[shivaswrath]

63k-I'm unsure what N55 plugs look like after that long?

[Vegetable]

They look great from what I can see...I can't zoom in on your pic, but it looks like you could have gone longer without a change. Did you notice anything after changing your spark plugs, i.e improved performance?

[RoundelM3]

Yep - neither too rich or too lean (even brownish color to the ceramic insulator around the electrode). With your mods, it's probably not a bad idea to do the change at that mileage.

FYI - I still don't have 21K miles on my F30 yet. You still liking life in Jersey?

[Jadar]

Ha funny, you and I are pretty much the same mods and tuners, and I just pulled my plugs today after ordering the BMS plug tool. They pretty much look like yours from what I can tell, and I am at 50,450 miles. The only thing I noticed is the prong on the bottom is starting to form away from the electrode and not straight.

I get low mph, low rpm bucking and jerking very light once in a while. Time for S55 plugs. Doing turbo swap Thursday with cryptocar. Well thats the plan anyway...

[cryptocar]

Originally Posted by shivaswrath

63k-I'm unsure what N55 plugs look like after that long?

This was my S55 plug (in N55) after 4K miles

[Jadar]

Originally Posted by cryptocar

This was my S55 plug (in N55) after 4K miles

[shivaswrath]

Originally Posted by roundel335

Yep - neither too rich or too lean (even brownish color to the ceramic insulator around the electrode). With your mods, it's probably not a bad idea to do the change at that mileage.

FYI - I still don't have 21K miles on my F30 yet. You still liking life in Jersey?

I'm tolerating life here Yeah the miles have piled on, mainly because of the back and forth to Stamford (in laws have become invaluable as we raise our 2 year old!)

Yeah the mileage seemed to be too far for waiting on the BMW maintenance light to go off (cheap bastards).

Originally Posted by dd1981

Ha funny, you and I are pretty much the same mods and tuners, and I just pulled my plugs today after ordering the BMS plug tool. They pretty much look like yours from what I can tell, and I am at 50,450 miles. The only thing I noticed is the prong on the bottom is starting to form away from the electrode and not straight.

I get low mph, low rpm bucking and jerking very light once in a while. Time for S55 plugs. Doing turbo swap Thursday with cryptocar. Well thats the plan anyway...

Ok good, I'm glad to hear the right thing is happening. I got them gapped at 0.022", and there has been a weird skip/misfire when I first start the car up. Otherwise it's running solid - what are you gapping the stocks at?

Originally Posted by cryptocar

This was my S55 plug (in N55) after 4K miles

So yeah def not putting S55 plugs in it seems! I'm only pushing 16psi between 3000-redline, what are you gapped at?

[cryptocar]

Originally Posted by shivaswrath

I'm tolerating life here Yeah the miles have piled on, mainly because of the back and forth to Stamford (in laws have become invaluable as we raise our 2 year old!)

Yeah the mileage seemed to be too far for waiting on the BMW maintenance light to go off (cheap bastards).

Ok good, I'm glad to hear the right thing is happening. I got them gapped at 0.022", and there has been a weird skip/misfire when I first start the car up. Otherwise it's running solid - what are you gapping the stocks at?

So yeah def not putting S55 plugs in it seems! I'm only pushing 16psi between 3000-redline, what are you gapped at?

Has nothing to do with S55 plugs. They are no doubt better than the stock N55. This was due to a clogged injector and insane misfires. I run the stock gap of 0.020 as recommended by Terry. I also just ordered some N54 NGK plugs and will try them next but these last set of S55 plugs went through hell while tuning and running different fuels and maps for months.

[RoundelM3]

Originally Posted by shivaswrath

I'm tolerating life here Yeah the miles have piled on, mainly because of the back and forth to Stamford (in laws have become invaluable as we raise our 2 year old!)

Yeah the mileage seemed to be too far for waiting on the BMW maintenance light to go off (cheap bastards).

Now that I'm retired and living in southeastern NC (near the beaches!), I don't put that many miles on the car - not that I did before, working from home and all. Too far to drive back to TX, but not bad up to CT and Charleston, etc. I expect I may not hit the limit for plugs in this car, but maybe the 340i I've got my eye on for next year.

Not surprising that your electrodes are beginning to wear down a little, but S55 plugs are probably not any stouter than N55s, just maybe a different heat range. I'd think stock would work fine again if gapped properly. Of course, that depends a lot on how many miles you've driven with your present mods.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Most reason for changing of plugs on these cars is the gap increases over time. You could attempt to re-gap stock plugs but with 63K miles I think it's a fair time to change them anyway. Nothing makes a car run better then fresh plugs, especially if it's been a while.

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

Most reason for changing of plugs on these cars is the gap increases over time. You could attempt to re-gap stock plugs but with 63K miles I think it's a fair time to change them anyway. Nothing makes a car run better then fresh plugs, especially if it's been a while.

+1

20-30K is a good change interval. On the S55 they swapped my plugs after 20K which I was suprised.

Mike

[Wires]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

Most reason for changing of plugs on these cars is the gap increases over time. You could attempt to re-gap stock plugs but with 63K miles I think it's a fair time to change them anyway. Nothing makes a car run better then fresh plugs, especially if it's been a while.

This, and if you leave them in long enough, they like to weld themselves into the head, which makes them a giant PITA to remove (sometimes taking threads with them. )

Regular swapping them is just good for everything (car and your sanity).

[FSociety]

Originally Posted by dd1981

Ha funny, you and I are pretty much the same mods and tuners, and I just pulled my plugs today after ordering the BMS plug tool. They pretty much look like yours from what I can tell, and I am at 50,450 miles. The only thing I noticed is the prong on the bottom is starting to form away from the electrode and not straight.

I get low mph, low rpm bucking and jerking very light once in a while. Time for S55 plugs. Doing turbo swap Thursday with cryptocar. Well thats the plan anyway...

dd1981 haha shivaswrath same car same

Luminous went with NGK N20 this time, way better heat range than S55

R32DBP also got some NGK N20 now as well replacing his S55 plugs

cryptocar see Terry's latest update he is now recommending to avoid S55 plugs and get NGK N20 especially on upgraded turbos.

[cryptocar]

Originally Posted by FSociety

cryptocar see Terry's latest update he is now recommending to avoid S55 plugs and get NGK N20 especially on upgraded turbos.

Did not see that, last I talked to him directly about plugs (just over 2 weeks ago) he said N20 NGKs and S55 plugs are fine with no mention of what was better or worse. He did however mentioned that BMS uses the N54 NGK 5992s

The plugs we should be using though, which don't seem to be available at some of the major online retailers are these flex fuel plugs for the N20/6. I'm gonna call and talk to my parts guy and see if I can get some of these for myself.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part...&q=12120042724

Edit: found them on TMS for $95 for a pack of 4 but that's pretty expensive, gonna keep looking.