Spark plugs

mbalbritton

mbalbritton

#@$%!
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Lakeland, FL
What the fawk makes the spark plugs in my 08 Honda Accord so much more expensive than any I've ever put in my jeeps?

Jeep AC Delco plug-$3
Accord AC Delco plug -$8
I got the Champions at $8

I'd rather have gone NGK but I'm not paying 15-20/ plug!!!

Why the price difference?
 
They are 100k mile plugs. Plan on changing the crap you put in every 30k.
 
You should be able to get NGK iridium for either engine offered in that car for less than $10 each online. The Honda NGK stuff is good for 60-100k miles usually, so you'll get your money's worth over time. You can run whatever you want, you'll just change them far more often than the OE-type iridium. A lot of the modified Honda engine guys run Bosch or some other brand and change them a lot, but have more choices to switch to a colder plug, etc. There is a tradeoff, the iridium usually isn't the most powerful plug because of lower conductivity, but that's the long life compromise and you're not squeezing every last drop of power from your Accord I assume. If you're just commuting, get the OE iridium part and you're good for a loooong time.
 
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Champions in an Asian vehicle, you'll be replacing them again soon.

Denso or NGK, Asian plugs in Asian vehicles, I dunno why, but my junk has always run better, I've tried various plugs in the past, mostly based on price, and ended up back to OEM

Champions go in Mopars

AC Delco in GM

Autolite in Ford

Bosch in Eurotrash.

Platinum/Irridium plugs in an engine not designed for them is a waste of $$ and time, you'll be back replacing them again sooner than you'd like. Platinum plugs are intended to run hot and many engines do not run hot enough, so they don't burn hot enough to clean themselves
 
Blkvoodoo said:
Asian plugs in Asian vehicles, I dunno why, but my junk has always run better
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Well, there's 137k Mike on it now. Couldn't tell you if these are OE or if they've ever been replaced. I'm guessing they are factory installed.

The Champions I got are iridium for what that's worth. Guess we'll see in a year or two how they do.

I'm also amazed at how small the electrode is. It can't be but about 1mm wide
 
Croatan_Kid said:
@Blkvoodoo LS engines like NGK plugs too!
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I'd put an NGK or Denso in anything before I'd go with a Champion

I was told by a Toyota parts guy once Not Good Kind (NGK) are inferior to Denso, I find that odd as Toyota installs BOTH brands in the same engine on opposite banks on several engines ( 5VZE 3.4, 1GR 4.0 being the most known )
 
I install
NGK - everything except
GM - AcDelco (rebranded ngk I heard)
Ford - Motorcraft (rebranded Ngk, heard)
Harley consulted with Ngk on theirs while Eric Buell worked there. (I heard all this from a former ngk vp)

I should post a pic of a Bosch platinum plus 2 I removed from a 4.6 ford. I never install Bosch or autolite.
 
mbalbritton said:
I find it hard to believe that any of these spark plug manufactures can't make a spark that's not as good as the others. It's a stick of metal wrapped in ceramic.
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That's what i thought, but material and manufacturing differences can contribute to resistance to fouling, arcing along the porcelain, etc.
 

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my subi went 175k on factory plugs. guess what went back in it! (even at $15 each, thats good math)
 
@1-tonmudder The iridiums definitely are. I was talking about the TR5 or TR6 copper plugs. They're cheaper and have much better spark (copper is a better conductor), the 6 is a colder plug for boost, nitrous, or slightly higher compression. It never occured to me that so many people used copper plugs still, but a lot of guys do and change them more often.
 
mbalbritton said:
I find it hard to believe that any of these spark plug manufactures can't make a spark that's not as good as the others. It's a stick of metal wrapped in ceramic.
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Making a piece of metal alloy conduct energy and not melt or erode for 10s of thousands of miles, and making ceramic conduct the right amount of heat to promote combustion but not promote detonation while resisting breaking apart from cylinder pressure waves. . There's a lot that goes into a plug design...
 
The wife's 4runner has 250k currently on the clock. It is still running the factory plugs, I've pulled af few over the years just to take a look. They still show very little wear. Always had the thought I'd replace them when one failed, now I'm just curious how far they can make it. Can't beat a yota!
 
Fabrik8 said:
Making a piece of metal alloy conduct energy and not melt or erode for 10s of thousands of miles, and making ceramic conduct the right amount of heat to promote combustion but not promote detonation while resisting breaking apart from cylinder pressure waves. . There's a lot that goes into a plug design...
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Uh oh, somebody designs spark plugs and I just simplified his job. :D

Yes, I realize there's more to it than Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore spinning ceramic around a metal rod in a seductive manner.

Point being that there are far more complex things that we design.
 
On a side note, does anyone know if the NGK Ceramics plant in Mooresville makes plugs? I know NGK also makes a lot of cat converter cores too. I've been wondering what that plant does when I drive past...
 
Croatan_Kid said:
@1-tonmudder The iridiums definitely are. I was talking about the TR5 or TR6 copper plugs. They're cheaper and have much better spark (copper is a better conductor), the 6 is a colder plug for boost, nitrous, or slightly higher compression. It never occured to me that so many people used copper plugs still, but a lot of guys do and change them more often.
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Yep, @untchabl talked me into trying a set of TR5s in my buggy and I really like them. At $15 a set I couldn't buy two iridium delco plugs for that. They are available at most any parts store too.
 
To be honest, Ive been an NGK fan since my first dirt bike as a kid.

Now a word about spark plugs ....
Quit buying the overpriced hype and go with OEM or OEM style in NGK.
We found this out when racing stock cars.
An engineer and speedshop owner was at our shop one night as we were finishing up a new engine install and he asked why we were using the Bosch plugs (which at the time were 3 times the price of regular plugs)
A few days later he demonstrated the plugs to our owner/driver/engine builder on a plug dyno.
OEM consistently gave a better, more usable spark that sometimes was multiples more powerful than even the highest dollar plug.
NGK, and Denso OEM style were the two he recommended.

Matt
 
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