cutting springs

[271283]

I bought a bilstein suspension kit a couple of months ago, I want to go a bit lower now and was wondering if i could cut the springs. I was told that cutting them makes them lose strength but i was also told by someone else that cutting them is fine,thanks

[kam-325i]

generally, No. Dont cut springs.

[Pal318is]

Cutting the springs = Very Dodgy

Don't do it.

Pal

[mash320i]

its not the best idea! and im pretty sure its an mot failiure as its like having a snapped spring!!


ash

[clubfx2]

27

The big problem with cutting spring is the heat generated when cutting them fatigues/damages the metal and you get alot more bounce in the ride. This then puts more strain on the shock/damper as the distance of the travel on the shock is no longer working in its preferred positioning.

Best way to do it is the correct shock/spring combo or the fully adjustable setups.

This will give you the best and SAFEST ride. Rather save up and get the right setup.

[munky30]

cut springs kill!!! dont do it, you'll die! and the police will bum rape you savagely for having an illegal car!!! Its sooooo dangerous, just starting a car with cut springs can cause instant and total suspension failure, killing all occupants and anyone within a 10 metre radius.




Cutting one coil out of uprated springs wont be very dangerous, if they are cut in the right place so they still fit snugly into their cups. No mot centre will notice this, and you wont be running much of a risk or affecting ride quality that much. I know, I had them on my old car.

But e30's use pigtail rear springs so you cant cut them.

[271283]

I have to say, i love this site. The few questions i have posted have been answered within minutes. I bought some individual gauges (speedo etc) to put into my e30 as i have taken the dash out and wanted to mount new gauges. I got a set that came from a 1986 jaguar but i don't know what all the wires coming out the back are specifically doing. So i registered on a jaguar forum today to at 5pm to see if anyone could help, 47 people have looked at my question but nobody has replied. Just thought i'd let everyone know that.

[DanThe]

One or two coils cut off the fronts wont do any harm at all, certainly wont kill or fail any MOT's

[munky30]

[Hath]

lol.. they can pop out and go through the wing..

[riklusby]

Certainly wouldnt risk my life for the sake of 50 quid !

[Simon13]

£50???

As said if the fronts are cut properly and sit in place like they should they will be fine. I did it on my old 325 auto as the standard shocks i had to put on were so knackered i couldn't compress the spring enough! The springs were fine but the dampers were f**ked out of their brains so it handled like a double bed

I only did this as a stop gap and wouldn't do it to a car i was keeping. This car was being written off by the insurnce as it had been hit by a 3rd party up the bottom, so i pulled all the good bits off and fitted what i had lying around in my garage on to it to keep it going until it was inspected and written off

[cliffybabe]

like it

[DanThe]

Certainly wouldnt risk my life for the sake of 50 quid !

[riklusby]

Sorry, 59quid
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-320-325-T ... dZViewItem

If i wanted the look on a low budget i would rather buy these than cut the springs, or is that daft ??

[DRIFTBOY]

Great!

Look at all those ruined Fiats! Love it!

I've cut springs before, and on one car they did fall out of the cups when the wheels were off the ground so I lock-wired them in place and it passed an m.o.t. like it.

As said, if the springs are secure and can't fall out then you are perfectly legally entitled to make your car drive like a dustbin falling down a flight of stairs!

It is definately recommended and well worth spending the relatively small amount of money for the properly designed and manufactured ones though.

Martin.

[ShineOn]

Sorry, 59quid
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-320-325-T ... dZViewItem

If i wanted the look on a low budget i would rather buy these than cut the springs, or is that daft ??

Crap cheap springs made to the correct length are better than good quality springs butchered to a shorter length.

[bobafett]

NO NO NO NO NO !

Don't do it ! Spend the money, don't cut em .....

[pip]

Hey if you are considering cutting the springs of a BMW then you should not own one,thats RICER STUFF.The BMW is a quality vehicle and if you can't afford to get them compressed then sell it.But don't ruin a quality car and it's ride.

[pacerpete]

Ignore all the doom mongers and armchair mettalurgists , cutting the front springs IF DONE SENSIBLY AND CORRECTLY is not dangerous and does not compromise the safety or ride/handling of the car, indeed one coil cut off the front transforms the feel and look of an otherwise standard E30. Where as a set of ebay £59 springs will positively ruin it !
In an ideal world we would all fit eibachs / H + R and new koni or bilstein shocks but if you are a penniless loser with a £200 320 touring (it did have 15" BBS, leather ,mot and tax ! ) you are hardly going to spend £500 on suspension are you ? Anyone who is not a believer is welcome to drive my 'anglegrindermeister ' touring and then make your mind up !

[jaistanley]

Bit 'council' for you I'd have said Pete....

You'll be off to Argos for a bangin saaaand sistem next.

Jai

[Speedtouch]

I'd agree with Pete; the standard BMW springs are long enough to easily allow a coil to be cut out without comprimising safety, wheras i had to change a set of cheap lowering springs recently because they all went 'handy bandy' (soft metal, or badly heat-treated) - they were an MOT failure.

[Alfa_Delta]

lol.. they can pop out and go through the wing..

It's not going through the wing you have to worry about - it's going through the inside of the tyre wall.

