my friend has a 94 M6 Z28 and he wants to lower his Z by heating the coil springs up. any one tried this method? how can the mechanic control the amount of lowering the springs when heating them? and will the car retain the same hight for all the 4 corners after lowering it using this heating method? thanks.

 

Something just doesn't make sense...I've never heard of anyone doing it and I'm not sure how heating the spring will affect its ability to support car and what not.

 

Extremely BAD idea. There is no way to control the amount of drop,and extremely hard to keep it level. Also the spings will collapse into themselves if you heat them. Car will ride like crap,and springs will be compromised.

Tell him to buy springs,they arent that expensive,and he will be happier in the long run.

 

Spending money on some quality springs will always be better than trying to cut or heat the springs.

No the mechanic will not be able to control the amount of lowering and no you probably won't retain the same height all around.

He might want to check the For Sale section if he can't afford a new set.

No reason in cutting corners....especially with something like that. Cutting or heating springs is not only ghetto IMO but it's a big safety concern. When heating the metal you are playing with the strength of that metal and giving it more opportunity to fail when it normally wouldn't.

 

Bad Idea for all of the reasons listed above. If someone wants to lower a vehicle, this is the wrong way to do it.

 

just like you should not use a grinder on a knife, using any heat source on metal will destroy its temper. the springs were made while near liquid hot and cooled to form the spring shape while retaining its flexibility. if you heat the coil, this will harden the metal and all flexibility will be lost. dependint on the specific metal and how it was made, where, when, the metal will snap and severe damage will occur.

ever seena a hardened wrench snap under pressure? it was because of the temper.

 

Stupid idea. I did it once. Wound up pushing gravel and getting beat to death.

 

just get lowering springs...they are pretty cheap to find on the board

 

While I agree it is a BAD BAD BAD idea... I have seen it done before, never seen any springs snap. Then again they weren't sports cars and they never saw any extreme G's they were just cheap ghetto low-riders.

EDIT: have any of you seen the episode of Monster Garage were they did it to one of there project cars?

 

Don't use heat it changes the spring rate and yes they can snap. If you have to, cut it with a saw but I wouldn't do that either. Just buy some springs

 

ONEQUICKTA2, cutting the springs makes more sence than heating them since as you mentioned heating will change spring rate. my friend anyway might go with aftermarket lowring springs.

 

Cutting them changes the spring rate, too. It just does not compromise the metal like heating does. Best to go with a real lowering spring.

 

Buy new springs for the reasons stated above. The suspension is no place to be stupid and take the cheap way out.

 

NEVER EVER TORCH THE SPRINGS

Someone did that to a car I bought, and that is the riciest thing you can do. That makes the car extremely unsafe. What ends up happening, is you have the same number of coils on the spring, but less space between each of them. This can also change the rate BTW. So, with all these coils now very close to each other, you hit a bump and you have about 1" of suspension travel, hit about 100 MPH and with your 1" of suspension travel and then you slam coil against coil and you WILL go sideways.

This is dangerous, and should never be done, big time retardism. Cutting a coil is one thing, torching is completely another.

I hope you can convince him.

 

A guy at a local parts place did it on his Caprice.

He heated the coils and lowered it.

The ride height on the rears is level but he said he noticed the car rides much different.

It was an experiement and he is going to buy real lowering springs.

One spring is softer than the other.