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1994 E36 316se how much do i chop off my springs to be real low but usable

6K views 36 replies 26 participants last post by  avneet07 
#1 ·
hi every1 i wanna know how much is best to chop off my springs to make ir really low but still useable and before every1 puts how bad cut spring are i have run them on my 200sx and nove and e30 and they were spot on so just a bit of help on how much to lop off the e36 one splease guys
 
#2 ·
just take them out all together, never worked out what they are for anyway.

no one can probably answer this question as they wouldnt want to cut springs as they can be bought for £40ish and they do the job properly.
to make the suspension lower, you need to go stiffer aswell of you'll bottom out the suspension. IF you do cut coils off, make sure they seat correctly even when not under compression from the car, and good luck
 
#4 ·
thats a question i used to get asked from 17-20 year olds that used to drive ford orion's, escorts and vauxhall astra's, novas etc, i fact when i was young and foolish i did it aswell on an old mk 2 cav, was shite! would never even consider it on a bmw, seen a cut spring leave its mount and go straight into the front trye before, in fact i have also seen a rear cut spring fall out of the back of an astra that went over a bump. was funny as hell, and completly dangerous.
Pay a little money and live, or save someone elses life.
 
#7 ·
:jaw-dropping cut springs WTF! LOL!.. I can't beleive you're actually serious about cutting springs (on any car).. especailly when proper, rated lowering springs are relatively cheap and will be fara harder wearing/lasting than the 10 year old or so stockers you will be attempting to cut which will no doubt shorten their lifespan even further.. meaning the end result will be the same in that you'll need to buy proper replacements anyway!..

the two areas I think you absolutely cannot scrimp on when it comes to modifying is tyres and handling/suspension - it's just not worth the risk to save a few pennies in the short term IMHO..

If you are hell bent on cutting the springs (as it seems you are and are not willing to listen to any advice) then you might find this link useful:

http://www.proshocks.com/calcs/coilsprate.htm

It's entirely up to you to calculate the weight/load per axle of your car and the spring rate you'll require.. but at least with the above link you could introduce maths into the equation instead of just lopping off coils and hoping for the best..
 
#12 ·
You can get a set of lowering springs for under 70 quid these days:thumbsup

Cutting springs can still be legal so long as the spring is secured into position. This would normally involve the use of cable ties or something stronger to ensure when the car is lifted/jacked up the spring does not become dislodged.

I used to work with a lad who cut a coil off of his LOWERING springs on the front of his 318i Touring and his front spring popped out when giving chase to a customer that decided to leave the premises without paying:hihi

I really wish people wouldn't use this method of lowering but if you are going to ignore all the comments stating that it's a ridiculous idea please do it properly and spare the expense of a bag of cable ties to do it properly:thumbsup

If you would like to be pointed in the direction of cheap springs for your car then I'm sure everyone, including myself, will scour the internet to find them for you:cool
 
#13 ·
Special offers on these sick springs!!!! You could DIY and even cut a couple of coils out.

Don't risk the life of other road users for a cheap fix, regardless of what you mightve done in the past. the cons out weigh the pros by miles!!!!
 
#15 ·
Some of you here are bang out of order. Maybe the guy hasnt got much money to make this street sleeper of a beemer look the bollox. Personally, I remember the days when doing mods to a car meant butchering a part that was there.

So onto the rest of my post.

Take the springs out altogether, get a few mates to sit on the car until its at the right height for you and weld in a few bits of scaffolding tube so that the suspension has no movement at all. This method will remove any worries about rubbing from the tyres as you will know exactly where they are in the arch at all times.

Let some air out of the tyres and run them at around 10 psi, that will drop you a few more millimetres for no cost, and the extra springyness will give some shock absorbing qualities.

Using the same scaffolding pipe you used for the suspension, replace the exhaust all the way from the back to the manifold, making sure you junk the cats as well while doing this. you might want to weld a splitter in so that you can have four pipes coming out the back for that real sports look. Dont forget to include a whistler type dudey thing in one of the pipes to make it sound like you have a dump valve. You can hide it in the pipe while you are building it rather than stick it in the end where everyone can see.

If you really need to justify the sound, you could fit an 'electric turbo'. You can then say you really do have a turbo without lying. Dont forget to go on ebay and buy a nice big silver turbo badge to put on the back. While you are there you might want a few M3 badges. May as well put some ac schnitzer badges in the car, maybe an alpina badge for the steering wheel (Momo wheel I take it?).

Finally, rip all the speakers out and every bit of the boot linings area. You need the space for a banging 'ICE' setup. Remove the sunglasses holder and rig up a binnacle set of pressure guages and the like (they dont have to work, they will look good there as they are).

That just about covers how to make it a sweet ride at little expense.

OR................................

Buy the correct springs for the job and have a nice car that handles like it should instead.
 
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#19 ·
i seen the spring problem of them falling out on novas and astras because they seat on the axle and when the car lifts the springs drop out but i bought a lowering kit for my e30 and was nowhere near low enough i am looking for 60+ mm drop n dont have coilover money
 
#20 ·
i have only seen them for import not in uk but i have seen spring seats that wind up and down like coilovers but with mega short springs so you can drop it reall low anyone know if these are available in the uk and god i asked a question thanks ppl genuinly worried about the springs been chopped and advising me but yeah the pisstakes can carry on wi dads credit card buying everything they need that day
 
#21 ·
E36 rear springs are pigtail like astra and nova. You may get away with the fronts, but you wont get away with cutting the rear at all.
Save some money up and wait. Hottuning do coilovers for £195 delivered.
Thats cheaper than springs with matched shocks (you will need the shocks if you want to go 60mm).
 
