Coilover ratings, what do they mean?

[westy]

Hey,

Firstly, I had a quick search and could not find a previous topic.

I am looking at getting some coil overs for my daily (95 Lexus LS400) but am unsure what ones to get. The numbers (13kg front, 7kg rear), I gather, mean how many kg to compress it one millimetre but correct me if I am wrong.

I want to lower the car a fair bit, it is at stock height still, but also want the flexibility of changing height if I ever need to, otherwise I would just buy lowered springs and be done with it. I don't mind if the car firms up a bit, I only drive it from Forrestfield to Canning Vale via Roe Hwy on weekdays for work and sometimes up the freeway on weekends. I have no idea of what a stock spring would be either. Most I see are 8kg or there about. Have seen one set at 50kg, advertised for stanced cars only though so I assume this has no movement at all.

I have never bothered with suspension before but I am going to be ordering some BBS LM style wheels soon and want to have the car looking semi-right. This brings me to the next question: Would the BBS LM suit a full size luxury car? I have Google'ed it but can not find a pic anywhere. The specs are going to be 20x8.5 +35 (245/35R20) and 20x10 +35 (275/30R20) so nothing wild there.

If it were for one of my Sprinters or something, I would probably be able to get the right advice easily enough but that's a couple of years away yet.

Thanks and hopefully I can get a straight answer that I can make sense of.
Aaron

[duste]

Correct, a 2kg/mm spring will compress 1mm if a 2kg mass is applied to it.

13kg seems a bit stiff, but spring-rates are very much car-dependent and proper selection would take a lot of factors in to consideration such as corner-weighting and suspension geometry. You could calculate the appropriate spring rate for your application, but I wouldn't bother considering it's just a daily, and would just go with what's available off the shelf.

As for the BBS LMs suiting the car...style-wise, BBS LM are pretty much the TE37 of the "Euro" scene; they'll suit 95% of Euros and, given the Lexus is very much a Euro-styled Jap car, they should suit it fine.

[westy]

The above rates were just an example, think they will be about 8 and 6 or so.

I'm not completely sold on the LM at the moment but I am going to start stocking them so I need to use them to start with and then I can get some 3 piece 20x9 and 20x12 5 spokes made up later.

[Mr Scorpio]

Just a heads up LS400 coilovers generally run what may look like an aggressive spring rate but in actual fact ride quite well for daily duties ;)

[uzx83]

i think from memory 14kg front and 10kg rear?

[tinto]

The wheels look better than I was expecting.. See post #10 for some reps. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400/596260-bbs-lm-or-like-on-98-00-ls400.html

[uzx83]

Aaron I typed in bbs lm ls400 and/or bbs lm cel suit and it came up with a fee, they look really good!