Automotive Addict

Are you looking for your car's spark plug replacement because the present spark plugs have wore off? I have an advice for you. This time try embedding in your car engine, iridium spark plugs. The advent of modern technology has also effected the cars as well and have made them much more efficient.Using iridium tips in spark plugs is also one of its dimensions. Iridium spark plugs has many advantages and it can really pimp your ride. Refer to my last article on how spark plugs can pimp your ride and how you can perform spark plug replacement.

Advantages Of Having Iridium Spark Plugs.

Before acquainting you about the advantages of iridium spark plugs, I want to make one thing clear. Spark plugs don't enhance the efficiency of the car beyond its limits but instead they make it more efficient according to the car's own potential. So clear your mind from any misconceptions that its only the spark plugs that will make your crawling ride in to a super fast car.

Now coming to the advantages of iridium spark plugs, they sure are durable and strong enough as compared to other conventional platinum tipped, spark plugs. Durability of iridium spark plugs can be compared as it has a life of almost 60, 000 miles where as the conventional will give you 20,000 to 40,000 miles. Of course because of the good quality of the element, the quality of spark is improved and gives a much better spark hence improving fuel efficiency.

The best thing about the iridium spark plug is that it wears off rather slowly as compared to platinum spark plugs. The reason is of course, iridium is much more durable than its "colleague" platinum. Besides this, the melting point of iridium is much more higher than platinum. The melting point of iridium is 4450 F where as that of platinum is almost 3216 F. That's a huge difference. Furthermore, iridium is 8 times more rigid than platinum where it can endure a pressure of 160 Kpsi as compared to platinum which can stand a pressure of not more than 20 Kpsi. Because of these qualities, the iridium spark plugs wear off much slowly as compared to those conventional spark plugs so you don't have a headache of replacing your spark plugs after some years.

Learning above attributes of iridium I bet you would go for high quality iridium spark plugs the very next time you perform your car's spark plug replacement.

If you really want to perform some car modification, the best thing is to first take care of your engine performance because car modification is not only about changing your car body kits and installing some sub woofers to add a groove in your sound. No car modification is completed if the car's performance is not state of the art. For this purpose, you may get many advice. I would specifically refer to the car's spark plugs and their impact on engine performance and how you can do some modifications either by some spark plugs replacement or spark plug gapping or choose the right spark plugs for your car by assessing and reading spark plugs requirements for your car.

Before getting into details I would just peek into the spark plug's functioning or how does a spark plug work. I know many of you car enthusiasts must know the purpose of spark plugs and how does a spark plug work. So I will not go into a detail.Just a quick review.

Purpose Of A Spark Plug, How Does A Spark Plug Work?

Spark plug actually causes an ignition through its ignition coil in the internal combustion chamber of the engine which creates a small spark. Search out for internal combustion engine fundamentals for more details. This spark when unites with the air and some drops of fuel, it creates a perfect combination for a small explosion. This small explosion creates a pressure which causes the pistons in the engine's cylinders to move and eventually creates a torque to move the cam shaft and ultimately the car starts to move. As simple as that.

So the purpose of a spark plug is integral in moving a car. Obviously if the spark is of not a good quality there would be implications on the car's engine performance so to perform some car modification pertaining to spark plugs, one has to make sure that the spark plug is of good quality which produces a better spark to ensure swift movement of a car.

Now coming to the spark plug modification or replacement, let us first analyze that what effects the performance of the spark plug. The spark plug's performance is effected by following factors.

1) Wear and Tear of spark plug.
2) The gap between central and ground electrode or spark plug gapping.
3) Voltage provided to create a spark.
4) Altitude and temperature of the location.

To alter the performance or efficiency of spark plugs, one should try to alter the above factors or if he is going to perform some spark plugs replacement he should keep the above factors in mind. Now let's see how the above mentioned factors effect the efficiency of a spark plug and how you can modify or use the above mentioned factors in better performance of spark plugs and ultimately of the car.
1) Wear And Tear Of Spark Plug.

Spark plugs have to go through series of small explosions in order to be functional thus making them more prone to wear and tear. So definitely a damaged spark plug or a spark plug having a lot of carbon deposited at its tip will not perform adequately. So make sure that spark plugs are always in a good condition in order for your car as whole to be efficient or perform well. Generally a spark plug's life is about 10,000 to 20,000 miles. However some manufacturers assemble spark plugs which have two or in other words multiple ground electrodes to enhance the life of a spark plug. But it has been observed that it has some implications on fuel injection of the car.

