cutting stock springs? cut coils from top or bottom?

98blackstallion · Nov 24, 2005

hey guys this is just temporary but which side to you cut ONE coil from? Is it the top or the bottom of the springs?

Venom_Nitrous · Nov 24, 2005

Assuming you are going to make this TEMPORARY!!! You cut the bottom ones.

todd4566 · Nov 24, 2005

Eh? If your cutting the front springs, cut from the bottom. If your cutting the rears, cut from the top. I know a lot of people here say not to cut springs, but as long as you cut without the use of heat it's not devastating to your ride quality. I cut 1 1/4 coils off of the front stock springs and ran "B" springs in the back (on my GT) - the ride quality was perfect. I could carve turns better, and it still took a bump nice.

billfisher · Nov 24, 2005

dude i have done this a million times.

cut the pigtail end(bottom0
it fits into a slot in the control arm. the top of the spring is flat and it fits into the frame. cutting coils using the uncompressed spring measurement is not correct.

the number of coils cut adds exactly the percent incears to the rate that the length remove has. if you cut (not variable rate part) one ciol from a spring with 6 coils and 300 in/lb the rate incearses exactly the same percentage. this means the spring compresses less. 1" lower profile uncompress will equal about 3/4" or slightly less when installed. 1 1/2 coils will typically get you 1" lower. 2 1/2 begins to be equal amount, as the spring rate inceases to say

300in/lb with 6 coils = 300/6 = 50 in/lb per coil
__________________
remove 2 coils and you have 400 in/lb spring. try to compress that.
on my first stang i had 2 1/2 removed front and back.

tires sat just at fender level. i could jump up and down on the bumper and it would move 1 mm.

billfisher · Nov 24, 2005

by the way... i will never go that far again. i drove it up onto a curb to help someone without my seatbelt off and i crushed my head against the roof of the car. too far. even sticks in the road caused pain.

98blackstallion · Nov 24, 2005

well i cut off 1 full coil and it came ou perfect it dropped it alittle over an inch. it looks pretty badass but im gonna get some intrax springs soon.

billfisher · Nov 24, 2005

doh. sorry about the 1" thing. i forget your coils are different than the ones i had on my stang. it depends on spacing.

poorcollegekid · Nov 25, 2005

i would say this had better be temporary...id sit on it until you can afford springs...it might be a ****ty ride and you could never take it back to stock if you hated the ride. just my .02

Blue70 · Nov 25, 2005

poorcollegekid said:
i would say this had better be temporary...id sit on it until you can afford springs...it might be a ****ty ride and you could never take it back to stock if you hated the ride. just my .02

:Zip2:

There is nothing wrong with cutting a spring as long as you do not generate too much heat while doing it..

The first coil in a spring is usually a "dead coil" so there will be little difference at all in the quality of the ride...

I bet you this temporary fix says after he feels the car after he does it..

Blue70 · Nov 25, 2005

billfisher said:
dude i have done this a million times.

cut the pigtail end(bottom0
it fits into a slot in the control arm. the top of the spring is flat and it fits into the frame. cutting coils using the uncompressed spring measurement is not correct.

the number of coils cut adds exactly the percent incears to the rate that the length remove has. if you cut (not variable rate part) one ciol from a spring with 6 coils and 300 in/lb the rate incearses exactly the same percentage. this means the spring compresses less. 1" lower profile uncompress will equal about 3/4" or slightly less when installed. 1 1/2 coils will typically get you 1" lower. 2 1/2 begins to be equal amount, as the spring rate inceases to say

300in/lb with 6 coils = 300/6 = 50 in/lb per coil
__________________
remove 2 coils and you have 400 in/lb spring. try to compress that.
on my first stang i had 2 1/2 removed front and back.

tires sat just at fender level. i could jump up and down on the bumper and it would move 1 mm.

I'm not sure about your 1-1/2 coils will get you 1" lower

On most springs I've cut 1 coil is almost 2"

I have had fox body springs with a measured rate of around 425lb, cut 1 coil out of it and that rate goes up to near 500lb. The coil height for that spring was reduced by 1 3/4" and installed in the car it was close to 1 5/8" less of ride height. Installing this stiffer rate spring also increased the cars understeer (push).

