain much in performance. Any help would be appreciated.

I'd avoid Jamex, I've seen several sets brreak a coil off on the front, one even punctured the front tyre at speed

I've had Apex before but not on an E30, they were ok if a little hard.

Personally I'd save up and get a quality spring like H&R or Eibach.

Cheers,

Iain T

I run Jamex with no issue's on my cab, but i dont track it or anything like that

cliffybabe wrote:I run Jamex with no issue's on my cab, but i dont track it or anything like that

Thanks for the input Cliffy. Do you run on standard shocks or are they Jamex too? How much have you lowered by? Id like to lower 60/40 and keep my original dampers, from what ive read i dont think i'll get away with that though!

Ive cut my rear springs down by 2 coils and front by 3. That has lowered by 60mm. It looks great and drives ok. Bit bouncy but if your not racing about it will be fine... Mind you i drive mine hard and drift and havent had any suspension worries at all. Its not generally a suggestion that people advise but trust me i wouldnt recommend something like this i havent tried or if i thought it was unsafe. Hope this helps

MarkF wrote:Ive cut my rear springs down by 2 coils and front by 3. That has lowered by 60mm. It looks great and drives ok. Bit bouncy but if your not racing about it will be fine... Mind you i drive mine hard and drift and havent had any suspension worries at all. Its not generally a suggestion that people advise but trust me i wouldnt recommend something like this i havent tried or if i thought it was unsafe. Hope this helps

Huh, that idea hadn't even crossed my mind.. Do you use your standard shocks to? Cheers

MarkF wrote:Ive cut my rear springs down by 2 coils and front by 3. That has lowered by 60mm. It looks great and drives ok. Bit bouncy but if your not racing about it will be fine... Mind you i drive mine hard and drift and havent had any suspension worries at all. Its not generally a suggestion that people advise but trust me i wouldnt recommend something like this i havent tried or if i thought it was unsafe. Hope this helps

please tell me your having a laugh?

set of H&R's only cost £96 on the zone shop, not a big difference in price to jamex , worth the extra just for peace of mind

Jamex have been around for year's and make springs for alot of the other big name company's. I would use them any day and have had with no issues with them + used them on lot's of car's. The ride is good and you can contact them direct to ask for custom ride height.

Simon13 wrote:

MarkF wrote:Ive cut my rear springs down by 2 coils and front by 3. That has lowered by 60mm. It looks great and drives ok. Bit bouncy but if your not racing about it will be fine... Mind you i drive mine hard and drift and havent had any suspension worries at all. Its not generally a suggestion that people advise but trust me i wouldnt recommend something like this i havent tried or if i thought it was unsafe. Hope this helps

please tell me your having a laugh?

Thats what I was thinking, about which part though, cutting them in the first place or saying that it still drives ok!

Cutting your springs is NEVER a good idea.

Spax springs are okay and so are the Boge lowering springs. Cutting ONE coil from a front spring is okay, cutting three coils off is utter madness.

BillyWiz wrote:

cliffybabe wrote:I run Jamex with no issue's on my cab, but i dont track it or anything like that

Thanks for the input Cliffy. Do you run on standard shocks or are they Jamex too? How much have you lowered by? Id like to lower 60/40 and keep my original dampers, from what ive read i dont think i'll get away with that though!

I run mine on new mtech shocks with a 40mm drop all round, one of the guys i know runs 60/40 on his touring using Jamex spring with 17's and it rlls ok, witht he cab anything lower than 40mm round here would be a issue even 40mm catchs now and then

As i said had mine on for coming upto a year with no issues at all

MarkF wrote:Ive cut my rear springs down by 2 coils and front by 3. That has lowered by 60mm. It looks great and drives ok. Bit bouncy but if your not racing about it will be fine... Mind you i drive mine hard and drift and havent had any suspension worries at all. Its not generally a suggestion that people advise but trust me i wouldnt recommend something like this i havent tried or if i thought it was unsafe. Hope this helps

If you've cut the rear springs how the f*ck can they locate on the mountings with no pig tails ????

That's just plain fecking dangerous.

Cheers,

Iain T

I did automotive engineering at uni. On the first day we were all introducing ourselves and one poor lad proudly told us about his Escort with cut springs..

Naturally we austricised him and christened him 'cut-springs' for the next four years.

Aaaaaah, just recalling the good old days.

Of course I was very, VERY drunk.

Templ8e30 wrote:

MarkF wrote:Ive cut my rear springs down by 2 coils and front by 3. That has lowered by 60mm. It looks great and drives ok. Bit bouncy but if your not racing about it will be fine... Mind you i drive mine hard and drift and havent had any suspension worries at all. Its not generally a suggestion that people advise but trust me i wouldnt recommend something like this i havent tried or if i thought it was unsafe. Hope this helps

If you've cut the rear springs how the f*ck can they locate on the mountings with no pig tails ????

That's just plain fecking dangerous.

Cheers,

Iain T

If its the fella I'm thinking it is the use of tie wraps hold the sprnigs in place over the bump stops

I find it interesting that a magazine like PPC will publish an article about how to chop springs and show the calculations which show that it is safe enough to do it, then members of this site are completely against it....

