Is it worth getting iradium spark plugs over the stock platinum plugs for performance gains.

Thanks Glen

 

I too have wondered about this. I went to the Denso or NGK website and was reading their QA section and they said that although you will experience slight improvment in performance, its almost negligible and certainly not noticeable with seat of pants dyno. You may also notice improved mileage, but I don't expect that this will be too significant. If it was time to change my plugs, I would consider Iridium, but not until then.

 

I'd stay away from those radioactive plugs if I were you.

Just kidding....

Some time back I was getting my other car (a Toyota) tuned up and got to talking to the shop owner. He basically told me that the extra cost of the iridium plugs was not worth it. Stick to the platinums was his advice.

 

if you do a search for plugs, i believe dwnshft had issues with them...could be wrong...

 

Try a search, I have Denso IKH16 and love them.

I did alot of research on this board. Search.

 

I have been running high octane fuel in my modded 350Z (see my signature for details). An independent gas station near my house sells 101 octane race gas for $3.99/gal. I use it straight, or mixed with 91 octane, so that my tank octane never drops below 95 or 96 octane.

Should I be running better spark plugs that stock???

P.S. I do lots of racetrack events with a full tank of 100 octane.

 

Unless your doing a MAJOR engine mod (think FI), I wouldn't bother. Besides, changing your plugs is kind of a pain (I did switch to iridiums when I installed my Vortech).

 

you wont get more HP using iridium(nothing measured by the butt dyno anyway). However they last longer. How hard are the plugs to change on these cars anyway? I won't need to find out for quite some time. If these plugs are difficult to change, then get the iridium's so they won't have to be changed as often. I use iridium plugs on my camaro SS because they are such a PITA(especially passenger side). So if the plugs are difficult on my G35....you can bet I'll be using iridium.

Some spark plug facts:

Copper is the best conductor of electricity among the metals commonly used in spark plugs.

Having said that, although copper is a better conductor, copper electrodes and their performance begin degrading within 7000 miles, so they are only the best if you change them frequently.
The next best electrical conductor is iridium and then platinum. Iridium is the least affected by heat and so lasts much longer than the other two metals while still being a good conductor of electricity.

Melting point temperatures of the three main electrode metals:

Copper = 1981.4 degrees F

Platinum = 3221.6 degrees F

Iridium = 4370 degrees F !!!

 

Changing these plugs won't be nearly as bad as the number 8 on your F body (I used to have one, too), it's just a lot of stuff to take off and then put back on--all with different inch/pound torque specs.

 

wait you mean its not true that iridium spark plugs add over 30hp to the wheels? I'm shocked!!!