.... previoulsy asked about cutting down a spring but had a locost idea.
what about taking an angle grinder and running it over the outside of the spring to slightly reduce its cross section thus making it a bit softer?
I can;t see thit it matters that the spring is not longer circular in cross section????
Lowering a car by softening the springs so it sags more would have a radical effect on the handling, probably defeating the object in lowering it in
the first place! Plus you would need a way of measuring the spring rates to get them balanced. Shortening the springs by cutting them will also raise
the rate sharply.
If you speak to a local spring manufacturer you might find they will make what you want at a surprisingly reasonable rate.
Phil
There's a fairly high risk of creating a weak spot (e.g. a bit thinner than the rest) that would fracture very rapidly as it gets all the stress
concentrated there. Even a bad scratch in the surface would do it.
That's why the spring makers use constant thickness wire...
Another reason why I have inboard suspension.
I have the choice of adjusting the springs to help with roll, but also the opportunity to adjust/replace the pushrod lengths for ride height.
cheap way of lowering en stifning what i have seen is to make a clamp
of sheet U´s end to union 2 windins together..
then you lower the car with the distance between the winding! also the spring is stiffer because it has 1 winding less.
Tks
Whatever you do, DO NOT take an angle grinder to a spring. It is impossible to achieve any kind of satisfactory outcome through this method. As previously stated, go to the professionals, the consequences of a suspension failure at any kind of speed would be horrendous.
Softening the spring is definitely not the answer for the reasons already stated. As tks said, I have heard of adjacent coils of the spring being
clamped together, effectively shortening the spring and lowering ride height.
Still a bit dodgy imo
New springs cost bugger all anyway, just buy some you tight git!
Cheers,
James
Certaily new springs will cost less than the problems you find when they fail and the insewerance won't pay out due to the springs being ground
down.
Don't risk it. Just get springs the size and stiffness you want.
quote:
Originally posted by James
New springs cost bugger all anyway, just buy some you tight git!
Cheers,
James
Are they not a standard size then? You should be able to get some aftermarket springs from someone else that will fit your shocks.
from memoery, they are about 120 mm diameter - dunno if that is a standard size.
they look similiar to hilmman imp fronts to me , maybe imp front springs would fit.
I would just get a pair of AVOs or Protechs and swap them .
Paul
quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
from memoery, they are about 120 mm diameter - dunno if that is a standard size.
quote:
Originally posted by MikeRJ
quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
from memoery, they are about 120 mm diameter - dunno if that is a standard size.
What is the diameter of the damper body? If small enough it's possible you could modify them to take coil-over springs.
damper rate will be miles too high, no good at all.
this thread reminds me of my brother's comments the other night on his ideas for a new lowering kit for ebay to appeal to the Chav market.
"super new high tech lowering kit, latest technology from Japan secretly imported" would be the title. For the "basic" kit you
get 4 clout nails, for the improved kit 4 galvanised clout nails and for the "super" kit you get 4 galvanised clout nails clouted through 4
squares of ply.
high tech kit but no probs with trading standards, it lowers the car by the amount shown on the tyre size reference chart attached to the parcel!