Surely if PPC are putting their name/reputation on the line by condoning this, then it cant be as dangerous as everyone makes out (I'm referring to the pic with a load of cars in a ditch with CUT SPRINGS COST LIVES written over it)

I just don't see the point in cutting the springs. You can buy a decent second hand set of lowering springs for 30 or 40 quid so why bother.

choppa7 wrote:If its the fella I'm thinking it is the use of tie wraps hold the sprnigs in place over the bump stops

I find it interesting that a magazine like PPC will publish an article about how to chop springs and show the calculations which show that it is safe enough to do it, then members of this site are completely against it....

Surely if PPC are putting their name/reputation on the line by condoning this, then it cant be as dangerous as everyone makes out (I'm referring to the pic with a load of cars in a ditch with CUT SPRINGS COST LIVES written over it)

Fair enough on the front springs of an E30, but the rears are designed to locate themselves with the pigtails at each end. Cut these off and the spring has no positive location and is therefore bloody dangerous.

Plus if you lower a car the springs should be of a higher rating to stop the suspension bottoming out so easily through shorter travel, cut springs aren't uprated.

Personally I'm of the opinion that it's a total bodge and I'd flatly refuse to drive or be a passenger in any car on cut springs.

Cheers,

Iain T

Templ8e30 wrote:

choppa7 wrote:If its the fella I'm thinking it is the use of tie wraps hold the sprnigs in place over the bump stops

I find it interesting that a magazine like PPC will publish an article about how to chop springs and show the calculations which show that it is safe enough to do it, then members of this site are completely against it....

Surely if PPC are putting their name/reputation on the line by condoning this, then it cant be as dangerous as everyone makes out (I'm referring to the pic with a load of cars in a ditch with CUT SPRINGS COST LIVES written over it)

Fair enough on the front springs of an E30, but the rears are designed to locate themselves with the pigtails at each end. Cut these off and the spring has no positive location and is therefore bloody dangerous.

Plus if you lower a car the springs should be of a higher rating to stop the suspension bottoming out so easily through shorter travel, cut springs aren't uprated.

Personally I'm of the opinion that it's a total bodge and I'd flatly refuse to drive or be a passenger in any car on cut springs.

Cheers,

Iain T

If you cut the springs down the rating increases with the chop

I know what you're saying about the rear springs though, have to agree I wouldnt like to be driving a car with no positive location

is it ok to just take one bottom coil off the front to make some 40/40 springs into 60/40

yeah bodger just cut one out! let jaffro at the things if your brave enough

i agree with choppa, cut springs will do the job but i would rather have a set of 60 drop springs since they only cost £20-ish.

as for the back........pig tails all the way

choppa7 wrote:

Templ8e30 wrote:

choppa7 wrote:If its the fella I'm thinking it is the use of tie wraps hold the sprnigs in place over the bump stops

I find it interesting that a magazine like PPC will publish an article about how to chop springs and show the calculations which show that it is safe enough to do it, then members of this site are completely against it....

Surely if PPC are putting their name/reputation on the line by condoning this, then it cant be as dangerous as everyone makes out (I'm referring to the pic with a load of cars in a ditch with CUT SPRINGS COST LIVES written over it)

Fair enough on the front springs of an E30, but the rears are designed to locate themselves with the pigtails at each end. Cut these off and the spring has no positive location and is therefore bloody dangerous.

Plus if you lower a car the springs should be of a higher rating to stop the suspension bottoming out so easily through shorter travel, cut springs aren't uprated.

Personally I'm of the opinion that it's a total bodge and I'd flatly refuse to drive or be a passenger in any car on cut springs.

Cheers,

Iain T

If you cut the springs down the rating increases with the chop

I know what you're saying about the rear springs though, have to agree I wouldnt like to be driving a car with no positive location

I don't understand this, you're saying the spring suddenly gets stiffer/stronger if you cut it?!

choppa7 wrote:If you cut the springs down the rating increases with the chop

Sorry but that's physically impossible.

The spring rate is set by the type and thickness of the steel and the angle at which it is wound, cutting them doesn't alter any of these points and therefore will not alter the spring rate.

If a spring is rated at 300lbs at standard length it'll still be 300lbs with coils chopped off.

Cheers,

Iain T

Cutting springs no matter what the circumstance is just a bodge and a stupid one in my opinion. I know a guy who even went so far that he took the rear aprings out of his bora completely and just let it sit on the bump stops.

Back to topic, I'll never buy cheap springs again. I had Weitec 60/40s in my IS and they were ridiculously soft. Burst 4 sumps. They're out now and they're so soft you can nearly push them a third of the way down just by standing on them. Sh1t, but what should I have expected for 150 euro.

Before I knew better I fitted Boge springs with Bilstein shocks. After 4 sets of rear springs all replaced under warrenty due to collapsing (not even any weight in the boot either!) I fitted a set of H & R and have never looked back. The boge were about £80 iirc.

Andy

Thanks guys, youve all helped a lot. Ive decided to give jamex a shot and see what happens. I'll keep you posted