As the Title states, Chopped Springs. Safe, or not? My mate has chopped his Fiesta's standard springs and has offered to do mine as im trying to save my money for my new XR2i ZVH project.
I always thought springs had flat tops and bottoms to purposely sit in the arms on the dampers, but surely if you chop them yourself, you lose the flat part, so the spring is actually sat un-evenly in the arm? Am i right in thinking this or is there some other logic somewhere along the line?

Ben.

 

Not a wise idea!

I had an Impreza with those crap springs. When I got it the bloke said its got sports suspension! pmsl
Anyhow, when it had its mot and the car was in for some work, they dropped it down off the jack and where the front springs were too short they didn't sit in the cups on the shocks and made it a danger to drive.

So I would highly reccomend DON'T DO IT!

 

Depends on the exact type of spring.

bottom of this = yes



Formed springs = no



Pigtail springs = no

 

I take it you are refering to standard springs with standard shocks? tansard springs and shocks were fitted to your car with the job of soaking up all the nasty imperfections the road throws at you. They are of course built to a budget, which is crap really and if you start messing about with crap, you end up with even crapper.

I bought my focus with supposedly sports suspension only to find it only had lowered springs. All the rest is standard. When I came up to a dropped drain cover(only about 1 1/2 inches), it felt like I had no tire on the rims and sounded like the srut was going to come through the top. When I took it down to my local special/race car builder, he told me it was because the struts could not do their job properly because they ran out of stoke and was hitting the bump stops as the struts effectivly have had about a qtr of the damping taken away. What I am now going to do through their advice(when funds allow)is to get a complete suspension kit that is matched to my car, that wont bottom out because the shocks will be matched to the springs.

I dont know that great deal about car suspension, but only my experience with just lowered srings, which I can live with ATM because I just have to stay away(most of the time)bloody big pot holes and drains that have sunk. I know you want to save money, but I really think you would be taking a big risk if you chopped standard springs and you might find your insurance would be affected. Also Im pretty sure the car would fail its mot. Dont let it end in tears.

 

DO NOT CHOP SPRINGS.

This can cause a spring to basically escape from the cup, usually the bottom one, almost any time. If this should happen, the sharp end will inevitably find it's way to the inner tyre wall, rupturing the tyre ( in a blowout type scenario if you're driving at say 70 mph )
If you crash, and your springs are found to have been butchered, I'd say the first net result is that your insurance company will tell you to do one.
The second is that plod will try to do you with driving an 'unroadworthy' vehicle.

Your choice...

 

Would i be right in saying springs are progressive, so the more the spring compresses, the 'stiffer' it becomes, so chopping bits off it is going to reduce this effect

 

dieseldog, i recon you have problems with your focus cos the lowering springs that have been fitted lower more than 30mm. i have friends with focus who've used 30mm lowering springs (mostely eibach as they make the ford racing springs and so are ford approved) and have no problems at all and love them. with standard shocks i'd recomend the eibach 30mm springs and that should sort your problem out...unless yours has been too low for a while and fucked your shocks!

as far as shopping springs goes......for the love of god dont fucking bother. why spend decent money sorting your motor out to then ruin it by using chopped springs which are gonna be softer thn standard, ruin the handling and if they dont fit properly may dislodge going over a bridge and then cause a crash going round the next corner!!!

 

Right, chopping standard springs = bad news. That's cool, by the sounds of it, will save me money in the long run after i've rolled round the next corner after the springs drop out the cup.

I own a little Mk4 Fiesta, i was told on the Mk4 forum that 60mm were the most common on mk4's, but when i looked at Demon-tweeks/Europerformance all 60mm had a warning about using a different type of Damper.
The next level down is 40mm, would these be okay? I'm not spending money on a coilover kit, as i wont be keeping this car for much more than a year.

 

Any spring that is harder means that the suspension travels less distance for the same load, which means if your damping was correct before then its underdamped now.
If you just want to make it "phat" then lower it away, if you want it to handle better than decent shocks too would be a wise investment.

Best thing you can do on a budget is buy a good make but low end all in one kit like a spax kit or a koni kit, which has springs and dampers designed to work together.

 

It is more of a "looks" thing at the current time, but if its going to be dangerous then maybe unwise?
Surely if lowering springs were dangerous, they wouldn't be sold?

 

there not dangourous as they are made properly, and havn't been chopped lol!!
they just don't handle as well as a kit

 

ive done it loads with no issues

i have seen punto 1's done that spun into a tyre mind, never on my many fiesta 1/2/3/4 or esort 3/4/5/6 tho

propper stuff is obviously better but choped was the stardard the day any of our lot got a new car then propper was fitted if it turned up
legally is shudnt be loose in the cup when jacked up, ive been in an escort cabbie with NO springs in the rear and sat on cut down bumpstops, it wasnt pleasant but damn did it go round corners

 

Its only misusing them that is dangerous (such as not using them with proper shocks), not the springs themselves.