Originally Posted by snowman95
Thanks to snowman from Team-Integra
Let's look as several of the more popular folk tales about springs:
Myth #1) "If you cut your springs, you will die a horrible and disfiguring death."
There are so many choices for aftermarket springs nowdays, that it just makes better sense to replace your springs rather than to cut your OE ones. But cutting springs does work. If it's done correctly, it lowers the car, stiffens the springs, and doesn't cost you much. Back in the late '70's/early '80's ( the dark ages of auto enthusiasm ), high performance parts for many cars didn't exist. Many Solo II Prepared and Street Prepared cars ran on cut springs. I won the 1984 Pro Solo series in a Ford Fiesta with cut springs.
The down side of cut springs is that you are gambling on your results. Even done correctly, you get inconsistent ride heights and unknown spring rates. Unequal spring rates give unpredictable handling. Cut springs have been known to break, usually at a critical time. See myth #2 below for further problems with cutting springs.
As I said earlier, quality aftermarket springs are a better choice. You get a known vehicle drop for all four corners, you get consistent spring rates. If you are unsure of the spring rates you want, there are numerous packages that offer safe, predictable improvements in handling at a reasonable price.
Myth #2) "Cutting a spring makes the spring softer."
I hear this one a lot. Actually, the opposite is true. Three things determine a spring's rate: wire diameter ( to the 4th power, the biggest factor), coil diameter (to the 3rd power), and number of coils (to the first power). As wire diameter increases, spring rates go up. As coil diameter and number of coils increase, spring rates go down. Cutting a spring does not change the wire diameter or the coil diameter. It does, however, reduce the number of coils, which slightly increases the spring rate.
The problem lies in the fact that the spring looses height at a faster rate than it gains rate. This means that you dropped the car farther than the spring has ability to control. A lower spring needs to be stiffer to keep the suspension from bottoming out. If the suspension bottoms out in a turn, the spring rate in that corner jumps to infinity, and that corner looses traction - suddenly. If it bottoms out in a bump, things usually start to break.
A spring that was cut too low can also bottom out on itself, where the coils actually end up hitting each other. This usually causes the spring to break, also resulting in unpleasant consequences.