- Joined
- May 26, 2006
- Messages
- 775
- Points
- 1,518
In the beginning...we had only steel spark plugs...and nobody had any complaints...
Then, someone created the Platinum Plug...and we said..."WOW! They last so long!"... and some others chipped in, "...and they produce a much stronger spark"... The second statement, I always held in some suspicion as those who initially propogated this argument were people who actually SOLD spark plugs, and who the heck can actually look into a cylinder to SEE the "much stronger spark"...
...around this time, plug manufacturers discovered the amazing field of "Marketing"...or in more common circles refered to as "Structured Bull Shit" i.e. the ancient art of convincing people to buy things they don't really need, at prices they can't really afford, with features they don't truly understand, and from distributors they shouldn't really trust!
Henceforth, you may refer to this definition as "Defcon's Job Description"...
Suddenly, the market was flooded with tens of variants of the humble spark plug...from platinums to irridiums, twin spark to quad spark, normal electrode to side gapped, copper cored, from normal to extreme performance, from single to double platinum (whatever that means) and with a variety of "heat ranges" which basically was a measure of whether the plug was longer or shorter. We call this, in marketing terms,"product diversification" or basically, "slap the same stuff into a different packaging design, change the cosmetic outlook and charge 20% more to cover the additional advertising costs"...
At the end of the day...the REAL benefits of all these variants are simply glossed over in bold advertising language and technical jargon designed to confuse yet impress the consumer.
I recently threw out the irridiums I had running on my Ceffy and replaced them with the original humble platinum plug. I now have more torque, and better FC. This could be because these plugs are new and my irridiums were old...but you'd imagine that a guy with my experience would be able to tell the difference...
My advise...try it yourself and save a few bucks in the process...
Then, someone created the Platinum Plug...and we said..."WOW! They last so long!"... and some others chipped in, "...and they produce a much stronger spark"... The second statement, I always held in some suspicion as those who initially propogated this argument were people who actually SOLD spark plugs, and who the heck can actually look into a cylinder to SEE the "much stronger spark"...
...around this time, plug manufacturers discovered the amazing field of "Marketing"...or in more common circles refered to as "Structured Bull Shit" i.e. the ancient art of convincing people to buy things they don't really need, at prices they can't really afford, with features they don't truly understand, and from distributors they shouldn't really trust!
Henceforth, you may refer to this definition as "Defcon's Job Description"...
Suddenly, the market was flooded with tens of variants of the humble spark plug...from platinums to irridiums, twin spark to quad spark, normal electrode to side gapped, copper cored, from normal to extreme performance, from single to double platinum (whatever that means) and with a variety of "heat ranges" which basically was a measure of whether the plug was longer or shorter. We call this, in marketing terms,"product diversification" or basically, "slap the same stuff into a different packaging design, change the cosmetic outlook and charge 20% more to cover the additional advertising costs"...
At the end of the day...the REAL benefits of all these variants are simply glossed over in bold advertising language and technical jargon designed to confuse yet impress the consumer.
I recently threw out the irridiums I had running on my Ceffy and replaced them with the original humble platinum plug. I now have more torque, and better FC. This could be because these plugs are new and my irridiums were old...but you'd imagine that a guy with my experience would be able to tell the difference...
My advise...try it yourself and save a few bucks in the process...
