my friend gets 500 MPT, 98 maxima . . .

[jltibbs]

i have a friend that has a 98 max, and we can't figure out why he gets 500 MPT hwy and about 450 MPT city. originally, he was getting 450 hwy and 400 city, then we put on an injen intake. a couple of days ago we were talking about plugs. i, of course, follow the dealers rules and stick to the OE laser plats. he, on the other hand, goes against the grain in the worst possible way (IMO). he's using standard copper core NGK's. naturally, i flip my lid.

now, being that he is an extremely smart electrician, i asked his reasoning. his explanation:

"honestly, gold would be the best spark plug anyone could have because of it ability to conduct electricity so well. silver would be next, followed by copper. i stick to the basic principles of electricity, not marketing."

in theory, this seems pretty sound. i worked in mobile audio for about four years. as much as i hated the look of gold, i always used the gold terminals, connectors, and anything else i could find that was gold to make the connections i needed. i even used gold fuses.

so, as much as i want to believe this, i still think its due to the fact the this guy drives like a friggin grandpa. any input?

[Beancooker]

Copper plugs give a wider, fuller spark. The electrode is much larger also. I know that if you are using nitrous, it is common practice to use copper plugs. You carry less of a chance of "blowing out" the spark. They are actually good plugs, but the reason that platinum is OEM, is so that they can say that you don't need standard maintenance for 450,123,578,649 miles. If you keep your plugs fresh, no matter what type you use, your mileage and performance will benefit. Also, with plats you need to change yours every 50k miles or so... with copper, he needs to change his every 15-30k miles, depending on how he drives.

[jltibbs]

i change mine every 30k anyways. oh well