Coil packs and spark plugs

[thegrandbull]

Hey guys, not sure why i have so much trouble finding existing threads for this stuff.. maybe someone can help me out. Anyway, my car is 5 years old and approaching 50k miles. I’d like to DIY change spark plugs and coil packs with my next oil change. I’m wondering if it would make any difference what I get, considering my car has no performance mods besides an AMS cold air intake. I know cooler spark plugs can be good for tuned cars and I’d like to get them for mine, but I’m not sure it’s necessary. I do live in Texas now where it gets really hot in the summer. Might play into the equation.

 

[Dog Dad Wagon]

Hey guys, not sure why i have so much trouble finding existing threads for this stuff.. maybe someone can help me out. Anyway, my car is 5 years old and approaching 50k miles. I’d like to DIY change spark plugs and coil packs with my next oil change. I’m wondering if it would make any difference what I get, considering my car has no performance mods besides an AMS cold air intake. I know cooler spark plugs can be good for tuned cars and I’d like to get them for mine, but I’m not sure it’s necessary. I do live in Texas now where it gets really hot in the summer. Might play into the equation.

If you're tuned and pushing 350+ HP, I think you could benefit from upgrading to the RS7 plugs. They're still OEM but they're a step colder. They last a lot longer than the aftermarket performance plugs.

The general consensus is there's no real benefit to upgrading the coilpacks. But, if you want to, you could get APR's coils. They're offered in blue top, which will go well with your overall aesthetic.

Btw, your car is one of my favorite MK7's I've ever seen. looks so damn good

 

[jimlloyd40]

If you are going to stay stock use stock spark plugs. Colder plugs are only for racing and even a highly tuned car will run more efficiently on the street with the stock heat range plugs. I went down that route based on EQT 's recommendation and got the NGK racing plugs which are 2 steps colder and those plugs wouldn't get hot enough to burn off deposits with street driving.

Coils are not necessary unless you have a coil that isn't functioning properly. Coils either work or don't and there's no benefit in replacing them if they are functioning properly.

I would recommend the NGK Ruthenium plugs for the street. Lots of guys with high HP are running them including me and they only cost $7.75 each from Rock Auto. They are stock heat range.

https://gensportunited.com/need-colder-spark-plugs/

 

[thegrandbull]

If you're tuned and pushing 350+ HP, I think you could benefit from upgrading to the RS7 plugs. They're still OEM but they're a step colder. They last a lot longer than the aftermarket performance plugs.

The general consensus is there's no real benefit to upgrading the coilpacks. But, if you want to, you could get APR's coils. They're offered in blue top, which will go well with your overall aesthetic.

Btw, your car is one of my favorite MK7's I've ever seen. looks so damn good

ahh I should have mentioned, I’m not tuned. Car is stock, performance wise, besides the intake. But yea this helps me out! I think I’ll do them anyway... and will Check out those coil packs too!
Thank you so much! I’ve put a lot of time and design into it over the years!

 

[thegrandbull]

If you are going to stay stock use stock spark plugs. Colder plugs are only for racing and even a highly tuned car will run more efficiently on the street with the stock heat range plugs. I went down that route based on EQT 's recommendation and got the NGK racing plugs which are 2 steps colder and those plugs wouldn't get hot enough to burn off deposits with street driving.

Coils are not necessary unless you have a coil that isn't functioning properly. Coils either work or don't and there's no benefit in replacing them if they are functioning properly.

I would recommend the NGK Ruthenium plugs for the street. Lots of guys with high HP are running them including me and they only cost $7.75 each from Rock Auto. They are stock heat range.

https://gensportunited.com/need-colder-spark-plugs/

Ahh okay. So there could be some drawbacks to colder plugs on a car that doesn’t require them. I’ll Check those out! Thank you

 

[Dog Dad Wagon]

Ahh okay. So there could be some drawbacks to colder plugs on a car that doesn’t require them. I’ll Check those out! Thank you

yeah dude if you’re stock keep using stock plugs. Lots of stage 1 and 2 tunes recommend OEM plugs. I wouldn’t run something performance oriented on an otherwise stock setup. Could actually negatively affect performance

 

[thegrandbull]

yeah dude if you’re stock keep using stock plugs. Lots of stage 1 and 2 tunes recommend OEM plugs. I wouldn’t run something performance oriented on an otherwise stock setup. Could actually negatively affect performance

For sure
Thank you!

 

[jimlloyd40]

The reason a colder plug is bad for street driving is a colder plug dissipates heat faster. On a street driven car the heat is never great enough to burn the deposits off of a colder plug. Ask me how I know. Haha. Wasted $160 on NGK racing plugs and after 15,000 miles of driving the plugs had heavy crystallized deposits on them because they weren't getting hot enough to burn off.

 

[GTI Jake]

I’m at 101,000 miles on the original OEM coil packs.

On a stock car you don’t want colder plugs, so throw some fresh OEM in and enjoy.

For those with mods, I’ve been running Beru RS7 OEM plugs since tuning on 10k intervals with zero issues. My car is currently APR IS38 FBO.

 

[aloha_from_bradley]

OEM Plugs
OEM Coil Packs

Step colder plugs are absolutely, 100% not needed unless you have a race car. Anyone who tells you differently honestly doesn't know what they are talking about. People love to get mod crazy and do things to their cars because they've read a bunch of stuff about other people online. A specific heat range was chosen when VW designed this car for a reason. The engineers know best, trust me.

