Cut Springs VS Ebay Coilovers

[Simon Tibbett]

Ok, I am not cutting my springs, but I was thinking about this. Ebay coilovers are pretty rough. I have used them, my friend has, etc. They provide a very bumpy ride, but lower the car. Now, cut springs, I hear they provide a very bumpy ride, but also can be dangerous because of bottoming out, etc. I thought about cutting them as I save up for some Tein coilovers as I am on a budget. Any input on how different Ebay coilovers and cut springs are?

[tonynalli]

well when you can buy a coilover sleves like you find on ebay for 50 bucks...you get what you pay for.personally the tein springs dont do it for me..they are way to soft.the ride i nice but...cornering is just like stock but a little better..i would say save up for some eibach pro streets and put them on your struts...you can get a good set for about 200 and more then likely find them on ebay also.. ive cut the springs on one of my old cars and i made absolute sure to cut exactly the same off and i never had any problems except for a bumpy ride...but youll get that with any kind of suspension mods

[Axel Grungy]

dont be ghetto. do it right, do it once.

[HashiriyaS14]

dont be ghetto. do it right, do it once.

I completely agree.

Don't cut springs OR buy ebay sleeved coilovers.

Go try and find someone lightly-used spring/shock combo, like some AGX's and some Prokits or something. I bet if you look hard enough you could find someone willing to sell something like that for like $200, maybe $300.

Or just get new stuff, GR-2's and some S-techs or something. I'm not the person to be making spring/shock recommendations though.

[jayka]

yeah just wait, dont even try to cut them in the end you wont be satisfied anways.

[DRFT24O]

I cut mine til i get the real deal. Im perfectly happy with the results

[tonynalli]

ditto..i did mine and had absolutly no complaints..well i could dump on my old sohc in 3rd gear in the dry and break my tires free but...thats not really anything special...but i made sure that i cut exactly the same off of one at i did the other...and the ride height was perfect..2 coils in the back and i thin 1.5 in the front.i forgot it was a while ago..but..with my new car i wounldt do it i dont think..

[Simon Tibbett]

Any pics of cars with cut springs? I would be scared I would cut a little too much or less and make it sit wierd. If I were to cut it I would def. take my time.

[daconkiftador]

If he's wanting his car to actually be noticably lower, neither the prokit or s-techs really do it. Ive got Prokits on my s13, and I ended up cutting the dead coil off the front springs to lower it a lil more in the front.. have had no problems in result of that what so ever. I will say Prokits do handle well, and offer a better "look" than the s-techs.

If its a toss up between Cut Springs and eBay Coilovers, Id honestly say neither, just get a set of those Ksport Springs or Megan Racing off eBay, gets you about 1.8" drop for $100. Ive installed a set of those eBay coilovers on my buddies 240sx, and let me tell you.. THOSE WERE GHETTO, TALK ABOUT ****TY UNIVERSAL FITMENT =/

[Red coupe]

Don't cut springs OR buy ebay sleeved coilovers.

I wouldnt feel bad about picking up like ground controll sleeves from ebay and using a quality strut and spring with it...pretty much the same as coilover - the camber plates wich you could add too.

[TegConvert]

I thought 240 drivers where a more savy group of drivers?Ok heres the skinny, dont cut your springs unless you like having your life in jeapordy.

For any of you guys that have cut springs, can you tell me what your springrate is now front and rear?I bet you dont know but I bet your stock shocks know.Without getting all technical in my first post, i'll make a long story short.... cutting springs is dangerous.

ebay coilo sleeves arent as bad as you think but they dont ever give you all what you need to make is good and safe.

( man I can just feel the technobable bout to pop)

The propblem with tmost of those cheap coil springs is that they have stupidly high springrates wich is not bad in itself but combine that with your stock shock and you are asking for trouble, I will leave it at that, cutting your stock spring = not a good idea

Hope I saved a life

[Simon Tibbett]

well, so are Ebay coilovers all the same? I have some for a Honda would they go on a 240? lol. I put some for a Chevy Cavalier once on a Honda had to do some ghetto fab but it worked, and actually handled good. It was only used on autocross tracks though.

