So I cut my stock front springs last weekend and I couldn't be happier! I had read about it for a while and had heard mixed opinions, but most of the people who had posted hadn’t actually done it so I figured I would give it a try. It was really easy to do and turned out GREAT! If anyone is contemplating doing this or getting lowering springs, give this a try first! It was really easy to do. I cut off exactly one coil from the bottom of the front springs and then reassembled the shocks. It lowered the car just over an inch, maybe 1 1/8” to 1.25" max. Keep in mind that I just lowered the front so far, not the back, so the front would probably rise slightly to 1 inch if I lowered the back too. I kind of like the stance of the slightly lower front so I might not do the back. If you are going to do the back I have read that you just need to remove the rubber isolators on the rear spring and put a ½” rubber hose of the top coil and that drops it about an inch in the rear.

As far as ride quality, it was not negatively affected at all. It still takes road bumps just as well and it corners better due to a slightly firmer spring and lower C.G. Also for those of you with long tube headers (like me), I have not noticed any issues with the ground clearance and I have driven everywhere that I normally do. Anyway, as I said, I couldn’t be happier with the results! If anyone has any question, just ask! I will post some pics onto my cardomain site this week and I'll post to let you guys know when I do.

 

I did the same to mine. Cut one full coil off the front and removed the spacer above the rear spring. Lowered the front 1 inch and the rear now sits level with no rake.

I love it and would do it agian.

 

How much do you have to cut to lower 1-1.5 inch?

 

It is hard to say exactly. Like I said, I cut exactly one coil off and it lowered the front a little over an inch, almost 1.25" with the back at stock height still. With headers, I would not want to lower it more than this. However, if you want to lower it 1.5", I would guess that 1 and a quarter coils may get you there., maybe even less than 1 and quarter. This is an estimate and I may be wrong so try it at your own caution. Check out my pics when I post them later this week to see how you like my drop - it looks better than you would think a 1.25" drop would (at lest I think so )

 

You have to be careful not to cut too much off. The spring rate will not be stiff enough to compensate and you can start bottoming out. If you want to go lower than -1 coil get some aftermarket springs with a higher rate.

Cutting off coils does not make a spring stiffer. Shorter aftermarket springs are stiffer because they put more coils in a shorter length, among other reasons.

 

I have to disagree; if you look at the calulations behind determining spring rate, you will see that the fewer the coils, the stiffer the rate. What you said earlier was true, though. While a cut spring has more stiffness, it has less usable travel, and at a certain point, the additional stiffness isnt enough to compensate and it will bottom out.

 

There is a spacer that can be taken out to lower the back without cutting the spring? Is there any negative effects of taking it out? Also on a Mustang I had years ago, I cut the stock springs and it rode good for about 6 months, then it started bottoming out all the time and it would bounce all the time and I would actually feel like I was getting sea sick on long trips. I know this is a all together different car, but did anyone run cut springs for a long period of time with no change in ride quality? Thanks.