Cutting coils off your springs is a
Coil spring are essentially a torsion rod....... Right? Just wound around a vertical axis so the torsional load can be spread over several windings of the spring. This is where your spring rate comes from.
The transitional area into the flat section on the top & bottom of your coil springs are there for a reason - To make sure the spring "work" is done by the coils.
If you go & cut your springs you effectively stop the spring acting in a torsional manner & start using the end of the spring you cut as a cantilever - This means all the car's weight is now being carried by one small section of the spring instead of the whole thing.
You mentioned you were "flattening"out the end you cut......
This is a step in the right direction, however to do it properly you should have a transitional area to a flattened base - The only proper way to do this is to have them heated & re-worked.
In which case, you may as well take them to a suspension guy & have them re-set..... Not all that expensive when you add up the risk!
The only other option I've seen is in some 4X4's they have a spring "seat" which is just a piece of steel machined to support the spring windings - No transitional area to flat base required.
If you had something like this you're safe to just cut the spring where you choose.
But please - Don't just go cutting your springs.
Trust me - I'm an engineer
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Transfer
