Cutting my springs.......

[lifeiskaos]

cut springs with billy sports FTMFW

you all are haters.

[robspeed325i]

yea i suppose my input wasn't that supportive... it's good to see you won't be cutting them.
a friend of mine chopped springs in his e30, ride wasn't fantastic, was bucking and hoping all about.
Definately save and look at doing it properly, so much better

i'll most likely be cutting them further once i upgrade the shocks. 18 year old stockers arent quite up to the task anymore...

[revhead888]

yea i suppose my input wasn't that supportive... it's good to see you won't be cutting them.
a friend of mine chopped springs in his e30, ride wasn't fantastic, was bucking and hoping all about.
Definately save and look at doing it properly, so much better

[robspeed325i]

i had HDs on my dropped '02, loved them. i emailed bilstein.de to find out if there is any difference in overall length of the sports vs. HDs. i know that in the 02 application there was only 10mm of difference in length, and that was only in the back. 02s have a huge amount of stock suspension travel however...

Also I dont really believe HDs are the same valving either. Sports are always stiffer than HDs. If the lengths are the same or close Im going to stick with HDs for the ride quality.

[RickSloan]

i love my HD, i mean im not dropped real real low in the back, but they seem to be holding up just fine. I have 60/40 drop, and the ride is great with the HD's

[gearheadE30]

Get sports. HDs are essentially the same but aren't designed for the drop.

[robspeed325i]

haha... i'm not gonna cut mine anymore until i can afford some bils. stock shocks arent up to the task. now the question is, sports or hds?

[Elephant]

did you even read the thrtead? there is alot of good info in here about how its not...

It's not a good idea to cut springs in Australia due to the exchange rate. ; )

Cheers.

[RickSloan]

Cutting springs = EPIC FAIL!

did you even read the thrtead? there is alot of good info in here about how its not...

[revhead888]

Cutting springs = EPIC FAIL!

[Elephant]

Of all the people against cutting springs, how many of you have actually done it?

In general, if there are readily available solutions I certainly would not recommend cutting springs. But it is not a big deal if done properly and it is a free improvement in handling.

When I had my iX back in '99 there were no real aftermarket spring options other than H&R Sports which slammed the car and maintained the fugly factory rake...or lack there of. So I cut my front springs. It was quite an improvement. Not only did it look much better (lowered it ~1") it handled much better. Now the iX responds much better to this than regular E30's simply because the iX suffers some added understeer due to the front drive component.

For those that don't understand the philosophy behind this it WILL absolutely change your spring rate. In a linear spring, which front E30 springs are, the rate is directly proportional to the number of coils. So if you remove one, the rate increases. The downside is that you reduce the overall load the spring can take. For our purposes this really is not an issue though.

In general, I think you'd probably want different struts/dampers if you cut the springs. Oh, and the rear springs should not be cut due to them being the beehive/progressive type. Not that it can't, hasn't, or won't be done but it's not a good idea.

Cheers.

[dashboardmonkey]

what kind of retainter did you use ? have any pics of the install? before and after?

I did not use any retainers. I put the cut part up so they would not touch the axles.

I don't have any pics though, my camera batteries are dead.

[robspeed325i]

Well while I had the front wheels off to do my front rotors and pads (went with Balo rotors and Mintex redbox pads), i cut a single coil off my front springs. The result was an extremely minimal drop. I only cut one coil off because I just wanted to match the rear end sag i am getting because my trunk is full of tools, a sub box, etc. Eventually when all that stuff is out of there I'm going to install H&Rs in the rear and will be cutting the fronts further to match *that* drop. Anyway, it looks slightly better and I no longer have BIG WOBBLE when i hit the brakes. :mrgreen:

[robspeed325i]

I bought my car with cut springs and you can definitely tell a difference. The car pulls awkwardly and the springs move around because they aren't cut exactly right. Just buy some real springs...

if a moron cut the springs wrong, that doesnt mean doing it RIGHT wont yield good results. Pulling left or right can be a million different things, including tires, bushings, brakes, etc...

[87e30]

...and they are probably the same rate and height as cut factory springs. Put some nice shocks on and you wont be able to tell a difference between them or a cup kit/eibachs/bav autos/etc.

I bought my car with cut springs and you can definitely tell a difference. The car pulls awkwardly and the springs move around because they aren't cut exactly right. Just buy some real springs...