[Simon Tibbett]

Anyone know how many coils to cut? I have a spare set of springs and might experiment

[ddgsxr504]

Dude is your car an S13 or S14. If it's an S14 I'll sell you my Sprint Springs for $50 and you pay shipping. 1.8" drop all the way around! I just recently installed Ksport Coilovers on my car so these suckers are just laying around waiting to get sold to a happy home.

[InsanityInc]

Man, you people really need to stop trying to lower your cars so much. Anything over about an inch is going to start to drop your roll center WAAAAY faster than your center of gravity and actually increase body roll, which since your car is lower will make the car very likely to contact the bump stops, which will make one end of your car suddenly have an infinite spring rate. HELLO snap oversteer (or understeer, depending on which side hits the bump stop first).

But of course people will continue to ignore physics and lower their cars to the ground thinking it's a good thing anyway.

Le sigh.

[Edub1]

What kind of driving will you be doing? What are the roads like where you live?

If the car is a daily driver, many performance springs or coilovers set firm will be too firm for most road surfaces. If your springs are too firm, your tires will not stay in contact with the road when you hit bumps and handling will suffer. Nor will your butt keep in contact with the seat and it will suffer.

I have the Eibach pro kit ($200 ebay) which only lowers about an inch but provides excellent handling for the horrible Detroit roads. Sure I would like to have my car a little lower and with race car firmness but what might work on the track doesn't work for potholes.

I find the Eibachs are more or less perfect if you live where the roads are bad. If you want coilovers, Megan Racing are the same as the Apex1 and cheaper. I think they are a bit excessive for a daily driver but do as you wish. Just don't cut the springs - it's not safe.

[Simon Tibbett]

I live in GA around here roads are smooth. I will be doing drifting though when it starts. I am poor right now, I have an S13 no S14 . I had a CRX riding on the bumpstops on the rear, it actually felt good but that was a very light rear end. being bumpy does not bother me as long as the wheels are not off the ground. Has anyone used ebay coilovers? they are pretty rough..

[Edub1]

Simon, it's a bad idea to buy any no name stuff from Ebay. You'll be money ahead if you just pick out a good spring & shock combo. I bought Eibach pro kit & KYB GR2 shocks for about $400 from Krumamotor on Ebay. Decent coil overs will cost about $1000.

Believe it or not, there is a good amount of engineering that goes into a spring. It has to have a proper spring rate for the weight of the vehicle and the dampering of the strut. Honestly, if you don't have $400 for a reasonable package you should probably stick to replacing only what needs to be replaced.

If you do get springs, be carefull of the Prokit as it will only lower by about an inch. I'd do the Sportlines or perhaps the HKS springs. You cant go wrong with the KYBs

[InsanityInc]

I'd like to make a correction to this:

Quote »Believe it or not, there is a good amount of engineering that goes into a spring. [/quote]Not exactly. A good amount of engineering SHOULD go into a spring, but rarely does. This is largely because of the consumer, however. See, a drop should be engineered with the suspension geometry of the car in mind, and the spring rate also needs to be relative to this drop and the damping of the shocks.

However, if you think you're going to magically get all that by buying a set of 100 dollar tien springs, you're dead wrong. 99.9% of aftermarket springs lower more than an ideal amount and also have a much lower spring rate than is ideal for that drop, which will make the car handle like crap.

But of course since people who slam their cars for looks are posers who will never see a track in their life, they get the false impression that their car handles better by driving around town at 4/10ths.

Man, I hate people.

[Simon Tibbett]

Ok thanks, I will look into some other things. My cars will see track so they have to handle well. Thanks

[InsanityInc]

If your car is a dedicated track car, I recommend going for a coilover that you can order custom springs for. It's the only way to make sure that you get what you actually want, in terms of stiffness and ride height.

[ArcherV20]

dont be ghetto. do it right, do it once.

I'll second that as well. Not only is it pretty ricey especially the way you're going about it:

"So...how many coils should I cut?"

"Can I put Honda springs on a Nissan?"

-- You need to slow down and just save up your cash and listen to these guys, if you want to be a dedicated track car, you're going to need a lot more money in your suspension then what you've got planned.