I put a set of M7 springs on yesterday and the car looks great but the ride is really jarring and not something I can live with... and I've had a lot of lowered cars. I'm thinking that maybe I was supposed to cut the bump stops and that is what is causing the problem. Does anyone know? There wasn't any instructions in the box, just the springs so I'm not sure.

If so, how much am I supposed to remove from the front and rear stops? Thanks, Greg.

 

I just emailed Peter at m7 the other day about this. He said to cut them in half and re-use the top part. Hope that helps.
Aloha

 

Cool, thanks for the quick answer. Hopefully that will resolve my problem since most people say the M7 springs actually ride smoother than stock.

 

Is your MINI thumping at all? I used to have a 2" lowered 98 cobra stang, I cut the stops in half but every 90 degree right or left with any slight incline would make it go thump. Also speed bumps would really be bad. I'm actually looking at the M7 springs maybe coil overs.

 

I haven't installed my springs yet. Waiting for my sway bar to be delivered hopefully in the next week so I can do it all at once. Hopefully nothing will rub, squeak, thump, scrape or anything...crossing my fingers as I attempt to test my mechanical abilities.
aloha

 

so MotoGreg. give us an update about the problem after cutting them in half.
(if they're smoother or not and/or any problems)
im trying to decide on whether to get m7 springs or not.

 

I cut the rears in half and have only had a chance to drive it about 5mi but so far it feels 100% better, as soon as I hit a big bump I'll know for sure. I'll have to cut the fronts tomorrow or the next day when I get some time.

 

MotoGreg did you get the front bumpstops done? If so how is the ride now?

I installed M7 springs but didn't cut the bumpstops in half, wondering if I need to do that.

 

No, I still haven't got around to cutting the fronts yet but it isn't a big priority because the car rides great once I cut the rears.

It was horrible before I cut the rears in half.

The springs seem like a great product, they lower car a good amount and have a nice ride quality but I just can't understand why they wouldn't come with instructions that alert you to cut the stops. It is dangerous to use the stock bumpstops, the car hits a bump and the tires feel like they come off the ground and lose contact with the road, not a safe situation. Plus, now I have to go back and do the whole job a second time due to the lack of notification about cutting the stops. It's not too big a deal for me since I'm a mechanic and it only took 40 minutes to replace the four springs but for someone who paid a shop to install them it could be a major issue.

 

Cut the front ones half, I didn't cut the rear ones even with the 225x45x17's.

 

It doesn't matter what size tires you have. The issue isn't the tires hitting the body, it's the strut bottoming out on the bump-stop. It's only the rear that is the problem.

 

Thanks for the heads up on this. I have M7 springs installed on my car and was assumming that the ride was something I had to live with. This will be something added to my list of over the winter projects.

 

I didn't cut mine for about 6 months until I realized what was going on and got tired of hitting the stops. On the '05 there isn't much to cut in the fronts so I left them alone. On the rears I removed the top part down to the first >-< indent and that solved the problem. No more bottoming out and the ride was much better!