cutting coil springs vs. heating them. need info!

my '65 Galaxie LTD rides coils on all 4 corners and sits wayyy to high to begin with. i have 300-350lbs of concrete in the trunk right now just to take the rake off the ass end. i'm getting tired of not seeing this car LOW!!!
i don't have money for air ride or anything like that so my question is
which is the more road worthy way to go?? heating springs sounds great but what is the ride going to be like compared to just cutting a couple coils off?? is it that big of a difference?? are there any other springs that would work??
any input on this would help alot!!

 

Heating the coils will bind them, so there will be very little ride at all. Cutting coils will affect the spring rate, affecting ride quality. But, cutting coils will give a ball park idea. When you get the car to the ride height you want, if you dont like the ride, there is a place that will custom wind new springs no higher than the cut ones.

 

dont heat the springs, heat does bad things to spring steel it'll kill your ride, better have a good dental plan if you heat them

 

Cutting the coils is the perfered way. The spring rate will increase with the removal of coils but that might not be a bad side effect with a lowered car. The stiffer ride might keep the car from bottoming on rough surfaces.

Frank

 

I've done both. Cut them.

 

If you heat the coils, they will keep sinking over time.

 

Cutting is better than heating.

 

Cut no more than one coil at a time until you get the ride height you want. Check vendors for full size Fords also. I got 2" lower springs from Classic Industries and remember, new springs need time to settle. It took over a year to finally settle and they were perfect.

 

i have heated coils a long time ago, as soon as the coil gets hot it kicks out in the other direction, so then you have to heat the other side to get it sitting straight again, best done with the weight on the car, best not done at all as down the road both the coils i did snaped, never did it again, i pull them and cut them with a zip disk now.

 

What a bumbass question! Go ahead and heat em! It's only a '65 Galaxie,LOL!!!! Not as if it's a cool car or anything,HA HA HA!!!
I guess doing it right never entered you mind?

 

Back in the day we would just go to the local muffler shop and have them heated, BAD IDEA! Heated springs distroy the ride and in time will settle but never evenly. Cutting the coils would be the better of the two, up to a point. If you cut too much off you will run the risk of bottoming out your suspension, not good at speed. What about your shocks? Are you planning on altering them. Remember that when you lower the car you are also shorting the shock travel. I understand the wish to lower your car as cheap as possible, but the cheap way could wind up costing a lot more. I.M.O., save your money and do it the right way! Okay, I'm done. Next..

 

Make sure the coil is unloaded, then cut a 1/2 coil at a time with a sawzall (no torch). check ride height, and repeat as necessary. Cut a 1/4 coil as you get close to the height you want. It's very easy to cut off too much, then you're out of luck.

 

SAWZALL? YEAH,you're a winner! You need a chopsaw or grinder with a cutoff wheel. Sawzall....GEEZ! HA HA HA!!!!

 

Sawzall with a metal blade cuts 'em like butter. It also keeps the heat down on the spring. I've cut one or two this way and never had problems.
Chopsaw on a coil spring? And I'm a winner??

 

cut em..dont use the smoke wrench it will just weaken them and you'll end up with shit

 

if theyre anything like my chevys, you cant cut em 1/2 coil at a time. has to be full coils because they have slots to locate in. but i dont know really, cuz im not a ford guy....

 

cut them off,,,,,,or chop them as in use chop saw,unload them first,5 and a quarter hand grinder with a cutting disc

 

Cut the springs! I heated a rear set an one of the springs broke.

 

I have done both also and in the past i have had the heated ones break going down the road not a cool feeling either buy lowering springs or cut them

 

Back in my minitruck days, one of my friends near Charleston SC had a really cool (for the time) Dodge d50 he had lowered by heating the springs. He was in the backroads when one spring snapped, sending him swerving. He ended up rolling the truck . Don't heat them.

By the way, I've cut springs with a dremel before. They aren't really that hard to cut.

 

Don't do either. If my punk kid knowledge serves me, your car has beehive springs in the back. Cut them and they will never fit right cause the ends are smaller than the middle. Heat them and you'll be on the bumpstops before you get the flame set. This is because of the variable rate in the spring from the middle outward. I knew a guy with a '68 LTD wagon that someone had chopped the springs on and they looked like they could come flying out if the tire dropped into a 1" pothole. Not to mention it rode as bad as my straight axle.

Buy springs or start hanging out with some fat chicks.

 

Just buy the right springs or have some made. If you can't afford it wait til you can! You hate how it looks now? Just wait til you cut too much off or heat em wrong and your car rides bad, looks bad and probably isn't very safe. At that point you're gonna have to buy new springs anyway..... Sooooo you might as well wait and save your time and money and do it right the first time. Just my opinion, it's your car do what you please!

 

Also cuts like butter! I've tried a sawzall on spring steel and it takes forever. You must know about some new blades or something. Just messing with you,LOL!!!!

 

Cut off wheel on an air cut off that is just slide under it and cut a coil.

 

Cutting coils is free and is safe. Heating the coils destroys the heat treatment of the steel. Which then makes the spring weak and it can develop a fatigue crack which propagates until it fails. Take it form the HAMB metallurgist here, don't heat the springs to lower it.

Cutting the coils will make the spring rate stiffer, which is usually bebeficial on a lowered car. I have had numerous cars with cut coils, do it and have fun getting down to a better ride height.

A cut-off wheel is the easiest way to cut them, but remember that once cut you can not go back.

 

Always cut never heat.

 

Simply put and right on. Cut 'em.

 

The best way to cut the springs, IMO, is to remove them then cut one coil with a chop saw. If you have behive springs in the rear then you will need to have some made. DO NOT HEAT THEM that removes the temper and they just continue to settle until you have no spring left.

 

My 78 Ranchero front was cut 22 yrs ago and still going. The back was heated
because of the behive coils. That was also 22 yrs ago at a muffler shop in the
Bellflower area.I don't have a problem with it, but I,ve been driving lowered shit
for 50 yrs.

 

If you just want to get it lowered quick and you dont care much about the car, then heat them, its less work. If you dont mind taking the freeking front end apart then cut them. either way its not going to be right. Half this shit is just getting the balls to do it