Well, I tried to go with the Steeda spring kit, but it was noisy, and just too stiff for my 80 mile a day commute.

With the stock springs, the front ride height is OK, but I'd like to level out the rear. Has anyone cut off, say, half a coil to eliminate the rake???

Any opinions are much appreciated.

69boss

 

Cutting the spring will also stiffen the ride. You will be changing the spring rate when you cut it.

 

True, but it will work and has been done before. Funny thta this has come up as I just recently saw an episode on OverHauld where Chip Foose had to cut the springs to lower further then originally design.

 

Have you tried installing a progressive spring, like something from BMR? They say you won't even notice the difference in ride quality, until you really lay into it.

 

I'm going to cut my rear springs to try and level the old girl out a little. I figure it will be a cheap experiment, since you can get a whole set of like new springs off of ebay for 40 bucks if I want to go back.

Does anyone know how much of a coil I need to cut to half an inch of drop? Half a coil, maybe?

 

I ran mine with cut rears for the first few months. No problems, and the increase in stiffness wasn't really noticable.

I cut 3/4 of a coil off and it gave about between 1/2" and 3/4" of drop.

 

I cut off one full coil on my '05 GT coupe rear springs and it lowered the rear by 1". My neighbor liked the look so well we did his GT as well. Easy, mod....do a search, a memeber named Ian was one of the first to do this mod back in early '05 and he has a detailed write up.

I did not notice that the ride was any stiffer nor did I encounter any other problems (excessive bottoming out, etc.). Of course, my GT is my garage baby so I don't often haul heavy loads nor rear seat passengers.

 

Can you? Yes.
Should you? Not really.

And it has nothing to so with spring rates. Look at the picture below. (thanks to TacoBill)



The first coils are flat wound to give the spring a way to evenly distribute the force over the seat. Cut either of those off and the spring becomes an open coil with the force concentrated into a smaller area. Not the best idea. Also notice that the top and bottom coils are smaller to locate the spring in the perch



So can you cut them? Yes
Should you? For many reasons no.

JMHO

As for Foose cutting springs, you'll probably notice they were open coil springs.

 

I agree, not a good idea................

 

Play it safe and purchase the Eibach Sportline kit. If you want to get rid of the rake look, just install the rear springs. They lower the rear by at least 2". I'll be buying this kit cuz even the springs I bought don't lower the car that much. It still needs to be lowered by at least 1/2 - 3/4".

 

If you just want to lower the rear a little many people have used the Roush rear springs. They drop the rear about 3/4" to 1" and are sold separately from the front (some springs only come as set of 4). Here's a link:

http://store.roushperformance.com/detail.aspx?ID=322

I would not recommend cutting the coils on your stock springs when the Roush rear springs do the job and are relatively inexpensive.

 

Many arguments to not cut your rear springs. But I did it two years ago and have no regrets. Rides like stock, no increased noise or harshness
and lowered the rear 3/4 " .. looks like it should have from the factory ..
retains very slight front rake and the gap between the tire and fender is even at all four wheels. I cut one complete coil to lower 3/4". Just do it!

 

I'd have to agree - not the most scientific way to lower the rear - but if you are looking to just lower the rear an inch to level the car it is effective and free. I put 10K miles on mine and never had an issue....look at it this way...if you cut and don't like it - you can pick up an inexpensive set of take offs or you would have to purchase an aftermarket spring set anyway....all you'd be out is the install labor - which is not too bad.

If you are looking for handling, etc - then get a full set of springs.....if I was going this route I wouldn't really think mixing aftermarket rear springs with the stock fronts would work too well as the spring sets are engineered to work together.

 

if its good enough for Foose its good enough for me!!

 

It's funny, all you hear is "Don't cut your springs!" from the people that haven't done it, but from everyone that has done it, I have heard zero complaints or problems.

 

As I said? Can you, Yes. Should you, No.

Depends on how you are about doing things the correct way. It's like using a torque wrench. Some people do, some don't. Your choice.

 

I agree 100%...................

 

I cut one coil out of the rear on my 05 GT and my son now has the car with about 7K miles and no problems. I did put the Roush rears on my 06 GT and it levels it out perfectly. So my experience has been good both ways. FWIW.

 

I cut 1 coil off the rears on my '07 and no regrets!! And FWIW, I have installed the rear springs in a lot of Mustangs at AAI, while building them!! Just cut it off the top, no problems, cut it off the bottom, may have an issue keeping it located on the axle!! Its a cheap mod, (NOT ghetto!!) that you can do yourself with a cut-off wheel or a sawz-all, just keep the heat to a minimum!!! You can use a torch, but you'll have problems in a few years(20 or so). This mod dates back to when hot-rodders got hold of cars with coil spring suspensions!!! It is old skool!!! BTW, if anyone wants, PM me and I'll describe what the spring cup looks like where the sping goes into the car, and whats under the rubber isolator!!

 

Well the coil cut is the poor boy modification, and it won't cause the car to crash (right away). The lower your car the stiffer your springs need to be to compensate because the suspension has less bump travel to absorb the bump. While the coil cut increases the stiffness, its not proportionally enough for the change in ride height acheived. If you drive hard enough or if the road conditions are rough enough, you will experience more rear axle time on the bump stops because you are starting out the 1/2" to 1" closer to them because of the lowering. You are just kidding yourself if you think not.

Well put TacoBill ...