Heating Springs for lowering??

[91CRXsiR]

I met this guy w/ a S13 [ 1990 240SX !! ] anyways... his car was about 1.5" lower than mine.. so i said oh.. what kind of springs do you have?.. he said stock.. i said YOU CUT THEM!!?

he said oh god no!.. i got them heated. at a muffler shop they just kinda go soft and the car lowers and it stays that way.. it rides pretty good but really bouncy but not as bad as cutting them..


anyone ever hear of this?

[misnomer]

Was there a question here to be answered? Yes you can heat up a metal and it will bend, with springs they will lose their "springiness" and harden back at whatever hieght you put them (more or less). The trick is that it doesn't make them much stiffer, and likely with the factory struts (hence the bounciness). It's a way to go if you are mainly lowering the car for looks. You will still get a "save up and do it right' from the rest of us :P

I don't get all this work, a decent aftermarket spring/strut setup won't run much more than $500. . .

[91CRXsiR]

thats what i told that guy..

but he said he only paid $25.00 for it.. and he is planning on getting GC coils w/ KYB shocks. but he is saving for it.. this is just for mean time..

my real question is does this make the spring worst and handle poorly.

[misnomer]

Yes.

The car is lowered, but the springs aren't significantly stiffer, makes for a bouncy ride. Bouncy isn't comfortable, or easy to control.

I thought I pretty much covered it when I said it was a lowering for looks, not for performance. My recommendation is to leave it as it is "in the mean time" and use the GCs properly when you get them

[Phlip]

I have a few friends with domestics and low riders and they asked me when I was planning to heat or cut my springs and I cussed their asses out everytime... The bad things surrounding the cutting of the springs have been discussed, but when it comes to heating, the question I always ask is how do you know you heated one spring the same amount as another, and at what point do you heat the metal too much? I refused to lower my car until I could afford to get springs and shocks at the same time...

[AKADriver]

Heating springs is retarded since it weakens the metal.

Cutting is acceptable since removing coils DOES increase the spring rate. The main problem with cutting is that most people cut too much, and it reduces the free height of the spring which can lead to the spring falling out of the mount when the suspension is at full droop. Heating springs does the same thing, too, in addition to fatiguing the metal and giving you a low, soft spring.

You'll notice that aftermarket springs all use 'dead' coils at one end to keep the spring's free height close to stock, but let the car sit lower when the springs are installed.

[Phlip]

Originally posted by AKADriver
Heating springs is retarded since it weakens the metal.

Cutting is acceptable since removing coils DOES increase the spring rate. The main problem with cutting is that most people cut too much, and it reduces the free height of the spring which can lead to the spring falling out of the mount when the suspension is at full droop. Heating springs does the same thing, too, in addition to fatiguing the metal and giving you a low, soft spring.

You'll notice that aftermarket springs all use 'dead' coils at one end to keep the spring's free height close to stock, but let the car sit lower when the springs are installed.
That is what I was getting to, but alcohol greatly numbs my ability to remember the shit I learned in metallurgy last year...