Spark plugs, which type ?

[davevm]

With the different types avaliable, which type would give above avg performance ?

 

[MickieH]

I hear the Denso Iridium's are supposed to be good, but never tried them.

 

[HDi fun]

Denso plugs are very good. The brand, is a subsidiary of, and owned by Nissan.

You can fit their iridium plugs and leave 'em alone for 70,000+ miles.

 

[thexav]

The thing is that a spark is a spark. No plug is going to be bigger or better or longer or brighter really.

Thin electrodes last longer and arguably are better for ignition than fat ones. As for the triple and quad core plugs, you still only get one spark from them so leave well alone.

 

[T9 man]

The thing is that a spark is a spark. No plug is going to be bigger or better or longer or brighter really.

Thin electrodes last longer and arguably are better for ignition than fat ones. As for the triple and quad core plugs, you still only get one spark from them so leave well alone.

Really I did not know this! thanks

 

[HDi fun]

For spark ignition engines the quality and timing of spark is more important than how many sparks there are. Many systems now use PWM digital ignition which will give something by way of spark which lasts a few 1/100 of a second.

Full ignition of the fuel/air charge is paramount.

Many cars specify multi-earth-electrode plugs as OEM equipment. Mine is one of those. It was a fashion thing a few years back.

Single cathode plugs of current design are probably better. Mine has Denso Iridium plugs fitted and it's absolutely fine, despite the fact that the factory fitment was quad cathode plugs.

 

[SLEEPER]

The thing is that a spark is a spark. No plug is going to be bigger or better or longer or brighter really.

Thin electrodes last longer and arguably are better for ignition than fat ones. As for the triple and quad core plugs, you still only get one spark from them so leave well alone.

Every now and again someone post something thats just nonsense and and this is such a time. There is no easy way to reply

Im sorry but I get really annoyed when people post a sweeping statement that is simply wrong .

Lets hope nobody reads it and puts crap plugs in a hi power engine.

It is true that on some engines - usually standard tune low power ones , you can use pretty much any plug - same as you can use low octane petrol and cheap oil.

On high power engines all the parts are critical -
You can no more use cheap plugs as you can low octane petrol or cheap oil.
if I (or t9 for example) put cheap plugs or low octane petrol in our engine we would be rebuilding it as soon as it ran high boost for any lenght of time.

Spark plugs are an absolute crucial part of the set up on a tuned engine.

On Rb26s (which is what I know about) virtually everyone uses NGK irridiums .
I pay under £50 for a set of six so there hardly expensive with petrol at £1.40 a litre .

Personally I have heard of densos breaking down quite often on high boost ( when spark really is important) and as NGKs are so cheap compared to the cost of the petrol we use I would only ever fit them

 

[pgarner]

im using the densos, and was advised to go a range cooler after the map.

 

[HDi fun]

I'm using Densos because my car is not turbocharged. Denso does have a range of Iridium tough plugs with are allegedly better suited to force fed applications but they are very expensive. Hence SLEEPER's decision to go with NGK, which are arguably and demonstrably cheaper.

Paying for quality is fine provided you get quality.

Say a spark is just a spark is a bit vague really. It's like wiring up high end hifi loudspeakers using doorbell wire.

 

[SLEEPER]

My decision to use ngk is because they are better suited than denso by miles for my engine (twin turbo engine and the highish boost I run).
Cost has nothing to do with it - I get a trade deal on NGKs and densos

I dont know about diesels or non turbo engines so I will happily defer to people who do

A good analergy is speaker wire -Similarly its horses for courses but there is a noticeable difference.
I have two Hi fi systems which run completely different speaker wire because one set of speakers is bi wired with twin monobloc audiolab transistor amps and the other has a pair of valve amps and electrostatic speakers

 

[obi_waynne]

Bad plugs or the wrong plugs will certainly sap performance. I doubt any plugs give a noticeable improvement in performance though as if they add something to the equation. As has been established, for everyday car engines as long as they are the right temperature for your engine you'll be ok and needn't worry about wasting money on extreme high performance plugs (but some will last noticably longer and this should also be considered).

The more tuned the engine the more critical the correct plug choice is. YOU CAN'T PUT JUST ANY PLUG in a high performance car, the end results can be devestating at worst or unreliable at best.

 

[HDi fun]

Which is why I don't have a high performance car. I like the idea of leaving the plugs alone for 70,000 - 80,000 miles.

 

[thexav]

Every now and again someone post something thats just nonsense and and this is such a time. There is no easy way to reply

Im sorry but I get really annoyed when people post a sweeping statement that is simply wrong .

Lets hope nobody reads it and puts crap plugs in a hi power engine.

It is true that on some engines - usually standard tune low power ones , you can use pretty much any plug - same as you can use low octane petrol and cheap oil.

On high power engines all the parts are critical -
You can no more use cheap plugs as you can low octane petrol or cheap oil.
if I (or t9 for example) put cheap plugs or low octane petrol in our engine we would be rebuilding it as soon as it ran high boost for any lenght of time.

Spark plugs are an absolute crucial part of the set up on a tuned engine.

On Rb26s (which is what I know about) virtually everyone uses NGK irridiums .
I pay under £50 for a set of six so there hardly expensive with petrol at £1.40 a litre .

Personally I have heard of densos breaking down quite often on high boost ( when spark really is important) and as NGKs are so cheap compared to the cost of the petrol we use I would only ever fit them

Just to defend myself here the original poster shows a standard Mazda 626 in his profile and my comments were with that in mind. It won't go any better with some fancy expensive plugs in it.

I do agree that if a car is extensively tuned then the correct spark plug choice is critical so I don't think there is anything more here than my comments being taken out of context really.

 

[SLEEPER]

The thing is that a spark is a spark. No plug is going to be bigger or better or longer or brighter really.

Thin electrodes last longer and arguably are better for ignition than fat ones. As for the triple and quad core plugs, you still only get one spark from them so leave well alone.

But your context is clear -

"No plug is " etc is hardly ambiguous and is hardly mazda specific.
Plus you state that ALL multicore plugs are crap and ther not.

still if you meant it about only mazdas fair enough. if youd said so you wouldnt have got the reply.