Why does a spark plug cost 50 dollars?

[SIR REAL ED]

Faffi,

We need you to run an experiment. 

Photograph 4 different brand new spark plugs (NGK-iridium, Brand X-copper, Chernobyl-plutonium, and UFO-unobtainium).
Gap all four plugs to the same measurement.  Install in your Skoda. 

Remove all four plugs every 1,000 miles to re-photograph and re-measure the gap.

Science needs those who are willing to boldly go where no man has ever gone before!!!

[faffi]

"I do cars" (youtube channel) pulls what he consider to be original spark plugs from time to time, and if they have done big miles they do not look good.

[Bisbee]

Go to Rock Auto.com. Find your plug. I replaced all 16 plugs in my Durango Hemi for about $14 each. Bosch double iridium. The best. The originals at 100,000 still looked good and the gaps were at spec. No need to overspend.

[SIR REAL ED]

IIRC, back around 1976, when the EPA requirements were new, many of the American auto manufacturers were struggling to get some cars to run decently.  Our 1976 Ford LTD (351 Winsor engine, IIRC) was one of the crappy runners.  Never ever ran as good as the same engine from years earlier.  Many times a decent engine from the pre-emission early 1970's or 1960's was considered as a replacement.

No big surprise there.  Those ancient combustion chambers would burn almost anything, but not very cleanly!  Kinda like farm tractors from 80 years ago.

Again, IIRC, one of the solutions at the time were high energy ignition systems, with spark plugs gapped at 0.060-0.080".

Motorcycle ignition systems seemed to have had a gap of 0.028-0.032" forever.  According to some experts, because motorcycle ignition coils never, ever put out much energy.

Interesting that those high energy ignition systems bit the dust when the combustion chamber designs were improved, and fuel injection came on line.

[SIR REAL ED]

Eureka!

The Skoda plugs have a shorter life span due to the colder climate!

Colder air has a higher oxygen content than warmer.  Think about using an Ox-Acetylene torch as an analogy!

More oxygen, more oxidation, faster erosion of the metal.

If you guys have any other problems you want solved, I'll be here all week......

More likely than not, the lower life is driven by emissions requirements.

[Kev m]

I would expect to get at least 100,000 miles out of brake rotors.  Granted with all the twisty mountain roads in your country, that mileage would be much less.

On the table top flat parts of the American midwest, I would imagine a lot of drivers get exceptional mileage (300,000 miles?) from brake rotors.

Can't speak to the Midwest, but I can think of two vehicles from my past that went through multiple sets of rotors in under 100k in Pennsylvania, both a Jeep XJ Cherokee and a Mini Cooper S.

Though granted with the Mini my wife's driving style would be best described as "binary". 

[MikeP996]

How can they sell a spark plug for 50 bucks?  Easy...the same way they can sell audio interconnect cables for $2000+  By having marketing people convince folks that their product is so good it ignores the laws of physics!!!   

[turboguzzi]

lets compare apples to apples. normal iridium is the prices we all know,

"laser iridium", used often in turbo cars, has platinum coating on ground strap, so double the price.

until we know what plugs went in there, hard to make a call

[Stretch]

Go to Rock Auto.com. Find your plug. I replaced all 16 plugs in my Durango Hemi for about $14 each. Bosch double iridium. The best. The originals at 100,000 still looked good and the gaps were at spec. No need to overspend.

SparkPlugs.com is also a good place to buy spark plugs. $11 apiece or so for iridium plugs.

Of course, this is in the US and not Europe.

$50 apiece? Sounds as if you got taken for a ride. 

                                         -Stretch

[Perazzimx14]

SparkPlugs.com is also a good place to buy spark plugs. $11 apiece or so for iridium plugs.

Of course, this is in the US and not Europe.

$50 apiece? Sounds as if you got taken for a ride. 

                                         -Stretch

No option for BMW Motorrad @ SparkPlugs.com 

[SIR REAL ED]

In response to the original question, why not charge $50?

If people will pay $X, then someone will charge $X.

It is up to the consumer to decide if the purchase price is worth it.

Who hasn't used Carb Cleaner, a wire brush, and a propane torch to rejuvenate a fouled spark plug?

Remember the good ole days when you could buy the little spark plug sandblasting units from the ads in a motorcycle magazine....


This thread would make a great episode for Project Farm. 

Run the plugs and after every 5,000 miles (approximately 20,000,000 sparks?), clean them, re-gap them, measure electrode and ground dimensions, run a series of continuity/resistance tests, sharpen the eroded/round edges with a file, test for the maximum gap the spark would jump after refurbishment....

Wouldn't that be the cat's pajamas if we learned that spark plugs have a infinite life with just a little TLC....

[Perazzimx14]

In response to the original question, why not charge $50?

If people will pay $X, then someone will charge $X.

It is up to the consumer to decide if the purchase price is worth it.

Who hasn't used Carb Cleaner, a wire brush, and a propane torch to rejuvenate a fouled spark plug?

Remember the good ole days when you could buy the little spark plug sandblasting units from the ads in a motorcycle magazine....


This thread would make a great episode for Project Farm. 

Run the plugs and after every 5,000 miles (approximately 20,000,000 sparks?), clean them, re-gap them, measure electrode and ground dimensions, run a series of continuity/resistance tests, sharpen the eroded/round edges with a file, test for the maximum gap the spark would jump after refurbishment....

Wouldn't that be the cat's pajamas if we learned that spark plugs have a infinite life with just a little TLC....

Cannot clean and re-gap what isn't there.

[faffi]

There was a time we used to file the center electrode flat and clean the electrodes every few thousands of miles, but as I understand it, that will not work with the spark plugs fitted to most new engines. Old, simple cheap spark plugs will not work forever, either. I have had lots short inside, making them not spark at all, or emitting a weak spark. So overall, spark plugs of today are pretty darn good. Unless they are cheap fakes, which are no good most of the time.

[Motormike]

Back in the days of leaded fuel, spark plugs didn't last very long.  Now, with all the high-tech metals, they last (as noted) 100,000 miles.  Unless you ride a two-stroke, then they still don't last very long! 

[SIR REAL ED]

Cannot clean and re-gap what isn't there.

Oh come on now, any weldor worth his salt could tig weld some new iridium on those plugs....

[faffi]

Perhaps somewhat on topic
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6KrBx8naSmA