Q: Do those fancy split tip sparkplugs really work?
A: No. Electricity follows the path of least resistance. It has nothing to do with a split tip or a fancy U groove! The sparkplug does one thing only. It acts as the grounding source for the ignition and that's it, period, end of story. The only difference with a sparkplug is that there is a gap in the current path. The size of the spark is dictated by the voltage and amperage output of your coil and the output of your coil is dictated by the saturation (dwell) time of your ignition system. You'll hear claims like, "it made more horsepower" or "I got better gas mileage". Well of course they did! Their engine needed a tune-up or they wouldn't have tried the new plugs in the first place! Any engine would get better gas mileage and more horsepower after a tune-up! What split tipped plugs can do is promote pre-ignition and/or detonation. How? Try this, take a hanger and try to heat it up with a cigarette lighter. Oh yeah, it gets hot, but not hot enough to glow cherry red. Now take a paper clip and heat it up with the same lighter. It gets hotter faster and glows cherry red! It's simple, it takes less heat to heat-up smaller objects. What do you think those tiny little pieces of split tip electrodes are doing in your engine? Now add more compression and heat (a race engine) and they act like a dog gone glow plug... detonation... ka-boom! Just about in that order.
A: No. Electricity follows the path of least resistance. It has nothing to do with a split tip or a fancy U groove! The sparkplug does one thing only. It acts as the grounding source for the ignition and that's it, period, end of story. The only difference with a sparkplug is that there is a gap in the current path. The size of the spark is dictated by the voltage and amperage output of your coil and the output of your coil is dictated by the saturation (dwell) time of your ignition system. You'll hear claims like, "it made more horsepower" or "I got better gas mileage". Well of course they did! Their engine needed a tune-up or they wouldn't have tried the new plugs in the first place! Any engine would get better gas mileage and more horsepower after a tune-up! What split tipped plugs can do is promote pre-ignition and/or detonation. How? Try this, take a hanger and try to heat it up with a cigarette lighter. Oh yeah, it gets hot, but not hot enough to glow cherry red. Now take a paper clip and heat it up with the same lighter. It gets hotter faster and glows cherry red! It's simple, it takes less heat to heat-up smaller objects. What do you think those tiny little pieces of split tip electrodes are doing in your engine? Now add more compression and heat (a race engine) and they act like a dog gone glow plug... detonation... ka-boom! Just about in that order.
