ngk iridium in a bike?

I just put these in my car, and notice a difference in how my car idles, and accelerates. I was just wondering if anyone tried them in a bike, or should I stick with regular NGK

 

I usually put em in my GFs Ninja500. But honestly I think its one of those situations where, "I just changed my oil" or "I just washed my car and now she runs better"
Mind over matter situation.

 

Iridium Plugs are a "Long-lasting" Plug that works best in applications where there is a continuous "Lambda Circuit" monitoring the Air~Fuel Mixture and making Mixture adjustments continuously while the Engine is running.

Air Flow Metering, Oxygen Sensors and High Frequency Opening and Closing Fuel Injectors present an almost ideal Mixture to the Combustion Chambers in an Infinite Loop.

The highly controlled environment within the Combustion Chamber on Fuel Injected Engines allows the Iridium Plug to outlast conventional Plugs.

In our Bikes, we have little control over the Mixture and can erantly leave the Enrichment Valve open too long fouling Plugs.
Along with the foibles of Wasted Spark, aging Coils and Engine performances generally deteriorating each day, ... there's good reason to use Plugs that you are going to run a few thousand miles and replace.

Iridium Plugs are a little pricy to put in a unsophisticated situation.
But, Madison Avenue Ad-writers are paid Big Bucks to make everybody think that too use anything other than Iridium Plugs is a big mistake.

They spend more on advertising than they do manufacturing the Plugs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NvPemHiFxY

 

I was going to say that they're fine but basically a waste of money, for exactly the reasons Rick spelled out.

Your XJ will "beat up on" premium plugs just like it will standard plugs; I replace mine every 2000~3000 miles because the electrode straps erode. You can buy a whole LOT of standard NGK's at $1.99ea. for what you pay for one set of Iridium plugs.

 

I'm gonna try em. I picked up a set at the auto parts store for 40.50 including tax. That's actually 10% of what I paid for the bike!

 

$40.00 for Spark Plugs.

The true test is: Red Light -to- Red Light.
Are those 40-Dollar Plugs going to get you down to the next light before the guy right next to you, running Champions?

Or does having your Madison Avenue Mo-Jo woikin' ... make you faster?

 

I own 7 bikes, race motocross and go on bike adventure trips. It would totally blow your mind what I spend on bikes. But I'm glad you're concerned.

 

I do feel a noticable difference when I run the Iridium plugs. To me, it's worth the money.

 

The Iriduim Plug is advertised as a Performer.
It's really primarily intended to OUTLAST conventional Plugs.

We all spend a good deal of dough keepinp-up two-wheelers to play on.

My duty is to try to save the Membership a buck of two when the situation arises.

There's NO reason to run YAMALUBE, ... for instance.
YAMAHA Oil is just Oil that gets filled into Bottles that say Yamaha on them.
Yamaha isn't an Oil Company.
They are an expensive Bottle Company.

Likewise, Iridium Plugs are not a wise choice for our Bikes.
Iridium Plugs were developed to save Technicians from having to do costly Plug changes on Transverse V6 and V8 Engines, and those Automotive Plants where changing Plugs requires labor-intensive removal of Intake Plenums, Manifolds, Decorative Shrouds; even undoing Motor Mounts and rotating the entire Engine Block to gain access to a Bank of Plugs.

Our Bikes are engineered to make exchanging Sparks, ... real easy.
So that they'll be changed at regular intervals.
Inspected ... frequently, ... to monitor tuning adjustments; and quickly, ... in the event that one becomes fouled and fails to fire.

 

Objectively, what you say makes perfect sense. However, subjectively I notice a significant difference between standard and Iridium plugs. Several times I have switched back to regular plugs and each time I was disappointed with the smoothness of the engine. To me it's worth the extra money to get that silky smoothness in how the engine runs. I even change them out at the same interval as regular plugs to retain that smoothness.

Likewise, I could get the same buzz from cheap vodka that I get from a fine scotch but I enjoy the flavor of the fine booze. Maybe it's all in my head but if spending a little extra money gives me the perception of somthing better that I enjoy, then it's worth it to me.

Life isn't all black and white. Sometimes you have to let a little gray through.

Happy Trails!
sanoke

 

I periodically file electrodes to square them up and gap to the tight side of spec, at 0.027 . I've read that it takes 27% less energy to jump the gap on fresh plugs, so a comparison of New Iridiums and old plugs just isn't fair.

I also index the plugs for that mythical 1% more power.

 

I use platinum plugs which were developed by Bosch to remedy weak ignitions. They also last much longer ( I put 100,000 miles on a set on my 1969 Firebird). Iridium plugs last 3 times longer than platinum plugs. So exactly how long is 3 times forever?

I use and recommend the autolite app3923 double platinium plugs.
They don't have removable tips but they are resistor plugs si the resistor plug caps cannot be used.
They are cheap too!

The double platinum plugs are only better than the regular platinum when you are running coil packs they aren't any better when you have a distributor.

The Bosch Platinum plus 2 and plus 4 plugs eliminate the need to index the plugs as they use a side gap.

However noone has been able to tell me why more side electrodes is supposed to be better.

 

A Spark Plug arcs for a very short duration.
The length of time that it takes for the Plug to Fire is measured in:

Microseconds!
Faster than an involuntary eye-blink.
Of less duration than a fast photo-strobe.
Requiring an Oscilloscope to calculate the duration of the event.

This is a Microsecond:

A microsecond is an SI unit of time equal to one millionth (10−6) of a second. Its symbol is µs.

A microsecond is equal to 1000 nanoseconds or 1/1000 millisecond. Because the next SI unit is 1000 times larger, measurements of 10−5 and 10−4 seconds are typically expressed as tens or hundreds of microseconds.

Makes me wonder why you spend any more time on Installing a New Spark Plug in an XJ-Bike Engine other than making sure the Plug is Tight and the Cap is on firmly.

 

MSD had a booth at the Stock Car Trade Show in Daytona. They had a display with a three inch spark continuously running at 8,000 RPM, and with the MSD turned on, each spark event had up to 6 individual sparks. (all at 50,000 volts)

The Rep was standing there, burning holes in his business card, demonstrating how much stronger MSD was over stock, then inviting passers-by to do the same.

Yeah - - he got me !!

His card had a paperclip taped to the bottom, preventing him from being shocked.

 

An MSD @ 8k is single spark. The multi-strike ends @ 3k. below 9:1 compression the super hot spark doesn't do much. Above 9:1 compression it can be a dramatic improvement.

 

You sure about that?
I will have to put the scope back on my bike, but my memory tells me the spark was almost a half a millisecond.

 

And now 12 months later, what do folk think about the multi (4) electrode plugs?

 

http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_109130/article.html

An article full of interesting facts just for this thread.

 

The only good answer befitting this question is:

"If you want to spend the dough for expensive Plugs that do THE EXACT SAME THING that the less-expensive Brand-X does, ... then, knock yourself out!"

Bear in mind.
Prescribed Maintenance says replace the Plugs every 75-Hundred miles.

 

I remember I noticed my Maxim-X was a lot easier to start when cold, and the engine idled and rev'd up a lot more smoothly after I've put new Dyna coils and Iridium plugs. I can't tell if the improvement would have been the same with new coils and regular plugs, though.