As we all know, the quality of plugs coming from places like China is very hit and miss. I have had good plugs and bad plugs. But I'm getting sick of all the crap ones on the market today which are being advertised as "genuine".
I've noticed the quality of Champion CJ8 plugs has started to go down hill in recent years, ever since threaded terminals got replaced by solid ones. So I decided to try some "genuine" Bosch WS8E. They arrived yesterday and I must say I am very disappointed. These are clearly made "on the cheap". In fact they have all the attributes of fake NGK plugs: poor quality seating, rough threads, inferior quality metals, poor quality ceramic, and even the printing is blurred and faded. The biggest problem is the metal shell just above the thread is warped in the same place on every single plug, meaning that the seating is impaired. Then I noticed on the side of the boxes: "Made in Brasil". I did some searching online and it seems Bosch regularly outsource their products these days to Brasil, Russia, and China. At least back when they made some of their products in Italy the quality was still there, but wow, the quality of this Brazilian product is very poor. The terminals on these Brazilian-made Bosch plugs are solid and cannot be screwed off, which also leads me to believe these plugs are wrongly labelled. Bosch plugs with solid terminals should have an "R" designation in the title, so they should technically be Bosch WS
R8E plugs!
Does anybody have any experience with USA-made Windsor 40WSRE8 plugs? Judging by the photos they do look to have good quality metals and ceramic at least. These are being marketed as a replacement for Champion CJ8. However the literature actually identifies them as an equivalent for Champion RCJ8 and Bosch WSR8E. The extra "R" indicates they are a solid terminal type.
Champion RCJ8 Threaddiameter: 14mm
Threadreach: 9.5mm
Seattype: flat
Hexsize: 19mm
Tipconfiguration: non projected
Construction: Standard construction
Terminaltype: Solid
Champion CJ8 Threaddiameter: 14mm
Threadreach: 9.5mm
Seattype: flat
Hexsize: 19mm
Tipconfiguration: non projected
Construction: Standard construction
Terminaltype: Removable
There is also a Stens Mega-Fire SE8JC which is being marketed as a vaguely Champion branded product, suitably replacing CJ8, and also Made in the USA. I am sure it will also have a solid terminal.
I have had both good and bad experiences with Chinese-made L6 plugs.
The hunt for the perfect spark plug goes on!
