Myth: Cutting your springs is the easiest way to lower your vehicle
What it is- Besides installing a fart cannon or "hawlar", lowering the vehicle seems to be one of the cool things in the modification checklist of the average Johir, Jahangir and Fokir. Cutting the coil springs of your Premallion with a hacksaw will certainly lower your car. But would we recommend that from The Daily Star's SHIFT desk?
What you think it does- It makes the car look awesome. It is true. The whole world approves. With a decent fender – tire gap, even an econobox like Probox can look good. Sourcing sports coil springs that allow your car to sit low and stiffen the ride might be challenging in Bangladesh, due to which many resort to the cheaper alternative- hack the springs. But by hacking the springs, you are really ridding the springs off its flexing ability. Some even go to an ignorant extent of cutting AND heating the coil springs. Never heat the coil springs- heat is its worst enemy imaginable. We really don't encourage cutting springs either, but sourcing used/ new springs from the extreme worlds of Dholaikhal and individual private parts importers can be challenging. Also, we reckon everyone has the right to be cool and enjoy a decent ride height at the expense of comfort (!). Oh yes, lowering the ride will undoubtedly take away chunks of coziness off your ride quality. So here's a pointer at doing it right.
Basics- There are three types of coil springs. Tangential- This type of springs have ends which continue to twist off into space. A spring with a tangential end would fall over if you tried to stand it on its end. Square - The last coil bends back down to touch the coil below it. This style end allows the spring to stand up when placed on this end. Pigtail - The last coil of the spring is the square type but has a much smaller diameter than the coils in the body of the spring.
Square ends and Pigtail ends are designed to make full contact with their mounting points. If they were cut, they would need to be re-shaped, which is only possible with heat. But heating the coil is a flat NO as it will only make the steel softer. A soft (heated) spring is therefore a ruined spring. So, the only coil spring ends that can be safely cut are Tangential ends.
Win or fail? Certainly cutting the springs is the easiest way of lowering your ride's height. But it might not necessarily be the cheapest. If not done with caution, you run the risk of ruining your suspension setup and replacing suspension parts like arms, knuckles, joints and shocks is definitely pricier than going for the safer bet- a genuine sports lowered spring. OR, go over the coils with coilovers. Pricey, but straight win.