[krazynuttz23]

Just recently, my friend lowered his car to a perfect drop height. By it's looks the car looks great! But the drop wasn't done by coil-overs or lowering springs, or cutting the springs. As a matter of fact, he kept his stock springs. It was done via flame torch. The stock springs were heated, to where the car weight slowly decompressed the springs giving the car a new lowered look. I know this is bad for the suspension but what exactly is happening to the springs? Cryogen, you're expertise would be greatly appreciated or anyone else who did or know anyone that did this. Thanx.

 

[munkeysoup]

i wouldnt do that because what you are doing is you are making your springs shorter but you still arent changing the spring rate. so what is going to happen is that the springs are gonna get really bouncy and sometimes the coils will click together and you also have a better chance of bottoming out when you go over a bump.

 

[accordsibling]

the heating can also cause the springs to become brittle, so in theory you could snap a spring.

 

[Drag-On]

That is a really bad way of lowering a car. If you don't raise the spring rate when the springs are shorter, then there is a bigger chance of bottoming out.

 

[Accord92sir]

Just recently, my friend lowered his car to a perfect drop height. By it's looks the car looks great! But the drop wasn't done by coil-overs or lowering springs, or cutting the springs. As a matter of fact, he kept his stock springs. It was done via flame torch. The stock springs were heated, to where the car weight slowly decompressed the springs giving the car a new lowered look. I know this is bad for the suspension but what exactly is happening to the springs? Cryogen, you're expertise would be greatly appreciated or anyone else who did or know anyone that did this. Thanx.

it weakens the combination of metals in the spring, causing them to sag lower, its not very good at all for the car.

 

[illusion]

not new. not good. very dangerous. crappy ride. Get coilovers.. nuff said..

 

[cryogen97]

It's pretty much all been said. It's not going to be a very good ride, the springs have been weakend so no real good will come of it. It would be marginally better to hacksaw off a dead coil. But really, $150 for a real set of lowering springs would be a WAY better option.

 

[see_fu]

the post about the spring being weaker isn't completely correct. What you've done is you actually made the metal stronger by putting it through a high amount of heat. However, it's a double edged sword. By making it strong, you've also made it more brittle.

 

[illusion]

the post about the spring being weaker isn't completely correct. What you've done is you actually made the metal stronger by putting it through a high amount of heat. However, it's a double edged sword. By making it strong, you've also made it more brittle.

depends though, if you don't know what you're doing it could go either way, you could end up annealing it and making it much softer and more apt to sag, and make it lose it's memory.

 

[see_fu]

depends though, if you don't know what you're doing it could go either way, you could end up annealing it and making it much softer and more apt to sag, and make it lose it's memory.

Well I'm no expert when it comes to materials engineering, since I've only taken a few classes on the stuff. But from what I member, w/ most metals if u heat it up enough and assuming u don't surpass it's max tensile strength point, it'll keep getting strong and strong as u heat it. The only example I can think of are airplanes. Whenever an airplane flies, because it's made out of aluminum it's getting stronger and stronger, but because aluminum eventually starts to weaken after a certain amount of heat, those aluminum parts have to be replaced. I'm assuming since most people can't get a hold of a source of heat that's as hot as flying at the speed of jets that he hasn't surpassed that max tensile strength yet.


Side note
I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ACTUALLY USING SOMETHING I LEANED IN SCHOOL!!!! It's a friggin miracle. hahah

 

[NightRider96]

I personally don't know enough to say whether it's good or not. But it doesn't sound too healthy on the springs to me. I would just get a good set of lowering springs, or if you wanna be able to adjust it just get some coilovers. They are going for about $100-$150 on eBay for Accords.

 

[Hawkeye]

Do you have any pics of the lowered car you could post?

Also, how difficult are coilovers to install? Could it be done by one person in a single afternoon?

What special tools would I need?

 

[munkeysoup]

Do you have any pics of the lowered car you could post?

Also, how difficult are coilovers to install? Could it be done by one person in a single afternoon?

What special tools would I need?

-Hawkeye

i doubt you would be able to do it by yourself if you need to ask those questions. theyre not that hard to do but you do need a spring compressor to get the stock ones off. just take it to a shop.

 

[vtecpwr4]

Bad idea.