Speedy

Stock plugs on my 98.5 are 3-prong Bosch. The Platin is a single prong, platinum plug. Any info for good or bad on these?

Thanks for the help!

Cheers,

Dr. Mike

Hiya,

The reason for platinum's popularity (especially in recent automotive history) is longevity. A good platinum plug will last 60k miles. In these days of huge service intervals, it is a nice selling point.

Now for you, interested in performance, know this: copper conducts electricity better than platinum. Most tuners use copper plugs. Most professional race car teams use copper.

Stick with the stock plugs and swap them every 15k for the price of the platinums.

Cheers,

Michael

xr4tic

Maybe they are fine with the stock chip with low boost, but the higher boost and heat will kill them quickly.

Speedy

...interestingly enough, they are the spark plug recommended by Joe Hoppen Motorsport for use with the MTM chip (which I have).

I just thought I'd solicit other opinions. Thanks!

Cheers,

dingster

APR S3 comes with platinum plugs as well.

CharlieGSanD

platinum will handle higher temps.
thats just what ive heard

Jimmy Pribble

My Bosch F5DPOR (single prong), which are stock on my UrS4, are Bosch Platin, but not Bosch Platinum. This may be a "brand name" issue. These are very different plugs! Don't get confused.

So, the answer to your question is yes, I use Bosch Platin, they come stock on UrS4, and no other plug (including Bosch Platinum) is recommended or known to be acceptable for the AAN motor. Unfortunately, they are $18/ea. :-(

I will let others discuss your specific vehicle application.

HTH,

xr4tic

The spark can jump only one gap at a time, and it will jump to the one with least resistance. So my guess is when one ground starts to wear, it goes to another, until it wears, and back and forth, etc. It doesn't really do anything for perfomance, just lets it perform for longer.

Speedy

...but I think that is the same plug Hoppen recommends. I thought (or at least assumed) it was a platinum plug, but I see that is not correct.

At any rate, Hoppen has confirmed they are the plug they recommend, so now I just have to decide to spend that kind of money or not (as you mentioned above.) Thanks!

Cheers,

eharleq

This is absolutely untrue as a generalization.

Platinum plugs have a greater heat range and a much longer service life than other plugs. There are some design specific issues with certifying a specific plug with a specific application. (Say Bosch plat +4's in the 1.8 T.)

I have run bosch plat plugs in several high boost turbo motors without a single problem.

You may be confusing detonation induced problems that have broken some plat plugs. The detonation would have broken any other plug on the market as well. Detonation is an operator error (octane/advance/deafness), not a plug design problem.