Think about it and answer frankly, how many of you ever even thought about the spark plugs in your bikes? I am sure you must have only been bothered about it when after a certain number of kilometres of running the guy servicing your bike says to you that they need to be changed. Suddenly you come out of your perfect world and start checking out options so that you can get the best spark plugs. And in that research you come across something called “Iridium” spark plugs and you think, “wow! I need to get those for my bike because they are the best.” Now here is what, just because they sound fancy and cost way more than conventional spark plugs do not make them the best thing for your bike. For that reason we have got for you this article to differentiate between regular spark plugs and iridium spark plugs.First of all let’s check out what are regular spark plugs. In your engine, the air and fuel mixture is injected or it enters depending on the bike’s fueling. So to burn that fuel, you need some sort of igniting system and that is what spark plugs do. It takes charge from the electric of your bike and creates an electric arc which is at a very high temperature to ignite the entire air & fuel mixture inside the combustion chamber. And that is how it all goes.
The spark plugs which are the most commonly used and rather used in literally every car and bike from the manufacturer’s end are copper spark plugs. These are made out of copper of course but they have a downside to it that they need to be replaced sooner than others because due to the heat inside the engine and the sparks produced, the copper starts degrading overtime resulting in reduced performance. Hence it is always a good practice that at every service you simply get the spark plugs cleaned and checked out so that you do not have any surprises later on.Now coming to the difference in these spark plugs; the iridium spark plugs that are available in the market are really nothing but another regular set of spark plugs who do exactly the same job of igniting the fuel and air mixture inside the engine and that’s it. The only difference here is that they last a very-very long time and hence need not be replaced as frequently as regular copper spark plugs and hence some people happen to prefer for it. But that is again pretty much it, that is all there is to these iridium spark plugs.
So tomorrow is anyone selling you spark plugs say to you to prefer the Iridium spark plugs because they are better, last longer and give your better performance and mileage out of your bikes, it is better to simply walk out of there because that is nothing but a selling pitch. Iridium spark plugs give absolutely no improvement in the performance and mileage of the bikes, period. They simply will last way longer and will not degrade sooner than copper plugs but still when it comes to performance improvement, copper plugs performance better than iridium or any other plugs out there.READ ALSO: What Is The Use Of Twin Spark Plugs (Dtsi) In Motorcycle Engines?
The reason for this is very simply. Copper is by far the best conductor of electricity that we have and hence all the copper wiring and tubing, etc. So there should be no surprise that copper is the metal of choice for this job. Also in case of Iridium the electrical resistance offered is a little more than that if copper and hence they actually cost a slight and negligible and rather unnoticeable drop in performance of the bike. It is actually more of the placebo effect taking place on the rider that the performance has improved, but if you check out the statistics by actually working out the performance numbers, you will notice the drop.
It is something as simple as compromising a little on the performance for the life of them and that’s it. So if you ask me, I would stick to my regular copper ones and have them replaced if required because that would not affect the performance of my bike and that is what matters. Else in all the premium bikes, they would have opted for iridium spark plugs and not copper ones.
Then some complain that the engines run too hot. The reason being the positioning and gap of the spark plugs is not proper. You need to make sure that the gapping of the spark plugs should be proper no matter which one they are. If the spark plug is placed too close to the engine body then it can have a welding effect and render the spark plug useless and this could happen to any of the plugs, not just for copper ones. So remember that as well when you get work done on your bike.Also remember that if you wish to upgrade to Iridium spark plug, it would not really hurt you much expect for on your pocket, but in actual it is always better to stick to the manufacturer recommended ones because in spite of all the cost cutting they do choose the best combination and it would not be fair if that itself is tampered with.
By: Pratik Patole