Pulstar!!! spark plug 12% horsepower and torque gain??

alright guys, so ive been browsing my works store in what kind of performance parts they hold for our cars. they have Pulstar I-series for 25 bucks a spark plug!!!! so they claim to give our cars 12% more horsepower and torque with these babys. ive done a lot of research and they actually are pretty good, they claim to be the last spark plugs you every buy to, so what do you guys think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o00v_Rggt8

heres the link for a small video

12% is 30+ hp. I seriously doubt it, and spending $150 in plugs is just stupid.

Ive seen many advertisements for tacky stuff like this and I dont buy a bit of it. Its not possible for just a plug to add any significant amount of power. Normal plugs dont have ignition problems. Read the reviews on them from Amazon customers. They are a total waste of your money, and could in no way come close to their 12% claim. Save your money for something that will actually benefit your car. The only claim that is maybe believable is a longer life but if you're modding a car, you should change the plugs every year anyway and a set of 6 Autolites or equivalent are dirt cheap.

 

There's a reason we have no post about those in the first place, and a reason places like ZZP and Intense don't sell them.....all a gimmick to get your $$$ and no results.

Maybe a 12% gain compared to plugs that are so badly fouled they barely function...

I wonder if they stand behind their claims..... Maybe get them, do a dyno run, install them, and then do another run. If they fail to meet the claim then you get your money back.

Maybe they developed that claim based on a v8... For each plug you install, you have another cylinder firing... 100% / 8 cylinders = 12.5% horsepower coming from each cylinder! So, having spark plugs DOES add roughly 12% horsepower!  


Im not funny...?  


Ok...   

I tried a bunch of different plugs and conclude that plain old copper plugs are best.I did try the little more expensive copper ACdelco  41-601 @ $2.29,and they worked out ok.The car felt alot stronger at highway speeds but ran like crap at idle and around town.I swapped 'em for plain inexpensive copper Autolite 606 @ $1.99, and the car now idles very well and around town,but doesn't feel as strong on the highway.Weird.
I tried the recommended ACdelco double platinum @ $6.49 a piece, awhile back,and the car ran like crap.
I would like to try the NGK V power.Same price as the 606.I always had good feedback from the NGK on my old Legend.
I guess you have to try a bunch of different plugs and find one that works best,but stay away from the fancy junk.Stay away from the Tornado Cyclone intake too!

I should mention that I had my Riv's Eprom chip re-programmed by Sinister.I'm sure that would have the recommended plugs behaving differently than over a stock set up.fyi

I used autolite iridium plugs for my rebuild. car feels much the same as it did with the double platinum. so long as you take them out, inspect them, clean them up a bit, plugs can last a very long time and should give you what you need in terms of power. No need for the gimmicks.

Back when I had my Olds Cutlass Ciera 3.8L, I tried the E3 diamond fires. They were actually fouling out cylinders. I barely made it up the road. I was seriously disappointed.

P.S. I tried the tornado intake insert once as well, also on the Olds. All it seemed to do was help my engine suck up gas faster.

yeah that's why I posted this to see what everyone thought, if I had a dyno where I could test these out, I would consider, but 25 dollars a plug is so stupid and most people on amazon have terrible reviews haha

My guy recommended the platinum based on long life and how big a pain it is to change out the back plugs.

I once put Splitfires in the beater I drove 60 miles one way on the freeway to work. The car had a lot more hop but my MPG went to hell. I think that I ran them several weeks before going back to the previous off-the-shelf plugs. I think the Splits ran too hot and I never had the same performance after that.

Uggh. These types of products should be illegal.

What does the brightness of a spark have to do with the combustion process? Brighter spark? So what? A spark doesn't do anything except ignite the air/fuel mix - it can't magically add power to the engine's output. Even so, any extra power a plug makes would just be wasted as heat.

And the power claim of 1 million watts?!! Give me a break. 1 million watts = 1340 horsepower, so they're saying only one of their plugs makes 5 times the power of the entire engine. Rii-ight.

Yes, as already stated. Total BS claims here.

Might as well get a Fuel Shark while you're at it too.

http://jalopnik.com/the-fuelshark-wont-save-you-gas-because-it-runs-on-bul-1479542390

Bryson, 99% of the things you find on the Internet that claim to boost HP and performance by simply bolting something on, or dropping something in, are scams...much like the "magic box" they sell for the 3800 that taps into the IAT sensor and claims to "boost HP" when all it is, is a fancy looking box with a simple resistor in it that fools the PCM into thinking that it's colder outside than it is to add fuel and timing. I made one of these for 15 cents and tried it. In all reality, you can blow your engine up and create some serious KR by installing one of those.

