panelbeaterpeter

Hey all, sorry for even suggesting such a thing, but I'm needing to lower my mk3 escort and can't afford proper springs, would I be able to cut the springs to aquire a lower ride height? I know this is usually a very bad idea, it would just be until I can afford springs.

how much would I need to cut to get about a 50mm drop?

cheers guys, Pete

haz87

Dont do it! Its not worth the dangers tbh

Anonymous

As above

Barry R

iTrader: (3)

as above highly dodgy

neil andeRSon

iTrader: (3)

best saving up m8.. they aint that much really to worth risking it..

panelbeaterpeter

haha fair enough! what exactly makes it dodgy? the spring could fall out at full lift?

neil andeRSon

iTrader: (3)

yup. it happened to a m8's nova.. was'nt pleasent.

haz87

Pretty much and they wont sit properly in the cup which again distubs the stability

tabetha

For 50mm drop there wil be very little needing to be cut off, especially on the rear by the time you add in lever ratio, not really worth the hassle but have done it before, it is safe but vested interested people will always so NO as they want to sell you some, but IF you do not get the end right they can crack.
tabetha

panelbeaterpeter

hmm okay I think I'll be giving it a miss. Anyone got cheap S1 lowering bits?

neil andeRSon

iTrader: (3)

take your pick m8..

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/sear...wering+springs

panelbeaterpeter

woohoo! I had looked but not seen half of those for some reason. There's a set in Somerset too
cheers sir!

dox

i know over here in NZ you wont get a WOF or in your case a MOT.
dont be a stooge an get ya self some lowerd springs.

zippyobrien

iTrader: (2)

remember going to lok at a series 2 which was decked, after driving it onto bricks so i could jack it up to have a look for rust both rear springs fired out of the car

bloke who was selling it looked mortified after driving it round with his baby girl in the back for 2 months

SafeChav

A standard height car will handle far better than a car with cut springs ever will............

Lux_Interior

Lol, I love it when the cutting-springs boogie man comes out
Its perfectly safe to cut springs, nothing wrong with it at all!
If you buy some 60mm lowering springs, the springs will still be shorter than standard, just like a pair of springs that have been cut down are.... in other words, theres no more risk of the spring jumping with a cut spring than with a lowering kit spring. All you have to do is not go mad and cut too much off, just start with one coil and see how it sits

A cut spring WILL seat properly- If we're talking Escorts, the rear spring isn't a 'flat-top' design, so all you have to do is cut a coil off and your laughing. Cost- zero.

Get out there with an angle grinder and cut a coil off each corner

SafeChav

Sorry but.........you clearly know nothing.

Its dangerous, and there is more than one reason why. End of story.

Lux_Interior

Why do you think its dangerous????

SafeChav

i don't THINK its dangerous mate i KNOW its dangerous.

WHY do you THINK its safe......

Barry R

iTrader: (3)

coz it will not ride, sit or handle proper & THEY DO FALL OUT END OF

Lux_Interior

Its just as safe as any spring thats shorter than standard. Cutting a coil off wont see any issues other than the car bieng closer to the ground. Simple as that. The spring will not fall out of the cups, you will not pirouette off the road in a fireball because you've cut your springs down. It is perfectly safe
I'm talking from exprerience here BTW, i've driven a car with cut spring 20 miles just this morning, just as i've been doing every day for a year.

I'm not trying to cause argument here or anything, its an interesting discussion that i've seen on many forums and it always produces some conflict, but I reckon thats because a lot of people say CUT SPRINGS = BAD without knowing much about the subject.

RS 5tu

iTrader: (2)

Its not just a case of lowewring springs being lower thay are HARDER to
it will be like lowering a jelly it may look good but it will still wobble..
i advise you DO NOT DO IT.....

Lux_Interior

If you cut standard springs down they will become stiffer. If you've ever cut down springs you will know this, its a fact. Springs have a certain number of whats called 'dead coils', the ones that are close together at the top. Cut one or two of these off, you have a lower, stiffer spring.

Tabetha come on mate help me out, you've cut springs before, shatter this myth that cut springs kills children and funds terrorism etc

dazoriginal

why cut simply save up like the rest of us don't encourage cutting
be a man and save your pennies that way you will appreciate it more
rather than cutting and worrying if anything is going to happen when driving probably the best info

RS 5tu

iTrader: (2)

lowering spring are stiffer that std spring they will obviousley feel stiffer because there under more compression.
40mm drop springs make by say Spax will be better
than some one with a grinder cutting 40mm off.

