What's the best NGK Spark Plug for our cars?

[steelcity]

I'm thinking of going with Iridium, but I see that "IX" version so I'm confused now???

Is the Iridium better than Platinum performance wise?

[EniGmA1987]

Platinum's last the longest, Iridium is next down on the lifetime, and copper has the shortest lifetime. Generally you can look at it like Copper = 30K miles, Iridium = 65K miles, plat = 100k miles. Performance wise it goes in the opposite order, Copper is best Platinum is worst. However the performance difference between copper and platinum is not huge so it probably wont make much difference unless you have some serious mods and a tune for them. You would probably get better overall performance if you bought a ton of plugs and hand matched a whole set of 6 together to all have very close resistances than just going from a random set of platinums to a random set of iridium.

[Ilya]

^^ Nail. Meet head. lol.

[Larz]

LOL @ Ilya.

Steel, you got the most important part bang-on: NGK. I have read about troubles with Pulstars and Bosch plugs in this forum. I will also use NGK Platinum when the time comes.

[steelcity]

Oh yea. NGK is rule of thumb. I use to have a 96 Maxima. Only NGK's on my babies. I ended up going with the Iridium ones.

[steelcity]

Whats a good gap for the spark plugs guys?

[EniGmA1987]

Whatever the stock gap is

[steelcity]

A little more wont hurt

Is the stock 1.1?

[Six_Legs]

A little more wont hurt

Is the stock 1.1?

.044 is plug gap.

[Costee]

Platinum's last the longest, Iridium is next down on the lifetime, and copper has the shortest lifetime. Generally you can look at it like Copper = 30K miles, Iridium = 65K miles, plat = 100k miles.

Goodness! I'd always thought Iridiums lasted longer than Platinums. Why are they somewhat more expensive?

[EniGmA1987]

Not sure. Maybe iridium is more of an exotic metal than platinum? Platinum is pretty expensive but is used extensively, and can be spread extremely thin, so it could also be that the double platinums have such thin layers of the metal over it's copper core that it really just doesnt add much to the cost. Then again, I don't know the cost of Iridum so maybe it actually is just more expensive of a metal than platinum.

[steelcity]

Iridium might be one of these "rare earth minerals"

[EniGmA1987]

Oh it is, but so is platinum. They are both from the same group of metals too. Both are some of the rarest metals on earth and are found more abundantly in asteroids than in the Earth.

[pedsemdoc]

FYI: I bought 6 NGK laser platinum plugs off Fleabay for about $50 2 years ago - should be able to get them for cheaper than stealership and regular retail...

[Larz]

Platinum and iridium are related metals. Both were discovered by the Brits, btw. Iridium is the most dense metal in the periodic chart, the most corrosive resistant meta, and 2nd highest melting point. Iridium is 6X stronger than platinum. The best plug for our cars is the NGK Laser Iridium (NGK iR). It has a copper core, an iridium igniter, and fires at a platinum surface so it has copper, iridium and platinum. Here is a video from NGK that explains each type of plug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFkCVNhXMF0

[steelcity]

I feel like I just finished watching National Geographic and i also feel like a d**k for not getting the lasers