I have cut a pair of front coils on the new generation Mustangs by 1 1/4 coils (2 1/16" of vertical height) lowering the car 1 7/8"

Blue70 · Nov 25, 2005

98blackstallion said:
well i cut off 1 full coil and it came ou perfect it dropped it alittle over an inch. it looks pretty badass but im gonna get some intrax springs soon.

How does it feel?

A lot of times worn out shocks don't have enough compression and rebound rates in the shocks to compensate for the increase in spring rate, but if your shocks were in good shape than it should feel pretty good

todd4566 · Nov 25, 2005

Blue70 said:
I'm not sure about your 1-1/2 coils will get you 1" lower On most springs I've cut 1 coil is almost 2"

I cut 1 1/4" off the stockers and dropped just over an inch.

Blue70 · Nov 25, 2005

todd4566 said:
I cut 1 1/4" off the stockers and dropped just over an inch.

Damn....Did a little search and it looks like you are right..
http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=501451
Good to know.. I have not done a 99-04 myself, I just went with Steeda Sports, but I will keep this in mind for the future

Thanks

Ryan's 02 GT said his dropped 1-1.25 with one coil cut, so yours still sounds a bit high for the cut to me, but that's why you don't jump into a huge cut, it's better to have to cut twice than to cut too much once

CobraM23 · Nov 25, 2005

todd4566 said:
Eh? If your cutting the front springs, cut from the bottom. If your cutting the rears, cut from the top. I know a lot of people here say not to cut springs, but as long as you cut without the use of heat it's not devastating to your ride quality.

I cut 1/2 coil off my 4 cyl foxbody front springs and it has a nice rake to it. Ride quality isnt that bad either.

hotmustang331 · Nov 25, 2005

How much for the rears? We are going to cut my rears after my stinking drag shocks come in. (we killed the drivers side stock one while trying to install the coilover kit ) It looks like 1 spring will drop 2 inches in the back .

98blackstallion · Nov 25, 2005

yeah i need to get my back ones cut because the front tires like like a half inch away from the fender lip so i have a pretty big rake look going on with the car. So now i need to determine the about ot cut the back springs so i can closely match front and back. Fronts are done with a full coil gone. Backs prolly need one and a half coils wouldnt you think?

hotmustang331 · Nov 25, 2005

^ I was looking at the back, and im going to go a half coil at a time. The space between coils in the rear seems greater than the front, so im thinking it will drop more for a full coil. Try that first....I think one full will be too much. BTW others have said that a half coil is fine to cut...I talked to one guy on here who did it a half coil at a time, just wanted to make sure since the disscussion was open.

Blue70 · Nov 26, 2005

The backs are very easy to remove, so you are better off sneaking up on it by cuttintg 1/2 coil at a time. You can always cut more, but you can't weld it back on

CobraM23 · Nov 26, 2005

Blue70 said:
The backs are very easy to remove, so you are better off sneaking up on it by cuttintg 1/2 coil at a time. You can always cut more, but you can't weld it back on

Like he said, start by taking 1/2 coil off until you get close to where you want the ride height to be. Then go by 1/4 coils after that. Just make sure to drive it around and make sure the springs settle before you decide to cut more. I cut my 4 cyl fox body springs a 1/2 coil, put them in, and they sat within 1/8" of where my sportlines were at. I drove it home and the next morning the car had dropped almost another 1/2-3/4". You dont wanna cut too much off and then have it settle and it be too low.

DMont · Apr 15, 2020

New to the forum and recently cut my front springs on my 89 convertible GT using suggestions amongst this thread as well others which was very useful. I also added new poly isolators during the reinstall as well front and rear Koni orange struts/shocks (and rear upper/lower control arms).
I cut half a coil off of the front (original) springs which equated to a .825” (13/16”) of a drop. The springs were about ~15.2” to start and ended up at 14.4” with half a coil cut off. Oddly enough the distance from the centre of the front hub to the bottom outer lip of the fender is 14.4” as well. Took the car for a drive and the ride is great, but I’d like to cut the springs a bit more to make the measurement between hub centre and fender lip 14”.
To achieve the desired ~1” drop from factory I am going to cut the front springs to a free height (with isolators removes for measurement) of 14”, which should be pretty spot on. All I’ve got for now and hope this helps others.

cutting stock springs? cut coils from top or bottom?

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