Lux_Interior

I agree it will be better buying springs from a company like Spax or Eibach etc, and if you can stretch to affording some then deffo go for it, but if you've got to save up for the springs i'd definately encourage getting the grinder out on your current ones til you can afford the uprated ones.
The only times I cut springs is when I am lowering a car you cant get springs for. But its definately not unsafe, i'll put money on that.

RS 5tu

iTrader: (2)

Just get u self on ebay if u carnt affor new ones you will get som for abt Ł40 how much cheaper do u want..
also would cut springs pass M.O.T ?

Lux_Interior

Yep no problem. It will only fail if your springs fall out of the cups when its jacked up, but if that happens you've cut way too much off!
But even if you need your springs so short that they will be in danger of coming out of the cups when jacked up there are ways around it. Anything that prevents the lower arm coming all the way down will make it safe in that scenario.

SafeChav

You may talk from experience, but its very poor experience at that.

The problems caused by cutting a standard spring are:

A) you are making the spring shorter and therefore reducing the factory amount of pre-load, which yes ultimately lowers the car, BUT the springs are the same rate as before, so the minute you hit a bump, it bottoms out, and over very bumpy ground and/or with a full car, this makes for some VERY damgerous handling, in just the same way buying excessively low aftermarket springs will

and B) the springs no longer retains its proper shape so they mount very crudely.

Shopped springs falling out mainly depends on how daring you are, but ive seen proper after market springs that are loose with the car jacked up, but a cut spring is more likely to fall out because it doesnt retain its proper shape.

And that is FACT, not what i think......

JesseT

I don't really agree with A nor B, but I don't want to encourage people to cutting springs just because the people that are most prone to doing it are the ones that most likely make it wrong. Cutting 10& away rom a linear spring will increase it's spring rate by 11%. Also, can't see the shape being changed as standard springs are just cut too, not flattened. Trimming spring length by cutting is best kept to non porgressive springs in any case or then you need to know quite well how much to trim from which end.

dox

haha lmao

SafeChav

JesseT, the ends of the springs are usually coiled tigheter for one, some springs have smaller final coils and so forth aswell.

DROPTOP

its a bit fucking blue peter .

i cant believe a garden shed set of shortened springs can ever handle as safe/well as standard or proper short springs. maybe safe for normal driving though

JesseT

True, but usually that's not the case with the srings of old Fords.

I can't say that trimming springs is THE way to go, don't get me wrong on that. I'm marely saying it can be done well and safely. However, I'm yet to find a set of lowering springs for RST that would be good really good to drive. If someone knows of good uprated spring that don't drop the car like hell, tell me.

SafeChav

Even so though especially on the rear, you cut them and they don't seat very well.

I actually know a bloke, who many years back had a MINT mk3 cabby, he decided he wanted to lower it the cheap way and cut a good few coils off the springs.

And in his own words "i got on the motorway to drive down here, first bump i hit and the springs fell out"

fast_ford_uk

i have to agree with jesse and the others, ive cut the springs on most of my cars and have never had a problem, as long as youve got some common sense and dont cut loads of theres nothing to go wrong.

And as to them not sitting correctly again common sense mark the spring and cut in the place that allows the spring to sit nicely into the cup, its not rocket science

eliters1

IT ALSO KILLS YOUR SHOCKS V QUICKLY I DID IT ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO ON MY 80 XR3,STUCK WELL BUT KILLED SHOCKS ON REAR IN A MONTH AND THEN USED TO SKATE ROUND CORNERS LIKE A RWD ON BOOST MY ADVISE (THROUGH OWNING AND MODDING RS' FOR 10 YEARS IS GET EVEN A SECONDHAND SET AND FIT EM LIKE A MAX OF 35MM ON STANDARD SHOCKS.

dox

i dont know bout in the UK but here if you have cut springs an the cops get
ya, they will order it straight off thr road and slap a defective sticker on
the front widow. an then the car cannot be driven on the road til
its been inspected by vinz, therfore you have to buy new springs anyway plus the cost of getting the defective sticker off the window. so if its illegal
how is it then safe???

JesseT

Around here, in MOT, the spring shouldn't become loose on full droop, which makes sense of course. The amount of droop should be decreased in any case when fitting lowering springs.

DROPTOP

how? the axle/swing arms will still drop the same at full lift. ok theres not as much force pusing things down if the springhs are cut but mot wise that isnt an issue