FACTS why cutting springs is a bad idea.

[Domesticated]

Civil or ME?

[FAK_LAF]

ME

Im not try to brag about my education or anything, I just want people to know that I am not an idiot and have fundamental knowledge of how our car's suspension system functions.

[Domesticated]

I am also an ME, but I find it sad the lack of actual knowledge students have with real life applications. 90% of the ME's that come out of school have zero experience outside of a book. As an example I asked a thermo student applications of a turbine and he had no idea how a turbo in a car works. In school we did simulations, but unless you had a senior design or worked on the SAE stuff, you never actually got to use real world stuff. I started out building and racing cars and realized I got tired of never having money and taking forever to get parts and went to college. I already knew more about fluid and material mechanics that your taught in school with the exception of all the equations. But the point was I had a clear understanding from experience on a fundamental level rather than stuff I memorized from a book.

I'm not trying to discredit anyone on their opinions or credentials, but I know a lot of guys who got through school not learning much and doing the basics and ended up with degrees. If I had to choose between a guy in his late 20's or older or some guy with an engineering degree to help me put together a race car or make informed decisions on part design, I would choose the guy with experience over the guy with a piece of paper.

And that is just my humble opinion.

[FAK_LAF]

It does not even take an engineer to understand that removing a coil or two from an OEM accord spring to achieve a MILD drop is not going to kill you or be any less safe than installing a shorter lowering spring. Heck, my cut OEM springs seated better in my upper strut mounts than my "specialized lowering springs". There is too much bad information out there from people that have no experience actually cutting a spring and riding cut springs or basic knowledge about how a spring and damper combination behaves. If one wants a mild drop and near stock ride quality, cutting the OEM springs is a functional and economical option.







Again, the only reason I switched to a "propper lowering spring" was because I needed a higher rate to keep the oil pan, transmission, and UCA's from hitting stuff. Not because it rode like shit or because it felt unsafe.

I'm not trying to discredit anyone on their opinions or credentials, but I know a lot of guys who got through school not learning much and doing the basics and ended up with degrees. If I had to choose between a guy in his late 20's or older or some guy with an engineering degree to help me put together a race car or make informed decisions on part design, I would choose the guy with experience over the guy with a piece of paper.

Agreed

[HardInThePaint]

When cutting you want as little heat as possible so having a stream of lets say antifreze will due the trick to help keep it cool, because heat weakens metal.

If you are going to cut, cutting with a torch isn't a good idea IMO. In the past we primary used a saw (similar to a dremel but a bit bigger, though I've used a dremel before too). You should disassemble the entire strut and all then cut, a lot of people are lazy and would rather use a torch because you don't have to necessarily remove the spring and whatnot but again thats just laziness.

[deevergote]

http://www.eatonsprings.com/cuttingcoilsprings.html

[gloryaccordy]

FAK LAF that is way too low you are way out of the shock's operating range

[MortsAccord]

yea, because an intern knows all.

overflexing a cut spring meant for a differnt ride height will eventually fail. It not that so much as WHEN it fails, if you complete a stop and it finally breaks at a stand still, no biggie. if you go to corner on a track and apply a large ammount of force on it and it snaps before a corner- thats wonderful.

[Domesticated]

A spring is just a wound up cantilever beam. Cutting it makes it shorter and doesn't affect strength at all. Imagine putting a weight at the end of a beam. It will flex down. Cut the beam shorter and put the same weight on it. It will have the exact same stress on it, but flex less because there is less material to flex. So basically you have less travel for an equal load. All cutting the spring does make it stiffer and shorter.

[gloryaccordy]

A spring is just a wound up cantilever beam. Cutting it makes it shorter and doesn't affect strength at all. Imagine putting a weight at the end of a beam. It will flex down. Cut the beam shorter and put the same weight on it. It will have the exact same stress on it, but flex less because there is less material to flex. So basically you have less travel for an equal load. All cutting the spring does make it stiffer and shorter.

If that beam is short enugh or the weight is heavy enough it will deform beyond the range where it will spring back

W/o a lot of calcs & info theres no way to know whether the newly cut spring is safe (unless you cut dead coils)

[Domesticated]

yea, because an intern knows all.

I'm an intern. My job last year was I designed a standard for performance seat design which got me into many high end cars. I got to track every SRT including the Viper, a CTS-V, a Vette, an X5M, and a bunch of other cars. I was also the sole designer for the Fiat 500 B-Spec car. There wasn't a suspension available for the US version yet so I worked with Koni, Bilstien, Magnetti Marelli, and Mopar to get something together. Do know how much work and credential it takes to be an intern? You have to know you're shit.

[Domesticated]

If that beam is short enugh or the weight is heavy enough it will deform beyond the range where it will spring back

W/o a lot of calcs & info theres no way to know whether the newly cut spring is safe (unless you cut dead coils)

But your using the same weight. You're not making the car heavier. It's under the same load regardless.

[SOHC-FTW]

If you are going to cut, cutting with a torch isn't a good idea IMO. In the past we primary used a saw (similar to a dremel but a bit bigger, though I've used a dremel before too). You should disassemble the entire strut and all then cut, a lot of people are lazy and would rather use a torch because you don't have to necessarily remove the spring and whatnot but again thats just laziness.

That would be heating springs in most cases. A cut off wheel is what i was talking about, i would never consider heating any type of spring oem or aftermarket.

[deevergote]

You have to know you're shit.

Sorry, I had to laugh.

[Domesticated]

As I scrolled down I saw quote: domesticated and deev and