If you are heavily modified and tuned, you MIGHT consider moving to a 1 step colder plug with a smaller gap. Even then, some of the best tuners will advise using OEM plug / heat range. Definitely not a 2 step colder plug for an unmodified street driven car. If you haven't had any issues on the OEM plugs / coils for the first 50k miles, why change them now? Tinkering can be fun, but just make sure you know what you are tinkering with.

Stratified Automotive Controls has an excellent article on this topic - https://www.stratifiedauto.com/blog/spark-plug-tech/

 

[Al_in_Philly]

OEM Plugs
OEM Coil Packs

Step colder plugs are absolutely, 100% not needed unless you have a race car. Anyone who tells you differently honestly doesn't know what they are talking about. People love to get mod crazy and do things to their cars because they've read a bunch of stuff about other people online. A specific heat range was chosen when VW designed this car for a reason. The engineers know best, trust me.

If you are heavily modified and tuned, you MIGHT consider moving to a 1 step colder plug with a smaller gap. Even then, some of the best tuners will advise using OEM plug / heat range. Definitely not a 2 step colder plug for an unmodified street driven car. If you haven't had any issues on the OEM plugs / coils for the first 50k miles, why change them now? Tinkering can be fun, but just make sure you know what you are tinkering with.

Stratified Automotive Controls has an excellent article on this topic - https://www.stratifiedauto.com/blog/spark-plug-tech/

While I agree with staying OEM for the original poster's basically stock R, at the end of the Stratified Auto Blog page which you cited, they recommend going one step colder for what they seem to be describing for stage 1 tuned cars--at least Mazdas and Fords. That's pretty much what EQT suggests for their stage 1 R tunes.

"For the DISI motors we recommend running a spark plug that is one step colder than OEM. Generally the Mazdaspeed motors do not like running plugs that are two steps colder than OEM unless very heavily modified. Cars that are running higher compression, large amounts of boost, or are often tracked / driven aggressively for extended periods of time may at times require a plug that is two steps colder than OEM (for example have an extra set of colder plugs for track days).
For the Ford Ecoboost we still recommend a plug that is one step colder than OEM for mildy bolted (sic?) cars especially since 21+psi of boost is quite common. For highly modified cars that see a lot of heat it is advisable to try a plug which is two steps colder than OEM. The Ecoboost motors seem to be able to manage colder plugs better than the Mazdaspeed motors."

 

[aloha_from_bradley]

While I agree with staying OEM for the original poster's basically stock R, at the end of the Stratified Auto Blog page which you cited, they recommend going one step colder for what they seem to be describing for stage 1 tuned cars--at least Mazdas and Fords. That's pretty much what EQT suggests for their stage 1 R tunes.

"For the DISI motors we recommend running a spark plug that is one step colder than OEM. Generally the Mazdaspeed motors do not like running plugs that are two steps colder than OEM unless very heavily modified. Cars that are running higher compression, large amounts of boost, or are often tracked / driven aggressively for extended periods of time may at times require a plug that is two steps colder than OEM (for example have an extra set of colder plugs for track days).
For the Ford Ecoboost we still recommend a plug that is one step colder than OEM for mildy bolted (sic?) cars especially since 21+psi of boost is quite common. For highly modified cars that see a lot of heat it is advisable to try a plug which is two steps colder than OEM. The Ecoboost motors seem to be able to manage colder plugs better than the Mazdaspeed motors."

Agreed. Most tuners will call for 1 step colder for a tuned car, even if it's just stage one. This isn't necessary in most cases, however. Especially considering most of these cars are being daily driven in traffic. Some of the best tuners out there tell you to stick with the OEM heat range. Randy Robles, the lead calibrator at Mountune being on of them. He tunes all of the cars for the Ford Performance division, and although not VW, the same tuning concepts apply. I'd say it's probably more important to have the plugs properly gapped than going to a step colder plug, unless you take the car to the track all the time. That combined with potential pre-ignition issues from colder plugs. Also, if tuned the lifetime of a plug dramatically decreases. Changing them every 10k or so and properly gapping them may save your engine.

People get curious and tinker with things when they don't need to. In most cases it's just to say they "modded" or changed parts. Something like putting R8 plugs and packs on a Golf R just to say they did it, or for what may be some kind of perceived benefit when it's probably doing more harm than good. But, to each their own... I guess.

 

[GentleBro]

Changing them every 10k or so and properly gapping them may save your engine.

Are you saying run OEM plugs, but change very 10k on a tuned Golf R?

 

[Dog Dad Wagon]

Are you saying run OEM plugs, but change very 10k on a tuned Golf R?

I would just monitor for KR in the days before an oil change. If youre running 91/93 on an equivalent tune, your KR shouldn’t be more than -3, -4 at the worst. If it’s consistently pulling, or has worse spikes than -3/-4, I would change plugs then monitor again.

 

[aloha_from_bradley]

Are you saying run OEM plugs, but change very 10k on a tuned Golf R?

What I'm saying is that every situation is different. I'm also saying that you absolutely never need to go to a "step colder" plug if you have a car that isn't tuned. Most of the time people do this out of popularity, not because they have a valid reason.

When it comes to tuned cars, there are a lot of different opinions... even tuners will argue. If you are building a high HP race car that will be frequently tracked... by all means go to a colder plug. At the end of the day I'd just listen to your tuner's recommendations based on the calibration that's provided. I will say though, tuners don't have nearly the experience in regards to making decisions that the manufacturers do. There are millions of miles of research done by VAG to select parts before cars roll off the the line.

Evaluate your situation appropriately before making decisions to change parts that could cause serious failures. If you are tuned and running colder plugs, replace them every 10k.