First off, I went with the Mugen Sports Lowdown for several reasons.

I was looking for a bit higher spring rate than stock, which it had.

I wanted adjustable damping ability for the shocks to balance forward/rear biasing. These offered this, too.

I didn't want a drop too far from stock as to run into tire wear problems. The lowdown claimed 3/4" drop... we'll see about that one.

I liked the completely assembled, plug and play aspect.

What I didn't like was the price for a set of essentially sported up Showa shocks.

I questioned if I needed adjustable perch height adjustability that the comparable units from other brands offered... zeal, teins, apex, etc.

I also wondered if not having the ability to swap out spring rates would be a regret or even to get these rebuilt if they ever needed it.

I waited for used ones... I waited for sales/groupbuys... no luck. At the end of the year, I wanted to get something for my ITR as it will be a year in December that I've owned this car.

I have loved every minute of owning and driving it. (close to 15k miles in the last year) I couldn't imagine how this car could be made to handle even better... The balance of the stock suspension is so close to perfect it's like I'm in a dance with my car coming down the mountain commute from my working place.

I placed my order and wondered/worried if I had made the right choice or not.

Xmas eve I picked up the box from the Post Office! Thanks to David at R&D. Great service and prices. I'd recommend you all check them out.


this is the car w/ stock susp....





this is what you get for your hard earned cash....



hope you can read Japanese, cause these are the instructions for installation...




and so, armed with my trusty Helms and the kit I started in....




preinstall measurements from the ground, through the center of the wheel to the bottom of the lip... read anywhere from 24 1/4" to 24 3/4". Looks like I might have been parked on an uneven portion of the garage ...





comparison of stock shock to the mugen...





adjuster location after shock installed....




measurements after installation completed and taken for a test drive...







as you can see, it measures 23 3/4" so the drop is any where from 1/2"- 1".

installation took like 6 hours mainly due to me stripping out a link bolt hole and having to retap it and the bolt. Other than that, it was pretty much plug and play.

this is what the car looks like after the install.....





not that much of a visual difference, but a very subtle drop... just what I was looking for.

It's been a week now and I've had a chance to play with the settings on the shocks. After much fiddling and changes, I've settled on 1F/3R for now. The corning speeds have increased without the unsettling bobbing at what felt like the limit with the stock suspension. The car is much faster, flatter and much more stable through the turns which bolsters driver confidence. You feel everything on the road coming through the steering wheel as the hard bushings that come with this suspension transmits it through to you. There is a downside to this as expansion joints and rough pavement can jolt right through as opposed to the slightly softer stock ITR suspension which used to absorb a lot more than the Mugens do.

That being said, I don't think I'd want higher spring rates for the street. These are plenty stiff for me as is and I can't understand how some of you tolerate the high rates I've read of you using.

I rate these a bit above the stock suspension and with the adjustable damping, I'm able to tune the front/back bias for the car to rotate.

I'll have my alignment checked and see if the car doesn't improve even more.

I'll also take some better pics to compare the drop from stock when the weather gets a bit better.

 

my friend is a nut, he has 1200/1000 spring rates and it hurts my back everytime i ride with him

car rides nice on smooth surfaces, but hit bumps and maaaan does it suck for your kidneys hehe

 

 

Wow 1200/1000

Are these Ground controls?

Tell me about his shocks,what type?

 

They're Spoon adjustable dampers.

The car is not a street car by any means, and the spring rates will be reversed front to back.

Or so I hear...

 

They look like they dropped your car PERFECTLY!

 

Spoon adjustables are valved to take 1200lb springs?!!? geez.

 

WoW! All I have to say is: EP watch out! This guy is real close in having more Mugen parts than Mugen.

That's a fairly nice setup. Although, the price of the shocks for what it offers(plug&play setup), can not be justified. That's entirely my opinion of course.

I've been riding in a friend's ITR for some time now with this same exact setup. I'm impressed, the car feels alot more stable at high speeds and the ride height is just perfect for street driving. Not too low and not rallying.

Once again, thank you for giving your review and I hope you enjoy it.

One things for sure though, come time to sell those and you'll be guaranteed to have a good resale value.

len

 

phat shocks, looks real nice

 

too much money, give me some tein RAs

 

nice pics kelly-i'm jealous

 

speaking of pics... don't you owe me some, bud?

talk about making people jealous.

 

how much did that mugen suspension cost? looks j00cy good pics too...thansk for sharing...

 

SPORTS LOWDOWN ADJUSTABLE SUSPENSION
The Mugen Sports lowdown adjustable suspension kit has a 5-way adjustable damper which adjusts both bump and rebound simultaneously. This kit is matched with special Mugen springs that will lower your Integra 3/4". The kit is completely preassembled using special Mugen hard rubber mounts.
SPORTS LOWDOWN SUSPENSION
[97-2001 Type R] 50000-XG9R-K0S0 $1450.00

 

Someone needs to bump your % up to 101. Well written reviews on your new Mugen goods (intake and Lowdowns). Enjoy the car and nice seats. I just installed my SRDs a month ago.

 

I got them too cus of the street/track versatility and I absolutely love them!



hey btw are those 15's SSR's?

 

nice review man.

 

Wait 1 more year. Mine seem to have settled even more after a year. The car looks even lower now.

Have your tried 5F/5R on the street yet? That's quite an experience..
I like running 2F/3R on the street.. Its not too stiff, the car stays flat and for safety the car doesn't rotate as much as 1F/3R.

 

Lotta nice pics and info good job and enjoy

 

Nice review. That's a lot of money so i'm glad you like what you got

 

Your car is comming out

 

Agreed! I am a fan of your clear and concise postings, they are a great addition to HT's archives. And as George said this post is the reference that many will will promote the search for and well worth it.

Good luck and happy Mugen New Year, your Intake post was also another fave Now take that thing to the track and really tell us how it feels...


A.

 

thanks all, for the kind words. I did these posts(lowdown and intake) cause I felt a need to give back to H-T and more so to the Type R forum. I've learned a lot from each of you this past year... I just thought it was time I tried giving back for a change.

Outlaw R- yeah, those are 15x7.5 ssr comps. Great light wheels and widest I could find in 15". I'm just glad I don't have rubbing issues with the lowered susp. Hope your car is running great.

Arren123- your info and past posts were a great factor in determining to buy these. thanks for sharing your info. Haven't tried 5/5 but went 3/3 and it was enough to jar me around in the car and decided to back off. will try crazy combos once I get a good baseline to work from.


George and 1GreyTeg- That's the reason I've posted this.. to help others in determining if this is the way they want to go. There are definite upsides and downsides in going this route. Hopefully this will help others in some way.

I wish I were as lucky as you guys to be able to track my R. Unfortunately, locally there are no auto-x or track events. This is why I decided on going with what I consider the best street setup I could find. If track events ever become available in the future, I'm sure these will handle my initial foray into racing.

 

you cant adjust height with the mugens???

if not thats kinda poo.... imo

 

nope, not height adjustable. I'd state it a bit stronger than "poo" if I were a non supporter of this suspension, but I knew what I was getting into and I'm very happy with the result.

Fact is, I IM every lowdown owner I could find on this board before I bought these and each one of them raved about how great these were on their R. I figured, unless you're a hard core racer, these will suffice for daily driving(which is what my intent is) and some track use.