If you cut the springs you effectively reduce the spring rebound - not a good idea for predictable handling at all!

Billstein will have spend thousands of pounds and hours and hours on the test track refining the suspension kit for your car. Do you think that ten minutes with a hack saw will make it better or worse?

[buster]

I bought a spax psx kit for my sport about 4 years ago.Once fitted i found that the front was not low enough.So i just chopped 1 coil from the bottom of each front spring and it sat perfect.They are still on the car now.
Not a problem,passed MoT's also,and never poped out !

[tim-ix]

Hey if you are considering cutting the springs of a BMW then you should not own one,thats RICER STUFF.The BMW is a quality vehicle and if you can't afford to get them compressed then sell it.But don't ruin a quality car and it's ride.

Can we PLEASE not use the word "ricer"? It's nasty, American-sounding and what's wrong with Japanese cars anyway? I've not had one (apart from for a couple of months after I passed my test) and I'm not keen on the Jap-style thing, but they're car enthusiasts too just doing their thing. I bet lots of us would give our right 'nad for a sorted Skyline, NSX or whatever.

Sorry to moan about a minor thing, I just really like this forum and don't want it to be like some others where they constantly tell each other how great they are and make it sound like BMWs are the only cars in the world ever worth owning.

On cutting springs, it's a really Happy Shopper way of lowering your car and you'd be much better off buying some proper lowering springs but one coil chopped off is unlikely to kill anyone important enough to make the news as long as they still seat properly on their mounts. The ride is going to be rubbish anyway if you're going for a serious drop in height and remember that your shocks will wear out quicker too unless you shell out on shorter-bodied replacements. Consider also your bumpstops. If lowering the springs it may be worth renewing these as they'll get a lot more punishment from a lowered car, as will bushes.

[Alfa_Delta]

The problem is though - the top and bottom coils are typically wound tighter than the rest so in an ideal world, you'd cut a coil from the "middle" of the spring.

[Davenotouring]

Do it and get a welder! haha! (Don't actually do it)

[Alfa_Delta]

To me, it's akin to letting air out of your tyres to get your car lower to the ground. Yes, it will work. No, I wouldn't do it to a car I owned.

[buster]

well it works fine,what more can i say

[Scoupe]

it can be dangerous, for the money for a "poverty spec." set of springs, you might as well buy the springs kit.
and like munky says cutting that back ones is not an option/a very very bad idea as they are "pig tailed" and are much more likely to slip off

[DanThe]

lol.. they can pop out and go through the wing..

It's not going through the wing you have to worry about - it's going through the inside of the tyre wall.

Havnt you heard the case of the 'spring cutter' who's Nova front struts spat one straight through the bulkhead?

I belive he still has shrapnel in the back of his head, apparently the spring came through the bulkhead narrowly missing his left foot but unfortunately it grazed his right testicle before bouncing around the cabin which put so much stress on the highly engineered coils they literally fell apart in mid air and peppered the back of his seat/head.

[Silverfang]

Yikes

If you've got a bilstine kit already on the car, better off leaving it alone or swapping it off. Cutting the springs is a BAD idea, as previously mentioned.

[bigpimpin]

I cut the springs all round on my MK3 Escort XR3, looked the bollox but bounced around like zebedee

the rears did pop out when you jacked the car up but a few tie-wraps sorted that out!

Mind you that was 15 years ago.

[Andyboy]

cut springs kill!!! dont do it, you'll die! and the police will bum rape you savagely for having an illegal car!!! Its sooooo dangerous, just starting a car with cut springs can cause instant and total suspension failure, killing all occupants and anyone within a 10 metre radius.




Cutting one coil out of uprated springs wont be very dangerous, if they are cut in the right place so they still fit snugly into their cups. No mot centre will notice this, and you wont be running much of a risk or affecting ride quality that much. I know, I had them on my old car.

But e30's use pigtail rear springs so you cant cut them.

Agreed. Cutting ONE coil out of a spring will be okay but only a standard spring. It's when the cut spring is still loose or slightly loose to the point where it can be shuffled around in the struts that the dangerous bit comes in. In my experience cutting one coil from an E30 front spring still means that the spring has to be compressed to get the top mount back on. When the spring is decompressed the coil still fits okay in the spring cup.

But shortening an already short spring? Not sure about that. I fitted some lowering springs to an E36 last week (30mm drop) and The springs were so much shorter than standard that I could almost (but not quite) fit the springs and top mounts without compressing them. I wouldn't dream of cutting those down. Also, bear in mind that if you go too low the car will be riding on the bump stops. And yes, running with no bump stops is the quickest way to destroy the dampers. Cut the bump stops down if you need to but never, ever run without them as they're there for a reason.

As for the heat from cutting a coil off with a grinder affecting the temper of the steel, forget it as it doesn't get even remotely hot enough and the hottest part is localised.

Personally i would just buy the springs you need but cutting a coil from a standard spring is fine.

[pacerpete]

Don't worry rich fools , i have just bought a TOTAL spec 325 touring which is having its 1000 mile old purchased from BMW bilstein dampers and sport springs removed and replaced with one of my FIAS suspension kits (complete with cut front springs ! ) The BMW / bilstein parts will soon be available for your delectation and purchase !

FIAS = found in a shed !