cutting springs

[gobig155]

I am curently low on money and wondering if i should cut my springs. i have some friends who have done it and says it works fine. i also have friends who say i should never cut stock springs. what do all of you think?
P.S: my car is a 94' civic hatch if that helps.

[engsr]

Originally posted by gobig155
I am curently low on money and wondering if i should cut my springs. i have some friends who have done it and says it works fine. i also have friends who say i should never cut stock springs. what do all of you think?
P.S: my car is a 94' civic hatch if that helps.

cutting springs changes the load capacity ie. you basically weaken the spring from what it was designed for. lowering springs are designed to carry the same load but at a different height.

[CivicSiRacer]

Never ever cut/heat your springs. Reason why is that your spring is set at a certain rate for the length of the spring. When you cut the spring you effectively change the length of the spring but not the spring rate itself (amount of energy to compress a spring).

Think of your car like a wagon going down a steep hill, and a mountain bike with full suspension - who will have more control? Of course the mountain bike cause it has suspension to soak up the bumps and dips. Whereas the red wagon will be totally out of control as it has no suspension to soak up the bumps and dips.

This would happen to your car now with cut springs as you enter a corner. You will effectively loose control if the corner is bumpy and rough cause you will be bouncing off the shorter spring you created.

Most aftermarket springs are shorter in height but they make up for that by making the spring stiffer (more spring rate).

[98civicex]

good god

do not, i repeat do not cut your springs. just save up some money and get a set of springs. you will be alot happier in the end!

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally posted by CivicSiRacer
Never ever cut/heat your springs. Reason why is that your spring is set at a certain rate for the length of the spring. When you cut the spring you effectively change the length of the spring but not the spring rate itself (amount of energy to compress a spring)...

Cutting a spring will increase the spring rate, as long as it's an active coil you cut.

[texan]

Originally posted by Gasoline Fumes

Cutting a spring will increase the spring rate, as long as it's an active coil you cut.

Thank you Gasoline Fumes, I was beginning to get a little worried about the knowledge base here at AF on suspensions .

CivicSiRacer, engsr- A coil spring is nothing but a wound up torsion bar, shortening the bar will increase it's resistance to bending (aka spring compression).

gobig155-The reason nobody wants you to cut your springs is because it isn't very beneficial from a performance perspective. Looking at the average stock Honda spring vs. a good aftermarket spring (Eibach Pro Kit is a great and affordable example), the Eibach gains in spring rate for it's lowering height much more than a cut stock spring would. Now if all you are wanting is a slammed ride height and don't care much about performance or ride quality, sure, cut the springs. DO NOT HAVE THEM HEATED TO ATTAIN DROP, but you can cut the springs. However, if you are interested in performance wait until you have the money to do it right and buy yourself some quality performance springs. Hope this helps, peace.

[engsr]

i guess i was speaking from the performance view. i'd rather invest the money in lowering springs, instead of sacrificing performance. the last thing i'd want is a car that handles like mush.

[CivicSiRacer]

Originally posted by Gasoline Fumes

Cutting a spring will increase the spring rate, as long as it's an active coil you cut.

How did you come about that? Cutting a coil off a spring with a standard spring rate will not change the spring rate. To change a spring rate you have to make the metal stiffer or put more coils into the spring.

[Someguy]

No, Fumes and Texan are right. Cutting an active spring raises the spring rate. For a simplistic example: you have a 10 coil spring with a rate of 100 lb/inch. So if you place 100 lbs on the spring it will compress 1 inch, or in other words each coil will compress .1 inches. If you cut one coil off and place the same hundred pounds back on the spring then each coil will still compress .1 inch, but since you only have 9 coils the entire spring will only compress .9 inches. So the over all spring increased to 111 lb/inch.

The reason is each coil sees the full weight of the load plus the weight of the coils on top of it (but that can be pretty much ignored), and will deflect some certain amount. In the above sample each coil will see 100 lbs of weight regardless of where on the spring they are. If you cut a coil the remaining coils still see that exact same weight and will still deflect the same amount, but since there is one fewer coil the overall spring deflects less, thus its rate goes up.
Adding more coils of the same materail, thickness, radius, and pitch will decrease the spring rate a proportional amount. If we add another coil to out 10 coil spring, then the under 100 lbs of load the spring will deflect 11 * .1 = 1.1 inches, so our new spring rate is now 100/1.1 = 90.9 lbs/inch.

Make sense?

[Racing Rice]

The key is to cut the coil without getting the coil hot... Torch is a very bad idea, you maybe able to get away with a grinder but this to will heat the coil a bit. We all know what heat does to metal... But Ill let you decide how you want to cut them..

[igo4bmx]

Originally posted by Someguy
No, Fumes and Texan are right. Cutting an active spring raises the spring rate. For a simplistic example: you have a 10 coil spring with a rate of 100 lb/inch. So if you place 100 lbs on the spring it will compress 1 inch, or in other words each coil will compress .1 inches. If you cut one coil off and place the same hundred pounds back on the spring then each coil will still compress .1 inch, but since you only have 9 coils the entire spring will only compress .9 inches. So the over all spring increased to 111 lb/inch.

Make sense?

it seems spring tension and a shorter spring will conclude a high rate, but yet the spring compress with the same weight as a stock spring will compress to a shorter length.

also grinding it would not create much heat to effect the metal. its ear our hot braking system all day.

I don't believe all springs are uniform through the whole spring. aren't then ends coiled tightly?

[drift]

stock springs are usually progressive, using different degrees of coiling to provide a softer ride up top, with a more aggressive rate when compressed.

not only will reduced coils change rate, but cutting a progressive spring can result in loss of it's progressive capabilities, making the spring react even more wildly.

to whoever said adding coils is the only way to change rates, you are silly... consider the spring had only 9 coils, and you added a tenth, the rate changes. but if i take a 10 coil pring and cut one off, it wont change the spring rate? get real.



i say cut the fuckers, just to be an ass.

[texan]

Originally posted by igo4bmx


it seems spring tension and a shorter spring will conclude a high rate, but yet the spring compress with the same weight as a stock spring will compress to a shorter length.

I don't believe all springs are uniform through the whole spring. aren't then ends coiled tightly?

Not quite sure what you meant by the first sentence, but if you do the basic physics on spring length vs. thickness, you will find that shortening the spring length is absolutely going to increase spring rate.

Correct, many springs are not coiled uniformly, that's why Someguy put the qualifier of "active coil" on his statement. And those springs are coiled that way to create progessive rates, which is a whole different subject.

[nemesls_2000]

Originally posted by gobig155
I am curently low on money and wondering if i should cut my springs. i have some friends who have done it and says it works fine. i also have friends who say i should never cut stock springs. what do all of you think?
P.S: my car is a 94' civic hatch if that helps.

Go ahead and while you are cutting your springs, cut your break line. Then, find some bald tires so the threads are showing through and put them on your car to imitate the "drag look." Get a Maaco paint job and on top of that get the LED washers b/c they help you see in the dark. To finish it off get a 10 shot of NOS to give you that EXTRA boost!!

[brads94accord]

do not do it!!