hey lotus-
I'd think grinding a spring down would only shorten it, not really effect how soft it is- all you'd have is the same spring, only shorter... The only way I'd think to effect the springs "softness" is by heat treating it in an oven- re-tempering the spring. Fuming sulferic acid (78% pure), fuming nitric acid or any other highly concentrated organic / nonorganic acids will create weak spots and may cause the spring to break, not a good idea-
If I remember correctly from my organic chem classes, hydrofloric acid was not the strong acid in terms of ion exchange, It doesn't dissociate completely and doesn't completely ionise- it's a beastly acid on silica (glass) and ceramic etching but not so much on metal - not like fuming sulferic or nitric acid

anyway- I'm sure there's a metal shop around that can retemper those springs to make them a little softer... another thing to consider is the shock itself- the spring is only 1/2 of the entire shock- the damper is just as important...

 

thanks for the helpful info.Its too late for me going back to work on it (maybe someone else can give it a go)as I have started painting the springs.When I was talking about grinding I was talking about the top and bottom of the spring material as it winds itself a round and a round (not the top and bottom)My springs remain the same overall length.

I dont want to spend much money on it as its a china machine and not worth significant $$ to spend on it.And its a china shock absorber which means just a spring with zero dampening ability!

I`m guessing they make these springs so hard to compress to hide the fact that there is no dampening on them.I`m still quite happy with it for the circumstances that we will be using it under.

 

Installed my modded front suspension.Works great! Nice compression when I get on it. Before I would get on it and it would not move.Problem solved.We are now ready for the summer.

 

mind showing some pics of what your talking about you did ?? im kinda curious.

 

Beergut I broke down and got my son a new 2011 Polaris Outlaw 90. Very nice quad. Took him about 2 weeks to calm down from the excitement of getting the Outlaw, man he bounced off the walls. Only problem is there was a Can Am Renegade on the showroom floor near it and now thats on the top of my "must have" list. Ugh it just doesn't end.