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Long Term Spark Plug Thoughts

Agray

Go Kart Champion
Location
Washington
Those are 2 stage colder race plugs right?

Looks to me - you’re not racing the car enough and getting the combustion temps up.

Yet another reason for the 2 dollar spark plug club will say “Ruths”
No, they are the Denso 5749's which are one step colder. It's an is38 car that sees full boost every so often.
 

Ezekiel81923

Autocross Champion
Location
Royersford, PA
Car(s)
2019 Volkswagen GTI
RS7's after about 12k miles. Gapped to .024

Honestly not educated enough to know what plugs are supposed to look like but I didn't think they were bad, I know this wasn't a lot of miles but it's on a tuned is20 and I beat her up pretty good sometimes. I didn't upload the 4th photo because they all look the same.
 

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tigeo

Autocross Champion
New APR plugs still going strong and worked great for 2 days of full send track use....but then again so did Ruths and RS7s...
 

GoatAutomotive

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Georgetown, TX
Car(s)
2017 VW GTI SE, DSG
Not sure if my input will help anyone here.

I moved to RS7 plugs many moons ago to compliment my EQT Stage 2 tune and smooth out the engine idle.

It took me a while to wrap my head around these crazy low spark plug intervals tuners and owners are prescribing:

Iridium plugs are normally good for 90-100k on a stock engine, and 50k on a boosted motor like the Ford EcoPoop motors, VWs etc.

Anyway, I put 25k miles on my first set of RS7 plugs. They were faultless until this last winter, when temps got into the
40s, which is nipples freezing cold for a Texas car.

At WOT above 4000-6500rpm, it was cutting out badly and I worried something significant might be broken.

On a whim, and to rule out the simplest possibility, I ordered a fresh set of RS7s and stabbed them in @.024-.027” like always.

The old plugs did not look visibly fouled nor excessively worn/tired.

Car ran smooth again and never had any issues cutting out. It did 3 track days this year and earned high praises from some
Very quick drivers out there.

I suspect a 20k service interval on RS7s might be the ticket for cars making ~400whp and below.

Mine only makes 320-330whp on 93 octane with the stock IS20 snail, and it loves the RS7s, as does my wallet.

Do I fear the prospect of the ground strap ever breaking off? F**k yes! I love this car and I can’t afford a new motor. I can barely afford gas for it in this crapped out economy.

But these have been great to me, and I don’t use a sledge hammer to gap my plugs.

I’d be interested in hearing from more folks who HAVE had positive experiences with the RS7 plugs, since they’ve been a go-to for (literally) thousands of MQB owners who turned up the boost and party hardy.

My $0.02, served from years of experience and lots of curious research.

Love for my MQB brothers. 🍻 ❤️ ✌️
 

GoatAutomotive

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Georgetown, TX
Car(s)
2017 VW GTI SE, DSG
EDIT: didn’t realize I was resurrecting a thread from 9-10 months ago!

Apologies if anyone feels triggered by this subject getting bumped… 🤦‍♂️
 
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MSH

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Denver
Car(s)
'20 M2 Competition
If I were you I'd 86 the RS7 plugs ASAP on a tuned car. Playing with fire. Although I'm no longer on the platform I was deep for 4+ years in a heavily modded R. I read so many threads on Facebook mk7 groups etc with people fucking their cars up with those plugs. I played the expensive NGK game for a bit based on EQT's recommendation (since I had their turbo and was always tuned by them...both stock IS38 and their Vortex). I ended up settling on Brisks ER10s because they are cheap and worked well in my car. Yes you have to gap them more often and replace them more often that the NGK's but changing plugs on these things is a 10-15 minute affair.
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
Throw in a set of Ruth's and try those for a while.
 

tigeo

Autocross Champion
I still say most of the RS7 drama was from MK7...er....EQT kids over-obsessing about gapping/doing it wrong and counterfeit NGKs.
 
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