ninjasound

Okay, so today I went to my mechanic and asked him how much It would cost me to get him to put in new lowering springs.... Then he said, hey, if you want to save money just grab an acetaline (sp) welder and heat up the spings and use a jack... He said it was really easy and will save me some money....

...Now, has anyone ever done this before? cause it sounds sketchy. But I dunno it sounds really really intruiging.

Sleeper69

Was he talking about cutting them or heating them up so they would permanently compress to a shorter height? If you just heat them up they will actually lose their rate because you will decarburize them and they will be weaker and since your car will be lower to the ground so you get to roll and scrape.

You can cut them but it will only raise your spring rate slightly. You must also be shore to make a dead coil for the spring to sit in the strut support a little easier.

rodney87

I woudn't do that to my car, my friend did it and his car turned into a rock rolling down the road. Just break down and buy the springs.

gingenhagen

if all you want is for your car to be lowered and could care less about the quality of its handling, go for it. No guarantees that it'll totally destroy your handling, but I'm sure you're tons better off just buying springs. It's been discussed before in some thread. Search around.

ninjasound

Yeah thats what I figured, Cause he said to heat up 3 parts of the springs on the bottom end, then jack up the jack and they'll sit lower. It seems plausable if done right, but I don't know thats some scary **** to have your springs go out on you doing a buck 20.

ninjasound

Oh and I very much care about the handling of my car, i'm a wreckless driver.

DragonRx7

Just pick up a set of Prokits on Ebay or something. If you go with TEIN S-Techs off of Ebay becareful. TEIN has a warning on their main site about FAKE S-techs on Ebay.

fcdrifter13

I have defended this process in the past but no more. On my last FC I decided to put my money where my mouth was. Cut 1 coil on each spring and I was hribly displeased. Car was all over the road, bounced like crazy, and I felt like riding in a chuck wagon. Just buy the springs.

ninjasound

Yeah I guess if I love my rex that much i'll just buy TEIN springs.

Thanks for helping me make a decision homies.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Heating springs is THE MOST hack way of going ab out it. OF course the 'right" way is to install the proper suspension. Heating springs can weaken them and it'd be hard to get them all equal, also a bad thing. IF you hit a bump and one breaks, you're going to go skidding off the side of the road due to your now locked up-in-the-wheelwell wheel.

Back in the day I used to cut coils on some cars, including a couple of FC's. It doesnt hurt the handling or ride very badly IF you do it in moderation. If I recall (its been like 7 years) I cut the dead coil off the top (measure from the top end around 1 full turn) plus another 1/4-1/2 in the front, and the dead coil plus another 1 or 1-1/4 off the rears. This will get you about an inch and won't really hurt the ride quality or handling any at all, IMO. It's a good idea to cut however much you lower the car, off of the bumpstops on the struts, to prevent bouncing and bottoming out early.

Again, this is not the "right" way to do it, and it won't earn you any faster times on the track, but it's not a big deal for a streetcar. The key is to use common sense and do it moderately.

One thing to note, if you do go too far and cut out too much coil, there won't be enough resistance left to hold the coil in place, and the top will just fall off the strut while the car is jacked up (and possibly even when it's let down). So don't go very much further.

Just go around the car with all the tires aired up evenly, on a level surface, take measurements before you start, make the cuts on all 4 corners, push on the bumpers to resettle it and measure again.

DragonRx7

Here, don't forget to check about those fake springs.

http://www.tein.com/counterfeit/warning.html

ninjasound

Hey thanks, but i'll never buy from ebay again, i thought i was paying like 70 bucks for a vented headlight cover, and i ended up paying double, so i'm going to buy them from a store in canada. ^___^ thanks anyway man.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

Yeah, because ebay determines the quality and prices of everything sold on their site, and they also personally oversee each transaction, so if anything goes wrong, it is squarely the fault of ebay corporate.

DragonRx7

If that was directed towards me: Hey, I'm just giving a heads up. It could come from some other store and be fake. I just used Ebay as a common example. :shrug:

reatrdedspleen

Now, see everybody says cut sprngs suck and blah blah blah, and i agree its not the correct way to lower your car...but... I took my 90GXL i have a set of intrax 2'' lowering springs, i put them on, and didnt notice any drop at all. The advantage to them though was they were softer. The disadvantage was i had more body roll. so i took the stock springs that were on it, and pretty much cut them all in half, thinking "aww wtf why not? my friends have had good experience with cut springs, cant hurt much" i put them on the car, car dropped a good 3-4 inches slammed, the back is the exact same hieght to the front, the car is almost PERFECTLY level (and i used one too) once they were on, i was a little afraid of how it was gunna drive or how bouncy it was gunna be...

Now, keep in mind, my struts are blown, and have been since ive had the car. The car rides almost EXACTLY the same as it used to. its a very comfortable ride, i have very little body roll, its removed a lot of understeer i was getting. And they've been cut for about 5 months now, i inspect them often, they seat just fine on the struts, even under full extension of the strut, they are loose, but not to the point where theres any way for it to fall off anything, and something go wrong.

I didnt use a torch, I used a 200psi cutting saw made to cut through thick/heavy metal. quick, cheap, easy, and so far so good.

I get a slight amount of bounce if i go over 2, or 3 bumps in a row. But, not much more than ive gotten in iether my 86gxl all stock, or when my springs wernt cut. Most people who ride in my car, say its very comfortable, and looks good on the car.

I have to go over speed bumps sideways most the time. Before i got used to this, i almost got my car stuck on a speed bump (it was like the 3rd day after i cut them) . But, im not scraping markers off the road or anything like that.

Ju5tFC1t

If your gonna buy TEIN's and worried about fake ones by from a TEIN authorize dealer. They have dealers in Canada for sure.

ninjasound

Your car looks sick, explain your procedures about cutting your springs, i might as well try cutting the springs, and if i screw up, i'll just buy tein springs.... so tell me exactly what you did.

Juan

iTrader: (28)

Cutting your springs in half is one of the scariest things I've heard. If youre going to cut your springs, do it like RotaryResurrection said. Otherwise save your money and buy lowering springs. Ive ridden in cars with cut springs and the ride quality didnt change that much but the springs were cut like RotaryResurrection described and not in half.

reatrdedspleen

Thanx! I like the way it looks lowered much much more...before it was like a monster truck or somethen. lol. Basicly what I did; took off the springs, I have a circular air cutting tool (Very handy for lots of things btw) took off the springs, measured each one, equaly in-half had a buddy hold them down, as well as a pair of vice grips on them to help keeping them from moving/rolling. Took a marker and marked where i was gunna cut, Took the cutter, made a small groove made sure it was straight, and cut away let the tips cool real fast, took about 1 minute till they were same normal temp. Also, after each one was done, set it up to the other one to make sure they were at the level and all.

Put them back on, screwed everything down, all looked good. put everything back on the car, and well, done.



I wasnt aware that RotaryResurrection even has a tech artical on cutting springs (and i just looked to no avail). Do you have a link?

Yes, many people say this, and before i did this i was a little scared of it. but like i said, i had a pair of intrax springs just chillen. so wtf why not? Im well aware of the repercussions of this going wrong, And in the event something happens i will take full responsability. If I was a welthy guy, and didnt have many bills and people I had to take care of. Then Id spend a lot of money on all the things i want. But, like many people poor or rich, A mans gotta have his fun. My rx7 is that. its my toy.

all in all; Im very happy with how everything came out. I have no regrets what-so-ever.

In the future i plan to go full coilover setup. But that prolly wont be for a little while.