Bosch in General

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Not trying to bash Bosch here.

Up till a few months ago, I used to think Bosch was a very prestigious brand, I associated it w/ high end MBs and BMWs. But seems everyone dislike their plugs; I had a Bosch battery quit early on me; my coworker tells me their plug wires and altenators are crap; and their oil filters, are just Champions (I can do SuperTech, thank you).

What's the general preception on Bosch? Seems to me a marketing hype to me.

I have since changed my preferences as follows:

Plugs: NGK
Batts: Wal Mart EverStart
Filters: Purolator/SuperTech
 
Bosch is just OK. Bosch is made in just about every country on Earth. Bosch doesn't own factories, they have stuff contract manufactured. Some of their products are designed by/for an auto brand such as Volvo, MB, etc and can be top notch.

I have had defective Bosch products - relays mostly. OTOH Bosch makes some of the best consumer FI systems on the planet.
 
I bought some BOSCH screwdriver bits, Every one snapped. SNAPPED! Not wore down, but the brittle metal snapped. I swore off BOSCH accessories like drill bits or whatever...but the funny part is that I have like 3 screwguns that are shot from old batteries, but the really old 9.6v BOSCH is just fine. It must be 10 years old.
 
BTW BOSCH Platinum plugs are garbage. Get the Super or Silber. At my friend's BOSCH Service Center, they do not even use the Platinums. I use Beru Ultra-X. 80k on them, cleaned every 20-30.
 
My E30 BMW came stock from the factory with dual-electrode, copper, NGK plugs!

JMH
 
Bosch plugs were the last item I dissed. I thought since they were produced in house, in GERMANY, it must be good. I suppose I was wrong there too.
 
Not all Bosch products, especially not their spark plugs are made in Germany. I've seen Bosch sparkies that said "Made in Taiwan" on the box.

Bosch products that made in Germany are generally better than their outsourced crap. The Platinum Plus 4 spark plugs are a joke. A Bisch Service rep said they were made in Asia for Bosch. If I buy a Bosch oil filter in Germany, I do not get a relabeled Champion, though. My Bosch headlights are great.

As for the perception that Bosch is special, that's a missperception. Bosch, along with Valeo (SWF/Hella), happens to be a supplier of OEM parts to many car makers, but they're not special.
 
Bosch OEM parts are some of the best made. I haven't been impressed by their aftermarket parts enough to consider them any better then any other aftermarket brand.

bosch power tools are actually some good stuff, but they have had a few bad designs with them also. of course that is a completely different division then their automotive brands.
 
I haved used BOSCH platinum spark plugs exclusively for the last 10 years in about 15 vehicles with no problems. Been dependable in even 60K change intervals.

Hootbro
 
I've read a lot about people having problems with Bosch plugs in their Toyotas. Take the Bosch out and put NGK or Denso in and problem goes away.
 
Well I won't go out and say that the Bosch +4's are the best. But I have used them in many vehicles since they came out and they have been fine for me.
 
I've used Bosch for years w/ no issues. But the thing to remember is it's just a company. It's a big, big company. Bosch is not meant to be the 2nd coming. They are branching out into different areas and diluting their brand. Do you think Bosch powertools and screwdriver bits are made right there w/ Bosch alternators? That's like believing Brock Yates and Csabe Csere have a hand in producing those cheesy "Car and Driver" products in Target. It's just a label.
 
It seems that Bosch platium tips are buried under the ceramic and not exposed at all. Am I right? What's the point of that?
 
On my Cadillac Northstar 4.6 V8, I replaced plugs with Bosch platinums once, gapped at 0.050 as recommended. From that point on, it took about 3-4 seconds to start the car every time. After 25k, a misfire developed and got progressively worse over the next 500 miles. I replaced the plugs and 2 of the 8 platinum tips had come off completely, thereby widening the gap beyond spec and causing the misfire. I replaced them with AC-Delco double platinum plugs also gapped at 0.050 as recommended by almost everyone over at www.cadillacowners.com and the car now starts within 1-2 seconds every time. Yes, the Delcos were quite a bit more expensive than the Bosch plugs, but even at the cheap Bosch price, they should at least not fall apart! JUNK!
 
Quote "On my Cadillac Northstar 4.6 V8, I replaced plugs with Bosch platinums once, gapped at 0.050 as recommended"

Probably gapping it caused it to fail. I haven't gapped a plug in years and years. I just check to make sure they are all the same. If one were to be different, I would take it back.
 
Eh, my pregapped plugs, no matter the brand, are never gapped properly!

Johnny, as for the platinum, I believe the whole center electrode is platinum. The point of platinum in a plug is that it has a higher melting point than other metals. It is also less vulnerable to corossion. Therefore, repeated exposure to the heat of the spark does not melt it away as fast. The main reason plug gaps increase over time is because the metal slowly melts away due to heat.

Bosch plugs have a pure platinum electrode core whereas many platinum plugs only have a platinum coated tips.
 
I have used the origanal Bosch Platnium Plugs since about 1988 in every vechile I have owned and that my parents have owned with no problem at all. Most of the vechiles were imports but I owned a few domestics.

My father has had the Bosch+4's wich I would never use in service about 3-4 years now with no problem.

While I like NGK and Denso plugs I have never had an issue with BOsch plug's. The Bosch Super's are the best buy in copper plugs in my opion.


I also think that Bosch fuel pumps are hands down better then the Delphi/AC Delco fuel pumps and they are also much better then Master brand fuel pumps.
 
It is possible Bosch made there reputation being compared to Lucas? I don't like the chuck design on my owned by Bosch, Skill screwdriver. When the first one went bad, I returned it. The second one is iffy.

I wonder if the ABS horror stories I have heard were Bosch?

Hang a high price on it and people will rave about the quality?

I will take my chance on Delco.
 
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