[Vwdiesel] [Vwdiesel sub-frame and alignment

[James Hansen]

Well, Tony already said it, cutting a spring increases the rate of the
spring, so it is stiffer, or takes more weight to compress it an equivalent
distance as compared to before cutting.  It's far from ideal, ordering a
known rate spring as recommended by a spring manufacturer will get you
something close to what you need, and changes are easy, because you are
starting from a known rate.   You want to be careful to cut off less and try
it first.  Clamping coils together effects the same change as cutting off a
similar length of coil, as does adding a spring rubber that renders a
portion of a coil ineffective.
I'vve seen a lot of street tuner type car spring packages both home made,
and purchased.  It's tough to improve on the stock ride with more than a
good set of shocks.  Lots of skull sweat goes into the stock spring, but far
from being a purist, best advice I can offer is to err on the side of
conservatism..  You can always cut half as much twice, but going the other
way is tough. And a harsh ride sucks after a while.
-james

> -----Original Message-----
> From: vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com [mailto:vwdiesel-bounces at vwfans.com]
> On Behalf Of LBaird119 at aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 12:44 AM
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] [Vwdiesel sub-frame and alignment
> 
> In a message dated 3/15/2010 8:34:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> rgreeley2 at hotmail.com writes:
> 
> > I will need to cut the springs or use clamps that pull spring coils
> close
> > together
> > either way i would want the springs to be fairly stout or stiff. has
> > anyone swapped in
> > a heavier use spring- cut down to achieve such an effect.
> >
> >
> > I hope this mod does not rankle the purest here.
> 
>   I don't think it's a "purist" attitude that would object.  Lowering
> a car by cutting the springs is about the worst way to do it.  It
> throws the suspension out of designed geometry making for more
> bump steer, more slamming, harsher ride, worse handling and so
> on.  Correct, stiffer, lowering springs would be much better as they'll
> lower it but still leave more, properly sprung travel.
>   I'm sure James will/can pipe in and be much more informative here.
>    Loren
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