cutting springs

[CRXsk8er]

my firiend has a 96 dx hatch and we want to cut the springs to lower it. we got the coilovers out, but we cant get the spring out of the coilover. everytime we turn the bolt on top the shock absorber turns wit it and it the bolt wont loosen. does anyone know how to get the spring out

[Miataracer]

your friend will be very unhappy with cut coils... why not at least step up and get a set of lowering springs instead?

[firzen]

Don't cut your springs, if you wanna go cheap just buy some cheap APC springs but don't cut them, you bottom out your car and the ride sucks when you cut them.

And if don't have the right tools it is going to me hard to undo that top nut, you need a spring compressor or i am sure you can find some other way to do it, I used rope and visegrips.

[maxspeedhonda]

I had a friend who cut his stock springs on a golf. He did it with the assembley on the car. Was fine for awhile, thn he decided he wanted lower, cut no more than 2 inchs of spring off (not 2 in. high, just 2 inches). To make a short story shorter he was driving down the road, hit a bump, car came down on the springs and shattered them. Lots of $$$ in damage.

[BullShifter]

Originally Posted by firzen

Don't cut your springs, if you wanna go cheap just buy some cheap APC springs but don't cut them, you bottom out your car and the ride sucks when you cut them.

And if don't have the right tools it is going to me hard to undo that top nut, you need a spring compressor or i am sure you can find some other way to do it, I used rope and visegrips.

Rope & vicegrips? Are you crazy? I guess you have never seen what a spring can do once it goes flying. I've seen a spring bust a huge chunk out of concrete - USE A SPRING COMPRESSOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only cut the springs if you know what your doing & have done it before, even then I personally would not cut them. They must be cut in same spots or each spring will be different.

You mean you can't get the coilover spring off the strut?

[Dumped91Hatch]

If you wan't to get the coilover off of the strut then you have to use a 14mm wrench (i think) and the part that the nut comes off of has a hole for an allen wrench so you have to put the box wrench on then the allen wrench in the middle of it. Make sure you use a spring compressor. They can be rented at your local Autozone or whatever parts store you have.

[90gs]

Originally Posted by jackasssi

Rope & vicegrips? Are you crazy? I guess you have never seen what a spring can do once it goes flying. I've seen a spring bust a huge chunk out of concrete - USE A SPRING COMPRESSOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only cut the springs if you know what your doing & have done it before, even then I personally would not cut them. They must be cut in same spots or each spring will be different.

You mean you can't get the coilover spring off the strut?

what he said, i was gonna post that but he said so already.

jackasssi: i did it without a spring compressor too . i put the whole shock/spring assembly inside a long skinny cardboard box and sat on it, then wore thick gloves and undid the top nut, the spring stayed still cuz i was sitting on it and the shock went flying back and just hit the cardboard (the bottom of the box.. lying on its side). the front ones were kinda strong, it made a noise, but the rear ones it sent the shock probably 2 inches...

[BullShifter]

It can be done without a spring compressor but, you couldn't pay me enough to do it without one. Loaded springs are VERY dangerous & could even kill you if it hit you in the head or break (human)body parts, cause some serious damage.

There are other methods to do it while the spring/shock are still on the car - take off the top nut with a jack under the control arm then slowly let the jack down.

[-=BOOMER=-]

I did it without a spring compresser (already had the assembly off the car and didnt have another car to go get one)

what I did was wrap the whole spring assembly in a blanket and use my pnumatic gun to take the top nut off. worked like a charm. I didnt need to use the allen wrench because the torque was enough to get the nut to turn without holding it. I do have to say when it sprung that blanket jumped hardcore.