What Spark Plug Wires Should I Buy

[c3po]

I have had a set of Accel 9000 spark plug wires on my car for 20,000 miles and 1 of them is bad. There was some backfiring tonite and I sprayed a mist of water from a spray bottle and I could see arcing.
These Accel wires are like $90.00 from Jegs, I feel like going to CarQuest and pick up a set for $20.00, these Accels should have lasted longer.

The car is a 1983 Chevrolet El Camino with Jet-Hot coated headers and a true dual exhaust. The header temps with the coating usually are between 350 and 400 degrees. These wires only lasted 2 years, or should I say 1 wire went bad.

Any suggestions on good spark plug wires, and yes they were seperated and nothing was touching metal or near the headers.

I would think those exhaust sleeves for the headers would eventually ruin them. I got the Accels because they had some space age coating on the boots that resists heat.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I rarely need wires, but just got a set of BOSCH from AZ for a friend. MAN they are very well-constructed, YMMV.

 

[kingrob]

See, this is the problem I've had with Accel. I've got a set that's been on my car for twenty years, and they still look brand new and work fine. They were about 100 bucks in 1989, and they've been worth every penny.

But I recently bought a set for a supercharged Buick 3.8 and they were arcing within 30,000 miles. Not cool! I've noticed that the Chevy guys around town have all quit using them in favor of other High-Performance brands.

As for Bosche, the only vehicles I've had that responded well to them were Nissans. They seem to [censored] out pretty quick on other vehicles. Otherwise I try to stick with OEM wires.

I've had the best all around luck with AC/Delco wires. I usually get about 150k out of them before I replace them, usually just as a preventive measure. I've never had one go "bad".

Ford wires, factory installed, seem to be pretty weak but the aftermarket Motorcrafts are top notch in my book.

Champion wires are hit and miss. 50/50 good/garbage ratio.

"Import" wires I have very little experience with so I'm not going to comment on them, even though some of my A/C Delco's have been rumored to be Delphi or Nippon.

 

[c3po]

I just cannot figure out why only 1 wire is going bad.

I did replace my vacuum advance that was bad, I am not sure if this affected the wire. My cap and rotor were also replaced today.

But this problem popped up the other night and I thought it was my choke, obviously I was wrong.

 

[Hollow]

I'm a fan of NGK wires myself.

 

[c3po]

Anyone ever use Magnecore Spark Plug Wires.

 

[tom slick]

I like Taylor wires and they are not too expensive. I've also used NGK with no issues.
For regular off the shelf it is really hard to beat belden wires from NAPA. they are very high quality OEM style wires.

 

[c3po]

There is a NAPA near buy my house, so I may go over tomorrow, what kind of warranty do they have on there wires.

 

[typ901]

I had a set of Magnecor's on my Land Rover. I had a exhaust manifold leak that killed two of the boots. They worked well, never crept off the cap, but over the last year their prices jumped a lot ...like 33% or more. A 8mm set for my truck is now 100 bucks. I just purchased a 7mm set of 'Standard' brand wires from Rockauto.com, and they seem to be good quality and were 30 bucks, and the length of the wires were each slightly longer than the ones I replaced, which is much nicer...yeah it is a fitted set, not universal that I bought.

 

[c3po]

Tommorow I am going to put on 1 of my old spark plug wires that I saved and then go from there.

If this old car is going to have spark plug wire problems, it is going to be from a cheap set and not an expensive set.

 

[GMBoy]

I have used the same wires - actually they are called Extreme 9000 and are purposely built to withstand heat and last. They have a ceramic coating too. I put them on my 94 LT1 Corvette and they did not meet my expectations either. Heck - I even had a set of the Accel 8.8 wires on my old Jeep CJ that failed prematurely. I replaced both these vehicles wire sets with MSD wires and could not be happier. I stay away from the sets you buy at Autozone and such. Have had too many bad right out of the box. Taylor (as mentioned above) is also a good make.

 

[OVERKILL]

I've been using the MSD ones and have been quite happy with them. The MSD Super Conductors.

 

[GMBoy]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
I've been using the MSD ones and have been quite happy with them. The MSD Super Conductors.


Cool - we both posted the same thing at the same time!

 

[OVERKILL]

Indeed

LOL!

 

[99]

Originally Posted By: c3po
I just cannot figure out why only 1 wire is going bad.
Accel makes good wires. I ran their 300+ race wires for years on my old Z28 that used a MSD billet distributor, MSD HVC coil and MSD 6AL box. I went through 2 cap/rotor changes before I replaced those wires and even then, they were still working fine at that time. Seeing as how only 1 of the 8 wires on your car went bad, I wouldn't say it was the companies fault. Stuff happens, especially when you run headers. Header heat is just brutal on wires. Try MSD or Moroso's wires or use that hi temp spark plug wire sleeving Jegs and Summit sells. I currently run Bosch premium wires on the Jeep and VW and MSD wires on the GTO.

 

[Turk]

I am STILL using the original GM wires that have 138,000 miles on them! Engine runs great, no missing or roughness at all......

How about going with the OEM wires?

 

[ARB1977]

If anything try to find factory wires...you cant go wrong,

 

[Pablo]

IMHO Magnecore wires are the way to go. But it's a trade-off with expense and how long you will own the car, etc.

It's what we have settled on for bike wires. What I can't figure out is, they say they are a USA company, but on the Co. charge card receipt is says Magnecore Australia.

 

[Johnny]

Maybe Australia is getting ready to be our 51st state. We have an island, now we need a continent.

 

[grampi]

I just replaced the el-cheapo Autolite wires I had on my Corolla (which were causing the engine to miss during damp/rainy weather) with NGKs. They corrected the problem.