I know you're looking to make your Riv faster as inexpensively as you can, but that just simply isn't going to happen with gimmicky stuff. A lot of us here are familiar with what works, and what doesn't. Aside from the usual colder plugs, 180* T-stat, headers, CAI and a smaller pulley (tune recommended), be prepared to drop some coin and do some work. There are no miracles or Flux Capacitors that are going to make the car fly.

The only reason I'm saying this is because I notice what you post about. I was in your shoes once, so I understand. When I was 18, I blew up my Turbo Coupe with a simple little $45 boost valve I bought on the Internet. It was fun as hell for about a month.....I'm just trying to stray you away from the "too good to be true" ads and gadgets.

 

Abaddon wrote:

There are no miracles or Flux Capacitors that are going to make the car fly.

LINK

Welp.

th3fr4nchi5e wrote:

LINK

Touche.....  

How about that, there IS a flux capacitor available!

Do you remember "Split-Fire" spark plugs? I used to sell a lot of them. I even installed a set the marketing was so powerful. Makes zero difference at all. The spark is ignited and the rest is chemical, there is nothing else to do. All that's needed is a spark.

No spark plug is going to make the mixture burn more thoroughly, or give you 'more power'. The power comes from the gasoline and it's BTUs, not the spark.

Spark and ignition do happen 'slowly' in engine time, but that is why spark happens "before top dead center" on a very specific schedule, so that the ignition and gas expansion is taking place at the right time to have the most effect on the piston. If you need the spark to start earlier, adjust your timing. Oh look, GM has done this for you, there is a timing table in the computer to handle this exact issue!

Ohh look at that! Splitfire IS still in business!

http://www.splitfire.com/product_info.html

However, they don't sell the "Y" plugs anymore. The name SplitFire comes from the plug they used to sell where the end of the ground electrode was split apart like a Y.

Some of the best names in the auto world,drivers and the such, hawked those plugs.The advertising world is such a disgrace

haha yah scott thanks for the tips im glad im getting opinions on these! im just going to do a tune up and get my 104 spark plugs, dave you are so awesome that's funny!

Yep. I remember Splitfire plugs. I worked at PepBoys when they came out. I also installed a set of those....once. I think I ran them for all of 2 days   

Oh yes, FIRES. I remember those!

I was really surprised to see that SplitFire is still in business! (or at least by name)

Ash wrote:

Yes, as already stated.  Total BS claims here.

Might as well get a Fuel Shark while you're at it too.

http://jalopnik.com/the-fuelshark-wont-save-you-gas-because-it-runs-on-bul-1479542390

Wow, you know what? This is actually a fair comparison. Pulstar's "technology" page reveals the $25 difference: a "capacitive element" inside each plug, claiming to store enough energy to release "an amazingly powerful and quick (two nanosecond) high-energy pulse", which in turn results in "improved combustion efficiency, improved mileage (MPG), less CO2 based emissions, and better overall drivability."



My favorite lines are from the "power & economy" page:

"Pulstar plugs create 10 times more peak output than conventional spark plugs."

And:

"A 1 million-watt reason to leave your 50-watt spark plugs at home."

All from a little capacitor. Sound familiar?

As Jalopnik revealed, the secret weapon found inside Fuel Shark is - you guessed it - a simple $.40 capacitor. Capacitors are wonderful devices for BS marketing schemes, because to the average consumer they can seem to do the impossible: create power. A battery can store and to some extent convert power. But a capacitor can only store power. Neat thing is, very small capacitors (spark plug-sized) store only very small amounts of power, not 1 MILLION WATTS!

If anyone really wants to know how bogus the Pulstar plugs really are, read this thread at ecomodder forums, where the CEO of Pulstar makes an appearance to share his test methods and claims Pulstar plugs add engine torque, lowering RPM. Then watch him get skinned by half a dozen car guys who know WAY more about how fuel economy works than Mr. Pulstar CEO. Eventually the thread is closed to prevent the advertizing of a snake-oil product. Kudos to ecomodder for exposing this product for what it is: $25 pieces of crap.

Link: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/do-pulstar-pulse-plugs-work-4020-2.html