2) Spark Plug Gapping.

This is the most important factor of spark plugs performance. However people have different views about the spark plug gapping. Some say that the more the gap, the better is the spark. Where as some say that small gap is good as it requires small amount of voltage to create the spark. Normally a spark plug requires a very high voltage of about 40,000 to 100,000 volts to cover the gap. I am open here for suggestions. Tell me if you have any suggestions regarding this topic. However if you really want to make the spark plug gapping larger or smaller you can use a very fine nosed pliers as a spark plug gapper or spark plug gap tool. To enlarge the gap, pull the ground electrodes outwards using pliers. However be extremely cautious here and make sure you do not apply pressure on the center electrode or it may damage.If you want to make the gap smaller, gently tap the ground electrode on a hard surface. You can use a feeler guage to measure the gap between center and ground electrode.

3) Voltage Provided.

As described above spark plugs need a very high amount of voltage to create a spark so use a good quality car batteries to make sure that a voltage is provided to create the spark.

4) Altitude And Temperature Of The Location.

The altitude where your car operates and the temperature in which your car operates is crucial for the performance of your spark plugs. For this reason the spark plugs have been divided into two kind which are:

a) Hot Spark Plugs:

Hot spark plugs are spark plugs in which the surface area of ceramic exhaust coating contacts less with the metal part of the spark plug thus exhausting less heat. I am saying the ceramic insulator as an exhaust because the ceramic insulator coating works as a heat exhaust. So hot spark plugs are good in low performing cars or in cold areas. Similarly they are good at high altitude areas where oxygen is less to burn the fuel.

b) Cold Spark Plugs:

These spark plugs have larger surface area of ceramic insulator coating thus exhausting more heat and keeping the spark plugs cold. You can have a look at the image of spark plugs structure for spark plug cross reference. Cold spark plugs are best for high performance engines or turbo charged engines. If you are looking forward for engine upgrades then I reckon you should also pay some consideration towards your spark plug replacement.




Above mentioned factors are helpful in assessing and reading spark plugs requirements for your car. You may have come to know how spark plug can be modified by changing spark plugs gapping as well as what spark plugs would be better for your car's specific requirements.

January car Rebates and Incentives could not be as good as the last few days of the end of 2009! 2009 will be the largest push to gain market share for all manufactures like Ford, GM, Toyota, Honda, Dodge and even for Hyundai, Kia, Suzuki, Lexus, Mercedes, and BMW. There is a HUGE push to gain the last few sales of 2009. I have heard the phrase over and over this past week, "WHATEVER IT TAKES, WE WILL NOT MISS A DEAL!!!"

If you are in the market to buy a vehicle, whether it be car or truck or even SUV, NOW IS THE TIME!!! You will be surprised at the deep discounts and Manufacturer Incentives. Now, if you are like me and do not have the time to go from dealer to dealer to find the deals, I will let you in on a secret. The easiest way to get the best deal between now and New Years Day is to Get FREE quotes from Yahoo! Autos This will be the easiest deal you have ever made. Because here is how it works. Internet Shoppers are growing at a HUGE rate and dealers are aware they are shopping many dealers. You will get the best deal possible if you go thru Yahoo! Autos Just enter your zip code, pick your vehicle of choice, enter your contact information, and make sure to select ALL DEALERS! This will make ALL your local dealers FIGHT for your business! Even if you already know which dealer you will buy from, KEEP THEM HONEST! Get quotes from all your local dealers delivered directly to your email. If you do not have a preferred dealer, pick the lowest price. Easy as that, you just saved thousands for a few mouse clicks.

The quicker you get your quotes the better because the closeout of 2009 will be like no other, trust me! I bet if you have been to a dealer recently and received a price and visit Yahoo! Autos now, you will be surprised how much you will save. When you shop from the Internet, dealers do realize they have pretty much one shot and will throw everything they have at it. You will also find out any extra incentives that may not be advertised and may even get some extra incentives from some dealers like free maintenance plans, etc. It is FREE to get your quotes so why wait. Oh, and be sure to bookmark my site so you can come back and tell me how much you saved. I might even be surprised. Good luck and happy New Years early, hope this helps you drive into the new year with a new vehicle.

12 Blaupunkt for 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid - $ 759.00
Retail Price: 949.99
You Save:$190.99
I've been talking about pimping up your ride. now its time to add some colors and flavors in it. After all what's the use of a shiny and attractive car when you don't have a good sound system or even if you have a good car sound system but it produces a faint and flaccid base.

