(i mainly drove at night, being a milkman)..

does that mean you are my father?

:lol: :lol:

and i'm still here despite driving with only 1 out of 4 wheel studs in a wheel. But that doesn't make it safe, or sensible, or preferable and if i wasn't so lucky i'd be dead and lots of rabbits and small children too.

There's been cases where guys have jumped out of planes, parachutes failed to open and they've actually survived. Doesn't mean that the army has cut costs and sends paras out with no parachute cos 'dave did it and was fine, no children were killed'

It was only ever going to be a matter of time until internet sensationalism reared its ugly head. Believe it or not but chopping a spring is not the same as jumping out of a plane with out a parachute and running with the wrong size center bore and no spigot rings is not the car equivalent of Russian roulette.

People like to chat shit about stuff they have no experience of on the net, its just the way it is. Have you ever experienced a spring miss seating due to being loose in the cups? I have, there was a 'twang' noise as the cups reseated the spring and that is it (you don't even get that on the rear as there is no way the spring can unseat), after all the cups are designed in a way so that when the spring has load it can't go any where, also due to the the coil over damper design spring can't go anywhere, so when spring tension is taken away then reaplied, if the spring has moved it just reseats.

Contrary to what people who have never experienced this try and tell people the car will not burst into a smoldering ball of molten metal, it will not catapult you sideways into the nearest tree. It will not fire the car ten foot into the air and make the car roll ten times without warning.

I'm afraid that all I have is experience of this tho, maybe if I had no personal experience of this situation but a head full of tales of cousins brothers girlfriends mates who had died due to chopped springs making them crash my opinion would be more welcomed?

I'm sorry that reality is not as exiting or dramatic as some people on the internet try and claim, but I'm not going to stop giving my personal experience because my reality doesn't agree with the idea of a situation in the head of some lad on the net.

(i mainly drove at night, being a milkman)..

does that mean you are my father?

Is this a youngsters joke that old people don't get..?

people have survived jumping off 5 storey buildings, doesn't mean it's a good idea to do it yourself.

when will people realise that their points would probably be taken more seriously if they didn't try and over exaggerate to the point of it being almost comical? Let's be realistic for a second, the car equivalent of jumping off a 5 story building would be intentionally driving into a solid quarry stone wall at about 100mph without a seat belt on

The human equivalent of driving with loose springs on some thing like a polo/golf would be riding a mounting bike without bicycle clips

Edited 21 December, 201114 yr by Mclovin

(i mainly drove at night, being a milkman)..

does that mean you are my father?

Is this a youngsters joke that old people don't get..?

Never heard people say that their kid is really the milk mans Mikey?

My misses likes to put a different twist on it and tell me that my kids are my weird uncles, I'm still not sure if she's joking or not

i think you are totally missing the point and being a bit narrowminded. Yes you have cut springs and it is fine, but does that mean dismiss every other comment you have read or heard. The basic facts are there, it is unsafe, and yes you have not had any problems with yours, but it is unsafe.

The exaggerated points are purely there to try and point out that yes you have run cut springs and had no problems, but it is still unsafe.

Yes your views can be taken on board by whoever reads it, but you still have cut springs that do not do the job they were designed for, and are unsafe.

when will people realise that their points would probably be taken more seriously if they didn't try and over exaggerate to the point of it being almost comical? Let's be realistic for a second, the car equivalent of jumping off a 5 story building would be intentionally driving into a solid quarry stone wall at about 100mph without a seat belt on

The human equivalent of driving with loose springs on some thing like a polo/golf would be riding a mounting bike without bicycle clips

except it isn't though is it, you are wrong. If your spring dislocates causing a suspension collapse at high speed then it will be exactly like driving in a solid quarry stone wall at about 100mph because that's what could happen.

No one is saying that bodging repairs or modifications on a car WILL cause instant, painful death. But it is still a stupid thing to do. What happened to the days when so called enthusiasts used to look at their cars? Must be a credit crunch thing.....

Feel free to explain how a loose spring in a macpherson strut is going to dislocate in a way that would cause the suspension to collapse, that is my point. If you have springs that are too short for the dampers on a separate spring and damper type of suspension then yes you have every chance of the spring falling out and disaster happening, but I've said multiple times in this thread I'm talking about macpherson type suspension.

Dan I'm not missing the point, I'm not just using the fact that I myself have run chopped springs and lived, I'm using the fact that many many many many people on a daily basis drive cars with chopped springs and don't die. You just have to look through the readers rides section on retro rides to get a glimpse of just how prilivant (is that actually a word?) it actually is.

Using a generalization and saying chopped springs are unsafe is bullshit, sorry but if you chop a spring so that it still seats properly and is still within the limits of the damper then how can it be any more dangerous than fitting a lowering spring, no matter what type of suspension you have, coilover or not?

Chopping springs is not only done due to budget, some cars don't even have lowering kits available for them and others just don't go low enough. The lowest for the chevette off the self is -60mm which on a polo may be a fair amount of lowering but on a chevette still looks like its on stilts due to the original height of the car being so excessive, so there are very few options to get them sitting nice. With them being a separate coil/spring its important to match the spring height to damper (which are normally used from other cars) but I've seen chev's with half the original spring chopped off and its still perfectly safe as the damper is matched, the spring seats and the added bonus of a firmer ride.

I'm not angry Ben, far from it I was having a relaxing dump at the time of my last post

i really dont understand the problem with chopped springs. why would cutting off a coil or two be unsafe? i really dont see a reason? and why would it be doing something its not designed for? iirc a chopped spring still goes up and down.. like any other spring?

