ReFtheMC

iTrader: (6)

Looks really good man i always wanted 19's but i kinda always wanted 315's in the back too, haha so i could only imagine the price...

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Fair enough... It's just that WAY too often folks don't consider the details. They read some guy on the 'net did this and "it was great" and that becomes fact. We're all good.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

Well, I feel I'm pretty qualified to respond to some of the questions asked as I'm running 19" C6 as well have done lots of bumpstop testing and suspension travel measuring. I have 285/30/19 on the front. My car:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../IMG_2971b.jpg

First off, everyone is hitting their bumpstops on the stock spring, stock shock, stock ride height in normal everyday driving. I'm sure some of you will be surprised by this, but it's true.

By cutting the front springs by 1.5 coil your rate will be right around 360lb per inch.

Now I have my car lowered as well and have right at 2" of compression travel. I'm using 550lb springs and Koni SA shocks. I have the GC coilovers and have tried a few different heights and I can tell you that 2" of travel is just barely enough with these springs. Also keep in mind the stock bumpstops are much stiffer and limit usable suspension travel by about 3/8" at the wheel over other bumpstops. So SUX2BU must be pounding the living **** out of the stock bumpstops.

One possible reason he may not feel it so much is that the tires may be soaking it up somewhat. If the tires are fairly soft they will soak up a lot harshness.

Any car using the stock shocks is going to ride slightly rougher and feel floaty on the freeway compared to some of the better shocks out there like the Koni's.

To anyone who want's to try an unknown suspension combo I would suggest measuring things, calculating travel distances, etc... just so you know what's going on and not guessing about stuff.

Thank you.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

A small height reduction like that should be fine. If you do happen to take them apart, please swap to a better bumpstop. The stocker is way too hard and limits usable wheel travel about 3/8".

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

You can get 345/25/19's for under $400 each. I may go with them later on.

PopaPork

iTrader: (4)

HAHA totally in agreement with you on that part of something becoming fact because someone said it online. You and me have been back n forth about this type of thing before. There are people that will take this post to bank and say cut springs are the best and there is no difference between them and XXXX brand. But you know the same is on the other side. "Buy XXXX, why? Cause the next guy did and told me to"

SUX2BU

iTrader: (14)

Never said i wouldn't ever bottom out.

Yeah i know. I use it more as a refference of how low the actuall car is to the ground.

You're right all cars hit the bump stops but i meant hitting them to where you can tell you bottomed out.
The car is or was a little too low in front. I cut a little too much off the front on the first try and there really is no going back with cutting springs.
I know everyone is going back and forth on this but TO ME stock ride and handling is just fine. I just got out of a 2800 lb daily driven race car with Hal's, skinnies, 28" ET Drags and no friont sway bar. So going to a stock handling and riding car was a huge difference. I'm sure that i could spend lots of coin and have a GREAT autocross handling and awsome riding car but i'm not really into that right now. Plus i just bought a house and started college back in May so i'm not looking to spend any more $$$ on this car than neseccary. I wasn't even going to lower it but after putting the 19's on i just had to do somethinmg about that nasty wheel well gap.
SO..... cut springs worked for me cause i wanted to eliminate the wheel gap and wasn't concerned about bettering the handling. As long as it stayed pretty close to stock. And it did, for me.

reaper95

iTrader: (1)

If you cut lets say one coil all the way around, would you have to mess with the panhard bar? I have 1995 T/A with stock suspension and just want to drop it a little until i can afford a packaged suspension setup. I have 18's all the way around. Thanks for any help. Your car looks great!!

its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

Hey i went out and cut one coil off of the front springs on my car, It noticeably made my car handle better...I have been running no front swaybar for quite some time and had gotten used to it, but now it feels like its got the swaybar back on. I love it and it looks a lot better too.

My results may not be typical but i thought i would share my recent experience with cutting the front springs.

thanks

JD_AMG

If what you said is true about "bottoming your shocks out", then they are blown...
I really am not trying to start an argument, it is just irritating to me to see such a nice car that could be so much better with just a little effort. It just kinda makes me cringe to think about how it rides/handles now, compared to if you had some Konis put on with stock springs.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

I don't have any stock springs around to look at. But let's say they have 10 coils. Cutting one makes the spring 10% stiffer. The setup change rule of thumb is that you make at least a 10% change in rate when tuning because you generally can't tell any difference with less. Fine.

While the increased spring rate has helped the car feel better because you have no swaybar, it in no way can feel like it did with a bar on it before. It just seems that way since the car has so much roll that upping the springs 10% makes a huge difference overall.

reaper95

iTrader: (1)

Appreciate the input I will take that into consideration. Nice car too!!!

its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

I plan on putting the sway bar back on shortly, i broke the tie rod ends(i think thats what they are called) when i took it off, so its been collecting dust in my garage here lately.

its turbo time

iTrader: (3)

Thanks! When the weather breaks around here i'll snap some after pics

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

If we're talking about the stock front springs with a 310lb/in rate, there are 8 active coils. Therefore each coil is worth roughly 35lb. Cutting off one coil would increase the rate to 345lb/in. These are all rough numbers because the stock springs are not exactly 310 but vary just a little from spring to spring.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

That's not really true. You can add a spring spacer either under the bottom of the spring or in the spring. Something like this:


I do this all the time on the rear springs to increase the rate, but without making it sit too low. It's just a matter of getting the right combination of cutting and spacing. The only thing or limit your going to have to watch for is coil bind.

Keep in mind that spacing the spring form the bottom or the top will not increase the rate because you still have the same number of active coils. Adding a spacer in the middle of a spring effectively reducing a whole coil, will increase the rate by a whole coils worth. In this case, 35lb/in.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

I'll explain how to calculate the new rates if anyone wants to know.

SUX2BU

iTrader: (14)

I always thought "blown shocks" were when theye were all old and bouncy. Mine still ride good.

SUX2BU

iTrader: (14)

Yeah i knew there was spring spacers but i meant no going back without spending any $$$ on more parts. If anything i'll just get another set of stockers and cut them one coil instead of 1.5.

JasonWW

iTrader: (2)

That's going to reduce the spring rate. To replace the springs means at least $30 or so for junkyard springs plus all the down time and work to swap them. Screw that. Get some spring spacers for 20 bucks and install them with the springs still on the car.

You might need to trim another half a coil with some thick spacers. This would be good as it increases the rate more.

The aluminum twist in spacers work well. I would consider spacing them fairly close though to avoid fatiging the spring. On the rear it's no big deal as the rates are much lower, but the front springs are another story. You could deaden one whole coil by adding the 4 aluminum blocks all right next to one another every .25 turn. If this makes the car too high, you can try 4 of the rubber push-in spacers. These only have about half the rate increase of the solid ones as well as half the height increase.

If the ride gets too stiff, move the spacers to the very bottom spring where they won't increase the spring rate.