Weird, Ken.  From what I heard from a very reputable Mercedes shop in
Colorado and others, Champion are the best plugs out there (for Mercedes
anyways).  When this topic is brought up on the Mercedes list, you get
numerous stories of cars running bad on Bosch plugs, and coming back to
life, leaving all problems behind once the Champions go in.  They had
similar things to say about Bosch that you had about Champions.
Personally, I installed OEM Bosch coppers into my '81 Rabbit Convertible,
and my '77 240D needs no plugs.  (Just GLOW plugs)  =)

Cheers,
Greg

-----Original Message-----
From: KENWILFY@aol.com [mailto:KENWILFY@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2000 12:23 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Tune up time - which plugs?

As far as plugs go, I installed a set of the Platinum Plus 4 plugs in my
Carat and I noticed really no difference at all in performance or fuel
mileage.  I would strongly recommend against the normal platinum plug from
Bosch (single electrode).  The platinum tip is so small that it is easily
fouled and just a bad design in my opinion.  The normal copper Bosch plugs
are great and seem to last a reasonably long time (they are cheap too at
only
$2 each from me).  If you wanted to go with a platinum plug, I like Autolite
(put down those stones).  They make a nice quality plug (I don't sell them,
so I guess I am unbiased).  Never, never, never buy champion spark plugs.
Just plain junky.  Good for the lawn mower, but that is about it.
Ironically
Champion makes an excellent aircraft plug, but thier automotive plugs are
poor.  Just my opinion, worth every penny you paid for it :-)  (Wink, wink,
nudge, nudge, say no more...)

Thanks,
Ken Wilford
http://www.vanagain.com
John 3:16

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