And not the puck thing but an honest-to-God platinum electrode.

Just went to WalMart to get some Rapidfires to replace the Bosch platinums and found what look like new spark plug cards behind the older ones. Older Rapidfires have a thicker splined center electrode. The platinums have a smooth electrode that is only about 1mm thick, sticks up maybe 1.5mm's, not encased in ceramic. ACDelco website says nothing about this, but card does say ACDelco Rapidfire and on back description says ACDelco Rapidfire Performance Platinums. The outside part (whatever you call that) is not ribbed either. Its unribbed and smooth. :smash:

 

I thought that they always had a platinum electrode. I use the AC2 plugs.

Roger

 

These are AC2 but their package said rapidfire performance platinum. The other plug card says nothing about platinum and the electrode is thick vs. these being thin. Interested to see what others think.


[Modified by Larry82, 4:56 PM 8/5/2001]

 

Larry,IMHO you are spending a lot of money on plugs.Between the Bosh and the AC platinims you must have $40.00/$45.00 tied up in those two sets of sparkplugs.I think you could use a standard set of AC plugs and save yourself a lot of money.I really do not think you would notice the difference.People have said there car idles smoother.Thrity five dollars extra in cost so your car idles a little smoother!!! I just think that the sparkplug companies have done a very good job of selling their over priced plugs to us!I have a hot rod magazine from 1964 that is selling a brand new super duper spark plug.It is a splitfire plug. :D :D

 

I gotta agree with Asmith......................Not worth the extra cash :bs

 

Agreed. Last thing I want to do is change plugs again.

Background as to why, when I bought DUI setup some months ago, DUI suggested trying .055" gap. So rather than expanding a .045 gapped plug, I bought the tsx equivalent which starts with a .060" gap and then I dropped it. After along time trying to hunt down poor performance at 3500 to 4000+ rpm, I wondered if I was loosing spark at the high end. I believe I was. Was also getting "backfiring" through the cat, not throught the TBI. This indicates fuel igniting by hot cat. Bad! You could also "hear" the roughness/richness in the exhaust, even when driving. Also a weekago, added a vacuum assisted FPR that really bumps pressure at WOT. REALLY aggravated problem!

DUI also recommended staying away from certain platinums, I can only remember them saying the Autolites, but there were others. Bosch not included, so, again, ended up with the Bosch platinum (not +4's) equivalent of the R42TSX, gapped to .055".

With the change to the Rapidfires, gapped at .045", and return to a normal fpr (still set higher than stock recommendation) everything cured.

I don't mind spending $34 for plugs (3.98 each). Its the marginal cost that I am putting out, so don't mind the extra, what, $22 or so.

My only point is that Rapidfires are maybe now platinum at same price at Rapidfires? Rapidfires are popular so why not chose the platinum over the normal. :lol:

To quote Ganey, :cheers:

 

What do you know, a rapid response from ACDelco on the rapid fires (pun intended). The Rapidfire Platinums are new. Their response:

"Thanks for taking the time to write ACDelco.

In regards to your inquiry the RAPIDFIRE Platinum spark plugs have been updated with new features and benefits. These updated spark plugs will be called RAPIDFIRE Platinum spark plugs. The new features focus on changes to the center electrode, the side electrode (also known as the ground electrode) and the insulator. These spark plugs have been on the market for around six months.

We do not advise someone to purposely mix the new RAPIDFIRE PLATINUM and the older RAPIDFIRE PERFORMANCE plug because the gap may differ and there are 2 different change intervals. If they were mixed by accident and each one was installed with each one's specific gap and durability, that may be acceptable but not desirable.

Thank you for writing ACDelco."

 

I would urge anyone that can to coat their combustion chamber with platinum...a platinum plug is a start and will about double the combustion speed and completeness, which means better performance all around, as well as helping to prevent NOX.