Originally Posted By: j_mac
NO! Autolite is bottom of the barrel quality. I could tell you horror stories. In reality almost all aftermarket plug wires are poor quality. Bosch is one of the few brands that are trustworthy.
Since you're posting here I hope you know what an "orange can of death" is. If you don't, then you need to do a search for it now. Then consider that Autolite products are packaged in the same orange color. And then let it be known that Autolite and Fram are owned by THE SAME COMPANY!
Back in the 80's I had a '70 Chevelle. I was learning auto mechanics and I remember having fits with fouled plugs. I was using Autolite plugs. I switched to Bosch and the problems stopped!
About the same time a friend of mine had a Mustang that was missing. He had a "new" set of Autolite plug wires on it. We opened the hood at night time with the engine running and we could see a corona eminating from the plug wires. He returned them for a new set. That set lasted one month and did the same thing. He actually got in the habit of returning the wires for warranty every month for the rest of the summer until he got rid of the car.
This same friend had a different Mustang about 10 years ago. It was a fully built high performance Small Block Ford. For some reason he used Autolite plugs in it. He was friends with a guy who ran a dyno shop. The car felt lazy and he dynoed it and found that it was missing over 50 hp. He switched the plugs to Bosch and got the 50hp back.
These are my personal experiences with Autolite. I've avoided thier products since the 1980's after my Chevelle and the "corona" story. My buddy had a brain lapse or something and used the Autolite plugs and it bit him.
The 50hp story sounds hard to believe, but it its true.
That being said, I have had all sorts of bad luck from many aftermarket brands of plug wires. After several painful lessons I try to use Factory origianl equipment wires, or just leave the originals on until you KNOW they have a problem.
One time in the late 80's a different friend had a '67 Chevelle and we "tuned it up" with "Un-Brand" wires, cap, rotor and plugs. It WOULD NOT RUN after we got done. Would not start. After alot of work and head scratching we put the old wires back on. The car ran like new.
Once I had a 5.0L Mustang. I bought Ford Motorsport wires (I had already learned my lesson about aftermarket brands) but I used a Wells brand cap and rotor reasoning that it was a simple fool proof part and was much cheaper than a Ford equivalent. I took the car on a 3000 mi. Vacation. About 3 hours from home the car developed a dead miss any time the car was revved over 3000 rpms. I drove the whole trip, never exceeding 3000 rpms. Got the car back home and had to drive it like that for 2 more months while I was trying to figure out what was wrong. Remembering the '67 Chevelle incident 16 years earlier, I put all the old worn out original stuff back on that still had laying around. The car ran like new. I traced it down the the Wells brand distributor cap.
THE POINT I'M TRYING TO MAKE IS THAT FOR SOME REASON ELECTRICAL SYSTEM COMPONENTS IN THE AFTERMARKET ARE LITERALLY HIT OR MISS. I WOULDN'T USE ANYTHING BUT ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT STUFF.
Except maybe Bosch.
Wow, what a post..and based on decades old experiences.
I agree with you on aftermarket plug wires. I have had issues with your typical AutoZone/Pep Boys etc store wires. They are truly low quality and hit or miss as to if they will do the job and last. The exception to this rule are the high quality aftermarket sets like MSD or Moroso. I replace all my wires at the first tune up with MSD and they are great. I had 2 Accel sets over the years fail so I tend to stay away from Accel products. As for over the counter plug wires that I have used for customer cars - the Bosch did seem to be of decent quality.
Your point on Autolite plugs are questionable. I have used Bosch over the years and have had issues just recently (which I posted about but won't rehash here) with them. Guess what? I've been using Autolite plugs for years with no issues. They are a good plug. The story about the 50hp loss with Autolites is not believable. To lose 50hp would be some really bad misfiring that you would notice. You just don't change plugs and get 50hp back. You are lucky to see even a 2hp difference between 2 different brands of plugs right out the box new.
I also agree with the Fram OCD opinion - you're right they are junk. However, I have not seen any quality issues drift from the oil filter making part of the businees to the spark plug part - even beings they are made by the same maker.
I also agree with you that the typical aftermarket ignition parts available to us over the counter are risky. I have also had bad caps and rotors, plug wires and such. Companies like Wells and Federal and such are not fool proof and in most cases you are better off buying and OEM cap/rotor or igniton module. The exception is if you are upgrading to MSD or higher performance parts...but for the over the counter parts from Autozone etc yeah that is risky and you either do ok or get complete junk.
Lastly - I urge you to try Autolite plugs again - we are now in 2011. I use the base copper in my 87 Buick GN turbo and Jeep, I use their double platinum in most cars I service as well as just putting them in two Cadillac CTS's where the OEM Bosch plugs failed at less than 50k miles (see other post for that). I run Autolite XP Iridium in my truck and Harleys. Never a problem.
Cheers!