Does anyone know the spring rates on the lowdown? It seems like more and more guys that track their Type R's are going with slightly stiffer springs in the rear, even though most aftermarket coilovers come "stock" with higher spring rates up front. I was wondering if mugen stands apart from other aftermarket suspensions by having higher spring rates in back.

I am also interested when people say that the lowdown is so well balanced to the Type R. Does that mean the valving and spring rates match the car well, or does it also mean that each individual strut is slightly different from the rest to, in effect, achieve proper corner-balancing that you would get with a coilover?

 

Batoutahell --
From what I remember the Mugen Lodowns come with spring rates of the same front bias as the stock ones, but they are about 100 pounds or so stiffer in spring rate alll around.
You will not really be able to "cornerweight" the car since there is no real way to change the effective spring height, ... however you WILL be able to change the damping characteristic of each of the shocks individually (which I found quite useful when running Tokico Illuminas on my 1st gen CRX).

As we've discussed before, I think you'll be quite happy with them, and it should be a substantial improvement over stock (with the ability to "tune" the individyal shock settings ... they are 5-way adj., right).

I found this one link, which has others ...
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=207389

 

Here's the information I have from my research when I was buying the lowdowns.

Spring Rates - Mugen
Front – 385 lb 6.8 kg/mm
Rear – 245 lb 4.5 kg/mm

Spring Rates – Stock
Front – 246 lb /in
Rear – 140 ~246 lbs/in

Stock rates converted to kg/mm
Front – 4.4 kg/mm
Rear – 2.5 ~ 4.4 kg/mm


1 kg = 2.20462 lbs
1 mm = 0.0393701 inchs
conversion factor = 55.997317

 

I installed the lowdown kit in my 2000 ITR approximately two and half months ago. As far as part fit and quality, Mugen is second to none. The suspension installed perfectly. I am not an advanced track driver, therefore, I could not say if the lowdown’s improved my times, however, if you are looking for a suspension that will give your R better handling characteristics without having to worry about having a fully adj. suspension tuned (corner balancing, alignments), then, IMHO, the lowdown’s are the way to go.

They are not cheap, nothing Mugen is (for the money I spent on my lowdown's I could have bought a higher end fully adj. kit), however, from my experience using them, I love the kit. It will afford you a perfect blend of street drive comfort, with the ability to hang in the corners with all your Type R friends at the local track. As well, if you are trying to achieve a more aggressive look, then the 3/4-inch drop is just right; the R should have come 3/4 lower from the factory.




[Modified by RaVAGE00, 11:35 AM 7/6/2002]

 

Your car will not be corner balanced if you just drop the lowdowns in. There are things like driver weight and mods that affect the balance.

 

Still thinking of going with the Lowdown's eh Jim? I think they're great and if I had the ca$h I would definately invest in them. Great street/strip suspension. I still loved the way Wes' old Mugen R felt.

 

Thanks everyone. Arren, very informative! I've been looking for those stat's for some time.

 

Exactly, since the lowdown's are only 3/4 of an inch drop, no corner balance is needed. I guess you can adj. a fully adj. suspension for 3/4 of an inch, however, in order to make certain that all four shocks are at the same height, a corner balance will need to be done.

 

.....I believe you can cornerweight by shimming the springs. Not easy or fun, but it get's the job done.

 

when its time to upgrade the suspension on my R...the lowdowns will be my first choice...drop them in and go...no hassles

 

are they rebuildable?