which are the best spark plugs? i always thought that copper was the best conductor, next to gold, but i see lots of platinum and iradium spark plugs on the market. which is the best spark plug for the best price?

 

Copper.

All that other crap is just harder metals for longevity, that's all. No increase in performance, they just last longer between maintainence intervals. I check my plugs pretty often anyways, so copper is the way I go.

 

Split Fires! no im kidding, the best plugs for your car is what the OEM calls for. If the car didnt come with platinum, it doesnt need them. Plugs like that have a high resistance & can cause a misfire.

 

umm... just make sure the temperature is set correctly so u can keep them clean while they are in there, its a fine line between them being too cold and getting fouled with engine contaminates because they arent able to clean themselves or them getting too hot and starting to glow causing predetonation and misfires.

 

The manual for my 00 GS-r suggested NGK and Denso. I just had the Denso plugs put in w/ magnacor 8.5 mm plug wires and I noticed an increase in fuel efficiency and it may be totally unrelated, but it seems to start easier regardless of temp.

If I understand it correctly the purpose of using different materials in plugs is to affect the temp of the spark itself. The Denso iridiums had a much higher spark temp.

 

Any new spark plugs will help fuel economy and easier starting if your old ones needed to be replaced. It's called regular maintainence.No, the purpose of using different materials is to make them less affected by temperature. If you use a harder material like iridium it doesn't melt off in the same time frame and conditions like copper will. You won't be getting a hotter spark either if the conductor has a higher resistance. I would rather spend under $2 per plug and change out copper plugs on a regular basis than spending a lot more for plugs that I would still pull out and check on those regular intervals. There's been more than one occasion where all I've done is re-gapped my copper plugs and put them back in, back in business.

 

yah and to just add on 1stgencrxer, the spark plugs u choose for u car should really be dependant on the ceramic tip that the plug has, the differently shaped tips have either more or less ceramic (or i guess u could consider less of a tip surrounded by the ceramic) the bigger tip the plug has the easier it can discipate the heat, but u need a plug that can stay hot to clean itself and also stay cool enough to not start glowing and cause predetonation, and other unwanted conditions, i know i have a site on this..... ummm... here u go,
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/ignition-system2.htm
read up on this and go into the differences in the plugs. this will give u guys a little better understanding of what ur putting in ur cars. i use normal 1.99 plugs and check them often because plugs are one of the easiest things to check to diagnose ur engine and its condition, and should be one of the first things u check when u run into any problems with ur engine.