Printable View
yeh thats the only upside, i wanna learn and stuff.
DIY is no probs with me, coz i got 2 guys on my street who have a fair knowledge of wat they r doin, so they can gimme a hand.
one of them buys honda's, does em up, and sells em :D
currently a DC2R sittin on his lawn without front bar etc :P
ill probably end up doin it myself tho.
wheel nuts and rubber come with the rims and stuff..usually they put them in and give u a whel aligment free thats what they gonna do to mine
i wanna lower my car after i get some 16" wheels.. would love to do it myself but i have this imagery of the spring poppin out n smashin me in the face n breakin my teeth n stuff.... mmm i think im a bit twisted lol :lol:
haha thats wat im afraid of aswell.Quote:
Originally Posted by luzinit
the spring shootin and doin some serious damage.
after much thinking, im gonna keep my stocky alloys on my car.
wear a full face helmet when u do it lol :lol:
cricket pads, and a cricket box to protect the jewles :lol:
.....yes.....definitely the jewels.....
LOL@"smashin me in the face".....
I've got a set of spring compressors I bought for 40 bucks, they're a good investment. The only problem is that they're hard to fit on Honda springs (well, teg and civic ones) as the coils are so close together and the overall spring is of a pretty small diameter. They do the job well though, I came across no problems when changing my springs out. (other than getting a decent allen key for the top of my shocks). If anyone wants to borrow them, give me a yell.
As an aside, what do you guys think of those coilover sleeves which are now available here for $500 or so? I like the fact that the ride height would be adjustable, and that they're cheap, but they surely wont remain seated when the car is lifted up if adjusted to be low, as they have no "helper" spring that many true coilovers have. All I see is that the upper and lower spring seats are designed to allow the spring to seat itself properly if it is extended fully.
Comments? I'll either get custom springs or these.
If you're thinking about the Ractive ones that VPW sells, they are quite crap. The accord ones didnt even fit my accord properly :)
Skunk2 and Ground Control sleeves are supposed to be quite good but the GC's at least are quite pricey to bring in ($800 roughly). Cant remember if anyone sells Skunk2's in australia anymore, but they used to be reasonably priced.
But yeh, cheaper ones tend to be garbage
i was close to purchasing a set of coilover sleeves for around $400 (thats wholesale) from my mate in melb.
after asking around etc, i was told they r really crap. they handle crap, and totally fubar ur suspension setup over time. the only reason ppl get them is coz they look good...
According to the book 'Chassis Engineering'-By Herb Adams, the formula for spring rate is:
Spring rate= (Gd^4)/(8ND^3)
where:
G= torsional module of steel (or spring material)
d= wire diameter
N= Number of active coils
D= mean coil diameter
8= a constant for all coil springs
So if you look at the equation, you see that the number of coils is in the denomenator. Hence, cutting springs would have the effect of increasing the spring rate. As cutting the springs does not effect the other variables in this equation.
In fact, it works out that a 10% reduction in coils (read: ride height) will amount in a corresponding ~11% increase in spring rate!
So i think this disproves the theory that cutting springs is responsible for a bad ride. If you spent time cutting them evenly then you should have no problems.
I think the misconception, is that most people who cut their springs, also retain their factory dampers (makes sense- if you cant afford to buy springs….). Hence the ride quality is extremely bad.
So besides getting lower springs for free, the other advantage is the knowledge of their lowering capacity. When you buy new springs, they soon compress to their proper ride height. However, despite the manufacturers claims, the springs usually do not settle to the exact specifications. If you cut your own springs, you know how low you are going (if you measure them under compression).
This is a completely unbiased point of view. I have never cut my springs, nor bought replacement lowering springs. I wouldn’t cut my own springs as I don’t have the expertise, time nor confidence in myself to do a good job. But theoretically (based on the above info) I would do it. Previously I was of the belief that cutting springs was as good as sleeping with the devil….but I am of a different opinion now.
You wont get smashed in the face whe npullin out your springs, well you shouldnt anyway.
When you have jacked up your car there should be minimum pressure on your spring.
I did it many times on my old VH commwhore hehehe
VTEC16, valid points. I have read that in the olden days many racers used to cut their springs, and did well with them.
Easy to cut, just use an angle grinder, takes 1 minute if that! (Commodore springs were 'custom', then I bought proper ones)
Only problem is unpredictability of results, and the possible weakening of the spring. Also that they do not remain captive when chopped too much, and its a pain aligning the spring on its holder whenever you want to change a tyre or just lift the car up.
fozee: My teg springs were compressed quite a bit within the shocks, and its easy to get and use spring compressors. Its best to play it safe, and accumulate tools, then you'll be a real man! hehe.