Edited 21 December, 201114 yr by erixtar1992

says you whos chopping up a metro and welding everything back together to get it lower! these guys would love you! yeah chopped springs are unsafe so I'm gonna chop my car instead

Edited 21 December, 201114 yr by erixtar1992

Lad you're mouthing at people about what is safe and unsafe and you can't tell what difference cutting a spring would make...

I was under the impression that chopped springs were undesirable because they cause the std dampers to bottom out and can cause unpredictable handling if not cut accurately. The closest experience i have to this is driving a mk3 golf that was sat on its arse using aftermarket springs on std dampers. I have to say its the worst car I've driven and was comparable to when the rear shocks went on my g40. bouncy, twitchy, not nice

That's easy, it would make it lower

Lad you're mouthing at people about what is safe and unsafe and you can't tell what difference cutting a spring would make...

ermmm whos mouthing at anyone??

Edited 21 December, 201114 yr by erixtar1992

That's easy, it would make it lower

Feel free to explain how a loose spring in a macpherson strut is going to dislocate in a way that would cause the suspension to collapse, that is my point. If you have springs that are too short for the dampers on a separate spring and damper type of suspension then yes you have every chance of the spring falling out and disaster happening, but I've said multiple times in this thread I'm talking about macpherson type suspension.

Well said pal.

I'm not running choppy's at the moment, but have done in the past. Usually used metal zip ties to secure if needs be. Passed x amount of MOT's and ran for many a happy mile.

I suppose if you're running a -90mm kit and your chopping the springs hard, the dampers will be bottoming out constantly so it would be wise to run shorter dampers - but for the everyday chappy chopping a coil out of a -60mm kit i don't see it as an issue (personally).

Has to be the biggest and longest running debate on the interwebs this one.

also a spring being loose does not fail an MOT, it will only fail the MOT if it does not seat back in the correct place when the car is lowered back down

says you whos chopping up a metro and welding everything back together to get it lower! these guys would love you! yeah chopped springs are unsafe so I'm gonna chop my car instead

no comment Pikeys unite please tell me your going to poloshow eric? I'm sharing a tent with you, end.......

p.s. if you are bringing a tent i might be sharing anyway, cant put a tent in the metro, will scrub hehe

That's easy, it would make it lower

:lol:

share a tent? NO HOMO! but yeah I'm gonna come deffo! i think we will get along just fine... hahahah

and scrubbing is dubbi.. oh shit yeah .. metro.. my bad lol

Edited 21 December, 201114 yr by erixtar1992

no homo.... you say that but.... i'll bring the jager

Yee, scrubbing is dubbing but boucing and locking up wheels is just mad, fuck doing that again i mean h-hmm thats dangerous, i'd never have a car that does that....

hahah luckily i dont drink ! lol your car would be a right laugh if it snows!

you could always just run no springs at all? would shut the anti chopped spring crew up?

hahah jokes! i just pretty much hate the taste of alcohol the fun part is watching drunken friends making a fool of themselves haha!

yeah didnt they have like gas shocks which you could let the air out of or something to slam them? hahahah really?! crazy stuff!

hahahha manlovin! lmao!

ahhh sooo coool i want one now just for the one time use hydro's raaah thats madness cant you run them inside the car? wouldnt be fun if it caught fire i spose!

Bumlovin as hes known. dont go clenaing down the back of your engine bay with him about i tell you. He'll have your anus gapein and your coils in 1/4's....

Hahah, if it scrubbed it was a case of wider arches not lift yee gna run them inside, along with the fuel tank.... thats gna have a hole otherwise. Plus i want to run my exhaust where the tank is lol.....

hahahah luckily theres no soap to be dropped! on topic though, thinking about it chopped springs could be dangerous if hes got them in his hand and you are as you say 'cleaning the back of the bay'. unless hes filed them afterwards that shits gonna be sharp!

hahah thats gonna be a beast! who needs exhausts man?

i think you are totally missing the point and being a bit narrowminded. Yes you have cut springs and it is fine, but does that mean dismiss every other comment you have read or heard. The basic facts are there, it is unsafe, and yes you have not had any problems with yours, but it is unsafe.

The exaggerated points are purely there to try and point out that yes you have run cut springs and had no problems, but it is still unsafe.

Yes your views can be taken on board by whoever reads it, but you still have cut springs that do not do the job they were designed for, and are unsafe.

You begin by claiming narrowmindedness, then say chopped springs are unsafe. Brilliant.

I've ran 'chopped' springs on various cars, perfectly safely. My opinion? Well, also the opinion of three MoT testers who said they were fine in each case.

Chopping springs is not always safe, and that has been acknowledged. Too short is a common example. Wrong part of the spring is another. Type of suspension design is another.

But in my case, i've only removed some of the preload. Carefully calculated to the damper used at the time. This means the spring is still seated securely enough not to be able to leave it's seating when the damper is at full stretch.

No cable ties, no clamps, no welding. Just parts put together that fit.

But they're still chopped springs. Which you say are unsafe. Well you're wrong.

The 6n has just half a coil from the front. It still looks like a 4x4. It has made no noticeable difference in practice to how the car behaves. The springs are tightly secure even with the car elevated.

But you say in your post above they're unsafe. You say chopped springs are unsafe. That is a sweeping statement and you're wrong.

Roof tiles are unsafe. Stanley knives are unsafe. That is, when in the same context you've used.