Funny you should ask.....

I just did this yesterday on my 1990 740gle 16v.

I cut one full coil, matching spring seat area. It dropped my car slightly,seems like about 1 1/2", and I didn't notice too much of an increased spring rate. The car does corner better, and feels stiffer.

I have ipd sways, bilstien hd struts.

The way I did it:

On front I was replacing strut mount so I compressed coils with correct tool and cut with a high speed 4" grinder (harbor freight tools $19.99).

On back, I jacked up frame to take weight off springs, put spring compressors on them, and cut. Had to wiggle the cut coil to get out of bottom mount.

Went pretty quickly, with out too much trauma. I used a cutoff blade with dremel on back, btw.

good luck, I would say it is an effective way to improve looks and handling, without too much of a downside.

jc
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1985 740gle na, 1990 740gle 16 valve