I'm using NGK Iridiums and FR wires. I changed them out a while back when I had to take the car in for a warranty and I could definatly tell a difference.
That's interesting that all of you still have your stock plugs - especially at 78K miles!
Ford actually recommends changing the plugs every 100,000 miles.
I too took the stock plugs out when I changed wires. I went to Autolite double Plat. They were ok but didn't have the feel that I was looking for. I tried NGK Irridiums and they were worse. I finally switched to Splitfires. The feel and response was there. The fuel efficiency was there and they crapped out at 25K miles. I am now running Splifire triple Plat in my Zectec, even though they are for the SPI. Fuel efficiency is ok but the response is terrific. I spoke with the people who make them and they don't think they will hold up for too long. But they will replace them if the go bad within 3 years regardless of mileage.
Bosch +2 and +4 are not recomended for the Zetec and can screw up the idle. The original plugs were two single Plat Motorcraft and two double Motorcrafts. It is Ford's way of cheaping out but allowing for the " limp home" mode if needed. If you are not going to push the engine I would say, switch over to Motorcraft double Plat or Autolite doubles.
Don't use bosch. There bad for the focus mkay! You need to put a ford designed high performance plug in you car. I'm running a screamin deamon coil and livewires and they absolutly love the motorcraft plats. They run about 10 bucks a piece but they rock. Thats the same plug Rousch run in there cars. trust me when I say bosch is bad. I run the juice and it did not run that good. No it did not. Motorcraft PLATS. I swear by them. I've been running them for 50K and not a single problem.
____________________ To be the Man! You must first beat the Man.
myprecious38 wrote: Don't use bosch. There bad for the focus mkay! You need to put a ford designed high performance plug in you car. I'm running a screamin deamon coil and livewires and they absolutly love the motorcraft plats. They run about 10 bucks a piece but they rock. Thats the same plug Rousch run in there cars. trust me when I say bosch is bad. I run the juice and it did not run that good. No it did not. Motorcraft PLATS. I swear by them. I've been running them for 50K and not a single problem.
Did you gap them to .065?
____________________ Captain Morgan and Dr.Pepper are my homies....
right now, i'm using bosch platinum +4's, and JBA Spark Plug wires...i either wanna go back to stock, plugs or get the NGK Iridiums...bosch is wack...i don't really like it...i thought it was good, but now it's starting to give me little problems...
____________________ Racing a Honda is like being in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.
GROUP-B!!!!
R.I.P Aayrton Senna DaSilva 1960-1994 (Best F1 driver in the World...)
bosch +4's suck tha ballz....., i have em in my car and they make my idle shitty. im gonna try the motorcraft platinums i guess.. but i want to get MSD wires n coilpack
plug choice is 100% up to you. If you look around online you'll hear people praise plats here and curse them elsewhere. From the factory the zetec comes with two plats and two double plats. haha don't ask me why. You can't go wrong with factory plugs. Often times people will have an issue, not know what it is, mess around, fix the issue without knowing it and say "oh my god what i did (think they did) was what fixed it" like for example, if you have a plug wire that's not seated correctly, you can have really bad performance, take em off, put in new "jdm super vtec pro" plugs, put the wires back on correctly and voila, problem solved. We run the copper fc22's, simply because they are colder and perform better for higher hp applications (boost, nitrous etc) They are about a buck a piece, and when rode hard last really well for about a week. For regular use, they can last as long as factory plats, but if you give em hell it's best to replace em often. For 4 bucks a change they're pretty much disposable.
My advice on zetec ignition is to focus on plug wires. It's one of the best peace of mind products you can buy. I've taken oem plug wires off for the first time and had problems with them from then on dozens of times. Ford racing wires are great, we get em thru a sponsor, so that's all we use. FS ones, the big name brands, they're all pretty much the same, the important part is that they are 10x as good as oem.
Everyone will have different views on plugs, just shop around and try what u want to. Get good wires and take care of your engine and it'll treat you right. IMO splitfires, +4's etc are a waste of money, but if you want to use em, go for it. Regular plats and double plats will give you as much performance as anything on the zetec.
I have the Bosch +4 plugs and Focus Sport wires. It's been about 3k since I did this. A few months ago, I noticed a surge at part-throttle acceleration and a drop in fuel mileage. No codes, all filters and fluids replaced according to schedule, I bought the car new and now it has 40k on it.
Took the car to the Ford dealer, of course there were no codes. The mechanic said "It could be the gap on the sparkplugs, it looks excessive to me" I thought he was full of s*it, but after reading some posts here and on other Focus websites, now I am not so sure.
So many different experiences from people, but I've seen more negative experiences with the Bosch plugs in these forums then anything. Looks like I get to use the Bosch "If you don't like them, send them back to us" guarantee.
Update: Replaced the Bosch plugs with Autolite Double Platinum plugs today. Surge and hesitation seem to be gone. The Bosch plugs don't look right, the center electrode seems well worn, although I can't remember what they looked like new. Either way, I wouldn't buy the Bosch plugs for the Focus. A letter will be accompanying my returned spark plugs, I'd like to know why these plugs don't seem to work in the Focus very well.
Last edited on Fri Mar 4th, 2005 08:30 pm by focusyn
