[MOD] Moved from 1zz performance gains thread [MOD]
alot of people are using Iridium spark plugs, does it really work for power? and which one do you recommend?
The Iridium spark plugs are unlikely to offer any tangible performance gain over a normal copper plug that has the correct gap. However, the Iridium tipped plugs are designed to stay in the engine and maintain their gap over 60,000 miles, so where a copper plug needs the gap checking every 10,000 mile service to ensure optimum performance, the Iridium ones can be left alone. The advantages of this are mainly in the reduction of maintenance and the fact you have to disturb wires, connectors and coil packs less often.
I use the Denso Iridium IK16 plugs and the car feels good on them. I have done a back to back dyno test with the Denso Iridiums and the Denso Copper and found no measurable difference.
Chris
I believe that the performance gains claimed by the DENSO iridium plugs are real but are only really effective on very high rpm applications (i.e. motor bikes etc...). Doubt that the increased spark energy really offers any advantage in passenger car applications.
Key benefit is like Chris says, maintenance. I heard previously that they are designed and developed to do up to 100k miles as they are very resistant to wear.
Andy.
I run Greddy Iridium 8 which are a cooler plug than standard which helps with the tunning, especially if you are running a bespoke map as I do.
Rob.
I have read on a lot of mapping sites that copper plugs should be used for a mapping session and not iridium. Presumably detonation issues are behind that.
Quote from: "loadswine"I have read on a lot of mapping sites that copper plugs should be used for a mapping session and not iridium. Presumably detonation issues are behind that.
Not sure if that makes sense Nigel, what's the difference between running on the road and mapping session, if you change the plug to a cooler one then your map will not be right ? Surely you need to map the car to what's fitted from the start.
supposedly iridium is more brittle and detonation can break teh plug
the theory being that a properly tuned car on teh road won't det
one in teh process of mapping will det whilst teh tune is finalised
Having a guess here, but the physical size of an Iridium electrode means it will heat and cool much quicker than a copper one. This means it will be less tolerant of transient overheating. The plug would effectively have a narrower range too. The solution would be to run a cooler grade if you run into problems while mapping.
Chris
Quote from: "loadswine"I have read on a lot of mapping sites that copper plugs should be used for a mapping session and not iridium.
Many actually prefer copper plugs with high boost. Apparently Iridiums have trouble staying in one piece when the temps get high enough and copper just stands the abuse a lot better. They do wear out a lot faster too.
Guess I'm not in the high boost region yet. s:D :D s:D I've had no issues with Iridiums, though I'm using IK24 myself. IIRC, that's 3 steps colder than stock.