Cutting Springs?

Since I've been thinking about lowering my Cayman when it comes in, i've done some research and talked to some people. Today somebody suggest to me that i just cut the springs since my main thing how it makes the car look. I'm fairly new to all this and this is the first I've heard someone suggest to cut them. Is this a bad idea??

bad idea. The springs were designed to be unaltered, cutting them means u get the same amount of 'bounce' with less distance for it to bounce. Expect ur wheels to be rubbing the hell out of ur wheel wells if you do that. Who told you to do that? Very unprofessional recommendation...

My ex did that.... back in high schooland ona Prelude. Please do not cut your springs.

this guy i know, i don't know him too terribly well but he is also on a local car forum where i'm a member, he recommended it. I don't know too terribly much about all this but when he said that it just didn't seem like a great idea, so i thought i'd ask on here. On top of it causing problems wouldn't be more logical to buy new springs to lower it rather than mess up the ones i already have? that was my thinking so that made me question this whole idea

Yes, Whit, this is a terrible idea - you don't pay $75k for a finely engineered car that has probably had thousands of hours spent on suspension engineering and cut the springs. There are several companies that make aftermarket lowering springs for the Cayman , and more choices will become available as time goes on. And when you do decide to lower the car, find a shop that knows what they're doing, and make sure they will stand behind the product they are installing on your car, to the point where if what they install screws something up that's not covered by the warranty, they'll pay. Get it in writing. If you have PASM as an option on the car, you'll need to make sure the new springs are compatible with that system, so you don't blow out the shocks prematurely - it would be very expensive to replace them, and if it's the fault of aftermarket springs you install to make the car look better, it won't be covered under warranty. Be careful what ever you do to this car. brad Edited by - beez on 10/02/2006 1:49:16 PM

Ack, NEVER lower your car by cutting your springs. You will seriously mess up your suspension doing that. Cutting springs is something that is done by ricers who then ask 'why does my car handle so poorly and my ride so rough?' after a few miles. Besides, the cost to do so on a Porsche would probably be close to just buying a set of lowering springs and getting them installed. A set of H&Rs goes for around $250-$300 on eBay. The labor involved in installing them is what costs more. Edited by - Interpol on 10/02/2006 7:21:18 PM

I have some very different information... The option of having my springs 're-set' to a lower ride height was presented to me by my Porsche motorsport guy (as an alternative to new springs). I am not sure if 're-set' means cut, or further compressed. He has already fitted one Cayman with re-set springs (lowered 20cm) and this was on the car of John Bowe. John Bowe is one of Australia's Motorsport legends (four times Australian Champion). He has been racing for 20 years and is in the current V8 super cars line-up. I think both he, and the mechanic who fitted the springs (Factory trained and Carerra Cup team manager) know what they are doing. John does not drive his car on the track. This was done to lower the car visually with minimal impact on ride, and without going so low that the car look unrefined. The cost is much less than buying new springs. Just time to remove and fit and a small fee to have the springs re-set.

I too cutted my springs.... (/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/help.gifI), hahaha, just kidding. Edited by - 987bs on 10/02/2006 11:18:49 PM Edited by - 987bs on 10/02/2006 11:19:25 PM

just buy a lowering spring from eibach or H&R. from my experience, people who cut their springs are only people that want their car to be slammed to the ground and it's only for autoshow purposes. if you want to enjoy your car, please dont cut your springs. i had been in a car that had its springs cut and it bounces like crazy.

while u're at it...please rip out the Porshe engine and replace with a Ford V8.

LoL yeah...when the guy suggested that to me it seemed really stupid, so me being new to all this i thought i'd ask on here and get some reasons why it is a stupid idea so i could be like "hey...that's really stupid because..!" lol i might just pass that bit of info onto him

Please don't.

no worries...never even took it into consideration, after i was told to do this i just wanted to see what was up with it...sounded a lil dumb to me

yeah...cut yer sprungs. put some rice stickers on the car - especially the 'Turbo' or 'R' Even using springs to lower the cay is questionable - but this...this, is a new low for the porsche enthusiasts. Takin itstraight g-to!!!

If all you want is to slightly lower (1/2 to 1 inch) nothing wrong with shaving a bit off the top and botton of the springs. I did it years ago on a 928 which I still have and it has worked fine for the last 20 years. The only noticable difference is in the visual appearance, which is all I wanted. The car was extensively DE'd and even that did not show any detremental effect. Actually, no effect at all.

OK, come on guys - she said she never really considered it, and was looking for other members' opinions... and even further admitted she didn't know much about the subject, which is why she asked the question in the first place. Maybe it's time to stop ragging on her about 'ricer cars' and such I think she's got the message. brad

u might as well cut ur wrist while ur at it... i dun get it.. u could spend 70k on a Porsche, but you dun wanna spend an extra 300 on springs? /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/crazy.gif

thank you!

no...i NEVER said that...

new low? i didn't even consider it...i was just tryin to get some info from people who knew more about the subject as to why this isn't the way to go... ie: looking for a better answer (other than, that just doesn't sound smart) to give the guy that tried to tell me to do this Edited by - Porsche07 on 10/04/2006 9:18:15 PM

Whit, First off I fixed your avatar, chances are you edited your profile with a Mac and it didn't save the avatar link correctly, thus I fixed it. Let me offer my apologies for those who jumped to a conclusion based on your original question and ask you a question in return. Do you have the answer(s) you need to go back and have a conversation with the person who suggested this to you or do you need more info on why NOT to cut springs? If you need more info let me (and everyone else) know and I'll do my best to supply some reasons not to cut springs as I am sure others will as well. Thanks!

thank you very much. yes, i did edit with a mac...guess that did it! haha i think i pretty much have the answers i need now! thanks again!

If you cut spring yes you will lower the car but it will increase the stiffness. How low do you want to go? The Cayman does not have a lot of extra ground clearance so you could start hitting the ground with very expensive parts. If you want to go lower look at the tuners and get a kit as you can easily lower the car to much and then what will you do?

As (almost) everyone else has said, do not cut your springs....They are engineered esp for the struts and suspension components. Everything is dialed in to work together harmoniously, spring rates match etc...Good luck.