Hey guys I posted this up on ls1.com and wanted to share my experiment w/ you as well. Feel free to release this info wherever so it'll help anybody out on what spark plug wires to get.

My hopes are to get this as a sticky. It took some time to get ahold of all these wires. Pics will be up soon. Please give me props for doing this...

After reading 100 threads about spark plug wires and who has the best one, I've decided to do my own test on aftermarket wires. I've got ahold of 8 aftermarket wires, all 12.5 inches long (LS1 plugs are smaller).

So why do people upgrade their wires? The theory goes that because race wires have less ohm resistance, they will reduce the amount of electricity lost in the process of being transferred through the wire. The average car transfers 30,000 volts through the spark plug wire, so every little resistance counts.

OEM plugs were created with a significant amount of ohm resistance to supress RFI interference. Aftermarket wires supress this interference while claiming to supply lower ohm resistance than stock.

There are many people who disbelieve that aftermarket spark plug wires will gain you anything. After swapping out my wires, I noticed a HP gain and smoother acceleration. My guess is that a stronger spark (not hotter) allows for a faster combustion. I cannot find anything to disproove this, so for now this theory will stay in this write-up.

So here's my test. All wires were tested at least 3 times to be sure I have accurate numbers here. Remember, they were all 12.5 inches long. I tested next to a radio but did not pick up any static from any of these wires.

stock LS1 6 in. - 351 ohms

Granatelli 8mm Steel Solid Core Cable - 0.1 ohms
MSD 8.5mm Super Conductor - 71.6 ohms
Accel 8.8 300+ Ferro-Spiral Race Wire - 166.1 ohms
Jacobs Electronics EnergyCore 8.5mm - 178.3 oms
Taylor Spiro Pro 8mm Silicone - 301 ohms
Mallory Pro Sidewinder 8mm Silicone Suppression Wire - 313 ohms
Moroso Blue Maz Spiral Core 8mm - 661 ohms
Magnecor KV85 Competiton 2.5mm - 2053 ohms

I'll write some more, but I'm tired of playing with spark plug wires. So for now here's just the facts.

 

Geez...the Granatellis had only .1 ohms? Pretty nice...guess as long as they didn't introduce interference (which it doesn't sound like they did), sounds like they'd be a good deal. My stockers came in around 350-375 just as yours did, but I think my Taylor's were down a little lower than 300, but I don't remember.

Thanks for the data!

 

How did you measure the HP gain?

 

How about mentioning quality? I've been through two sets of Taylors, 409's and Thundervolts. Both sets had one or more of the wire/boot assembly fall apart during spark plug changes. Also, after 2-3 removal/installations, the wires no longer had a firm contact on the spark plug, resulting in chronic missing at cruise. MSD's are the way to go!

 

+1 for MSD wires, I haven't experienced any interference and they have never fallen apart through many plug changes

 

MSD has always been above the rest. My MSD LS1 wires 6" had .025 ohms. My stockers had 375 ohms.

 

Agreed there, I had the GM Performance ones, they were shot. I have MSD's now as well.

 

I chose the MSD ones. I am still a little weary of the Granetelli ones since they claim a solid core. I wonder if they really do not interfere with electronics?

 

When you tested each 3 times, did you take an average or did you take the best of all three tests? Did you test multiple wires from the same set and come up with the figures? Just curious...

 

Are you going to be able to see which wire delievers the most amperage to the plug?

 

MSD's here as well. Nothing but great.

 

Did you just get ahold of one wire from each company and measure the resistance of that one wire? I'm sure you had a budget, but I think measure the resistance of all 8 wires from each company and taking the average would have been a more accurate representation....

 

People with the Taylor thundervolts that had them break...that is actually why my stock wires are back on my car. Had two break on me in the middle of a spark plug swap...looks like I'll be going with the MSDs from the sounds of it.

 

so it looks like
Solid Core seems like its a race only option...not meant for EVERYDAY wear and tear

 

I have the Granatelli wires with the stainless steel cores. No electronic interference at all, same a using regular wires.

I've been very happy with them, can't beat almost 0 ohms resistance

 

WOW! Was that the real number on the Magnecors??! Is that a misprint? Many people swear by those wires and will probably be shocked by those results. I know they're marketing disses all the low ohmage claims of the others, and they don't claim to be low ohmage themselves, but that number is REDICULOUS!!!

 

I didn't. HP gain is in theory, parallel w/ ohm resistance.

If anyone has complaints of wires falling appart mention it so I can keep track. I'll add this in later simply based on complaints.

I took an average. Some wires were very easily read while others I had to plug it up and lay it on a table and wait for the meter to stop moving around. I did this a few times to make sure I had accurate numbers. Some were very close per reading and I usually took the average, like Granatelli's were 0.0, 0.1, 0.0, 0.1 so I left 0.1 to show some kind of resistance was shown (I may change it just because my picture shows 0.0 that I took).

More resistance=less spark power.

No misprint. The Magnecors were actually very easily read with no fluctiations, and I've tested them like 6 times going back to other wires like Granatelli, see 0.0 or 0.1 then went back and it was the within the same area almost every time.

 

MSD's the FTW!!!!! I don't see why people get the other brands when these are the same price or slightly more. :dunno:

 

How do you conduct this test? I've got the GM Hotwires. Wondering If they're any better at all. I thought I could note a difference. It could have all just been in my head. They look nice

 

While resistance checking is good to see if a wire is broken or not, it is my opinion that you are not going to see any benefit with a lower resistance wire. Get the one that is the most durable.

I'm inclined to agree with Magnecor.

http://www.magnecor.com/magnecor1/truth.htm

Testing with a DC ohmmeter that's powered by less than 9 volts (mine uses 4 aa batteries) is certainly going to have different electrical characteristics than testing at 40,000 volts of spark arc.

And remember, your spark is jumping an air gap. Which has, oh, let's say for argument's sake 10,000,000 (10 megohms) resistance, even though in reality it's much higher (test the air gap with your DC ohmmeter ).

Difference between 10,000,000.1 and 10,000,500? Really pretty insignificant in the big picture.

That's why I don't buy in to claims of any power increase with plug wires. At all. Replacing bad wires will result in a power increase (duh) because you're fixing misfires.

I check my wires for continuity with my ohmmeter, but I do not rate performance of a wire based on the resistance.