#22 ·
yeah the pisstakes can carry on wi dads credit card buying everything they need that day
I wish, my dad doesn't have two pennies to scratch his arse with:lol:lol:lol

I'm jealous of these kids who are getting handed cash on a plate too but in all honesty, we wouldn't turn it down either would we;)

Also, don't their cars look mint and knowing it was somebody else's hard work that paid for it must make them feel even better:lol



The point is, you asked a question... and whilst I tip toed around giving you a constructive answer other members posted what was really going through my mind:rofl

Personally I could not live with myself if I killed another being due to my car not being road worthy for the sake of under a hundred quid and doing the job properly:mad

My moto is and members that have seen it posted in previous threads will back me up...

If a job is worth doing, then it's worth doing right... think of your own safety if nobody else's:thumbsup

It's taken me over 7 years to modify my car and it's still not complete:hihi
 
#23 ·
I actually do have my dads credit card somewhere. Useless though as he has been dead for 8 years and all his accounts and stuff are long gone. Even worse, the bloody stepmother got all the money and when she pegged it her bloody family got everything.

Joking aside, I really have used scaffold tube as part of an exhaust in the past. Along with flattened coke tins and self tappers for bodywork repairs (with a lot of plastic padding on top).

I took the mickey because you said that it wasnt a problem as you had done it with other cars. Problem is, I have done a lot with other cars that I wouldnt do with the benefit of hindsight. (lets not mention my knight rider steering wheel on one of my old cars).

I have worked all my life and always paid for my cars outright. I have never spent more than 7 grand on a car, and this puts me firmly in the average car marketplace.

I have owned some weird and wonderful machinery, but I would always budget for a car I could run and/or modify if I wanted to.

For something as important as springs/suspension, its insane to do a boy racer botch job when the parts are out there and not obscenely expensive.

If you cant afford them at the moment, then now isnt the time to be lowering your motor.
 
#24 ·
dads credit card may of paid for clutch and tyres but hes been paid back, and he contributed towards them as b'day present. all my mods and insurance is paid in full by me and i work all the time i can get to fund anything to do with my car. all the work on it i do myself too. very satisfying when you pay for and do all the work yourself.

coilovers can be had from £150 on ebay brand new. search for E36 coilovers and there are sets with a buy it now or best offer.

60mm+ really needs shortened shocks but coilovers would be the best bet as you can dial in over 60mm. if your boss is helpful you may be able to get some overtime to help funding :thumbsup
 
#25 ·
Hottuning did me a set of standard shocks/springs not coilovers for £159 delivered :D
60/40 drop to me looks awesome,rides not to bad either,bit bouncy/stiff but that will soften up in time/miles.
Don't chop springs as you will change the temper of the steel and more than likely soften them to much-unless you use a hacksaw,but that means using muscles in your arm:D
Pic of my car on the new suspension-low enough to hit front spoiler on kerbs when parking now-DOH!
 
#27 ·
:rofli got some short springs in my back garden.... hang on a mo they are spring onions like what you would be cutting springs down dude do it right but if it is low like mine you will need shortened shocks like i do as it has been renamed h.m.s not bmw cause its like a boat without short sport shocks:mad
 
#28 ·
There is nothing wrong with cut springs so long as you do the maths. (Clearly, Vauxhall-Opel and BMW are not as good at maths as one would normally think.)

By cutting, you can achieve specs that are not available anywhere else. (Or it can just save youself some money.)

Stage One is the spring calcs to ensure that you get the correct rate.

Stage Two is calculate the ride height. Back to Stage One if that's not correct. So far so easy. However, if you struggled with Standard Grade or GCSE Maths then this is not for you. Get your kids to do it for a school project.

Stage Three is use the info for established in Stages One and Two to calculate the stresses in the spring and ensure that they are within the capability of the material. If the stress is too high then back to Stage oOne and rethink the cut or start with a different spring. If you do not do this stage then the spring will probably break. This bit is not easy because you need to either know what material spec BMW used for the spring or make a really accurate guess. WARNING: You are now entering nerd territory. You will need something like an HNC for this one, or perhaps a bad case of Asbergers Syndrome might help.

**********************

(Unfortunately, a standard BMW front spring is quite highly stressed and as a rule of thumb I wouldn't want to cut them more than a tiny amount. More than a quarter coil each end could get you into trouble with these. For most lowering jobs, this is far too little.Standard BMW rear springs are a well known pain in the 4r5e because they break and they are also a bitch to do the calculations for because of the changing coil diameter.)

***************************************

WARNING
Do this badly and you will find yourself leaving the road in a very unpleasant fashion.
 
#29 ·
The Nova

Personally I think you should just keep hacking away until you like the look!!!!:timebomb

While your at it a cheap way of getting extra bhp is to mix some brown sugar in with your petrol!!!

Just a quick question.....wa this your Nova???

lmfao
 
#30 · (Edited)
my honest opinion is if u want it slammed but dont want to spend out,sell the bmw its a vehicle of precision quality safety,use dumb arse spring cutting excersise takes all that away turning the good BMW name into a chav magnet...sell the damn car and get 1 you can afford to modify cos if you chop your springs it will handle like a bag of crap anyways so you may aswell buy a shitter in the 1st place.Not to mention you'll be putting all our pride and joys in extra harms way every time you go on the roads......

the other answer is...save!!!

look at my piccies i have a nice new shiney set of wheels hid's angel eyes silver interior trim,i need the car dropping i need more bhp i need a new rear box...but as i cant justify making myself skiny right now and ive bought all that in 1 hit ill just save up enjoy what ive got,and more importantly clean and polish it every single week,so it may not be a finished job ,it may not be what i ultimately want...but it will shine like the morning sun it will be cleanit will turn heads and it will look after me cos i look after her


just enjoy the car for what she is and save up
 
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