well I'm around 28k miles now on my 2000 protege dx, I'm wondering whether its time for new spark plugs yet? (I know, bad me.. I haven't checked my owners or service manual to look but I think its time..)..

also.. has anybody tried denso plugs yet? if yes, what model of denso plug would I want? <there's the "hot" and "cooler" plug..>

I would prefer fuel economy over performance (1.6 is slow anyway.. hehe)

thanks alot,
David
'00 Protege DX
http://323.itgo.com

 

For plug change, you have different views. If you look at racers, they normally change their plugs every race. Copper plugs do wear out quicker. One of the reasons to go with something like the Denso Iridiums is because they will give you a better overall performance for the life of the plug. Whereas the copper plugs may wear out in no time & start hurting your performance, fuel ecomony, etc. I think the Densos are a decent plug but I know that this string is about to get into a war on plugs. My view on plugs based on research done when it comes to the way an engine runs & the general idea behind a performance plug like the Densos. First off, like I said, they are going to give you peak performance for much much longer than a copper plug (I know people that change their coppers every 1000-3000 miles with just daily driving). Secondly, they are going to burn more efficiently giving you better fuel economy & better performance (granted, it may not be noticable when you put your foot on the gas). Now, just like with any mod, you see a better performance with the whole package. You may not see much of anything if you only replace your plugs with Densos. But do that with the exhaust & intake & whatever else you do, and it makes it even better. All in all, I feel Densos or performance plugs will do a good job. I will be putting a set in my Pro5 this week to test them on the Proteges. And, heat wise, go with the 20s (colder) because you dont need the hotter plug. The 20s are a good every day use plug. Now, Im sure I'll get some people jumping on my case about saying that which is fine. Just please say more than they arent any good and you wont feel any performance gains. I hear that a ton but never anything more than that. I dont know many people that feel a performance gain with a K&N air filter but those are good upgrades if you arent doing a full intake.

 

Wow, every 3K miles? I've never heard of anyone that does daily driving majority of the time and occasional "hot-rodding" changing their plugs that often. I thought the normal practice is every 30K miles? Please tell me if I'm wrong because then I have not been keeping up on my maintenance as well as I thought I was.