spark plugs...preferred and discouraged?

[stang99x]

Factory parts are NOT always the best, most of their research is probably done to find the cheapest but good enough parts to put on their vehicles.

Factory parts will always be best for factory performance, bar none (less a recall) The reason platinum plugs are used is for longitevity of life and reduced overall maintenence costs through 100K miles. The general rule of thumb for the afficianado is that platinum should be changed at 33K miles, double platinum at 66K miles, and triple platinum at 99K miles. Platinum is actually a very poor conductor, but it gets the job done and wears very slowly. Think about the cost of platinum. You could gold plate the plug for half as much as platinum plating, but gold would wear off really fast as it is such a soft metal.

E3 spark plugs

One word, gimmick. They wear out just as fast and don't work any better. Just ask my leaf blower. Same goes for ****fire (splitfire) and that bosch +4 crap. Its just that, crap. gimmicks, reasons for you to spend more money. THe only reason to run anything other than factory is a forced induction application running copper or iridium.