I bring for you, Blaupunkt amplifier, vivid and lively car subwoofers that can really add a spice in your car stereo system with the high performance 12" subwoofer tube. It has a tendency of boosting up your car's bass by 600 Watts, produces a frequency from 35-500 Hz providing booming lows for your favorite car music. It's easy plug 'n' play car amplifier and no need of cutting, slicing your existing car's wiring. The amplifier's exclusive "Planar Power Plant" ( 3p ) technology makes for a cool running, compact size which is 1/3 of the conventional amplifiers for out of sight mounting flexibility.

The kit includes remote volume control, radio plug in harness, extension harness and speaker wires. Easy to install but still dealer installation is recommended.

Just few years ago motor sports company were reluctant to diversify their hot wheels to a more greener side but now it seems that the majority of them are responding to the call of time. Lambroghini decides to go green as well. Amazing isn't it? It's a very rare but appreciable enough step by a company who has been known for its racing and speeding cars. I hope they have plans to curb the implications as a result of this decision.

Though it's a good initiative but it cannot be regarded as the only sports car company who took this bold step. We've seen Bentley releasing its bio-fuel car and also not to forget, ferrari, which is working hard and utilizing its large portion of research and development expenditure in reducing carbon emmissions. Let's hope lambroghini also performs well in this area.

Analysing the lambroghini's policy, we can see that they have seriously applied some business process re-engineering to some extent regarding the manufacture of their cars. The newly launched Lambroghini LP560-4 is able to emit 18% less CO2 than its prequel, Lambroghini Gallarado.

Lambroghini doesn't consider this enough, as they have committed for even more which means that they plan to reach a target of 35% less emmission by the year 2015. As I said they are applying some business process re-engineering, they are planning to modify a plant by installing a raft of solar technology in the next few years costing about 35 million euros and it will be able to cut the CO2 by 30% while produced during the production. They are not putting a full stop here as Lambroghini is also planning to reduce the weight of their cars, designing more efficint engines which includes introducing hybrid engines as well.

We must hope that this step of lambroghini would create a ground of competetion for other car manufacturers as well and ultimately the world or eco system would be benefited.

Dodge unleashes its new and special edition of Viper SRT10 named as 2010 Viper SRT10 ACR-X Special. This car is stuffed with real and hot accessories including a low restriction exhaust system which really boosts up the car to 640 hp. 2010 Viper SRT10 ACR-X Special is exclusively designed with the needs of car racers kept in mind. The new model has been pimped up with standard vipers 8.4 -liter V10. The suspensions has been upgraded exclusively for the
track usage and some weight has been shed as well which is now approx. 160 pounds.

The Dodge company claims that that the car features some aerodynamic modifications which is now better than ever, increasing traction and down force. This really has put some positive effects on the stability and road grip especially on the high speed cornering.

As it says that the needs of the car racers have been especially catered, but all the focus has not been on the speeding it up. The car comes with usual factory fitted, safety equipments including fuel cell, race seat and exclusively designed roll cage.

Dodge further claims that during Viper SRT10 ACR-X's testing, by the reknown professional driver, Kuno Wittmer, during the SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge Touring Car Championship series,it was able consistent 1:31:00 lap times around the 20238-mile, 11-turn course. Showing some improvements against the old Dodge's street legal viper STR10 ACR. This car holds the production car track record at Leguna Seca raceway.

According to Wittmer himself:

"The Dodge Viper ACR-X is incredible," said Wittmer. "After a short warm up, I was running lap times as quick as exotic GT race cars. I was blown away by the power and acceleration, and even more surprised at how the ACR-X navigated the challenging Laguna Seca corners and how friendly it was to drive at the limit."

The new Dodge's 2010 Viper SRT10 ACR-X Special will be in the market in the next spring of 2010 with prices starting from $110,000.

Enkei

Racing GTC01 - Hybrid Wheels 17 - $ 349.00
Retail Price: 436.99
You Save:$87.99



Prius 17 inch wheels. Enhance the look of your Hybrid with these Enkie Sport Rims.Has been a source of inspiration and if not number one then at least among the top priorities of car enthusiasts. Real high-tech design. Looks good on almost every car.

Further Specifications Include:


* Size: 17x7.5, 48mm Offset

* Lightweight: 17.5lbs.

* Finish: Hyper Black

* Bolt Pattern: 5-100

* Construction: 1pc. Gravity Cast with MAT Technology