I'm about to replace the spark plugs in the 03 which had me thinking about what kind of spark plugs i want to get. On my spectra5 i used NGKs and i was thinking about doing the same for my mini. any thoughts? i will NOT use champion or any of those "miracle" 800 pined spark plugs they sell for 10 bucks a plug.

 

I put in a set of NGK plugs and wires in my 04 MCS after 93 K on the first set. Car runs great with them. Also changed out the coil, figuring I was on borrowed time. Amazon had some good pricing on all of the items

 

Do you have the S? Any mods?

 

no, i have a base cooper with no engine mods currently

 

I have Beru Ultra X and Kingsbourne wires - both from Outmotoring works great.

 

Ireland Engineering has a great set of wires that last a good long time. I would then stick with an oem replacement plug from NGK, Bosch, Denso etc.

 

awesome, i just ordered a set!

 

quick update, i finally got around to changing the sparkplugs and they were awful looking.
there were 4 prong NGK BMW branded plugs cooked beyond anything i have ever pulled from any of my cars. i replaced them with single prong Iridium NGK plugs (i bought them before i realized i had 4 prong NGK/BMW plugs) and everything started up and idles beautifully.

I'll be checking the new plugs in a few weeks once i get my new plug wires (the ireland plugs were on back order so i canceled)

 

Just be sure to retourqe your plugs...
A disturbing number of plugs have been blown out of mini heads....the fix can get $$, and the solution is to install plugs using a torque wrench...or checking for tightness after a few days at the least.
The plugs you pulled out were likely the orgional plugs....so good move swapping them out.
The NGK plugs seem to be a good match for the mini...some folks like beru silvers, but their life can be pretty short at times....denso plugs, while good plugs, seem too get blown out more often, possibly due to the special hexovalent chrome plating used to protect the threads from corrosion...a good thing on the typical Honda's they get installed in, and left in for 5+ years...

 

Read this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ght=spark+plug to see my responses there. ANY new plug will perform better because it's just that... new. Based on the link, Silver is the best material, with Copper being 2nd in terms of conductivity/resistance. The only reason Platinum and Iridium are used is because they can last 100K miles, reducing maintenance. They are actually some of the worst materials you can use for plugs.

Using four-prong plugs helps with not having to worry about "indexing" single-prong plugs. However, this is not really necessary since our plugs are directly overtop the piston (vs. convential side plugs like on a small block Chevy).

 

interesting... are there any four pronged silver coated plugs out there that don't cost 8 bazillion dollars? i'm curious what the trade offs are between the 3 mentioned.

mileage obtained out of plugs (longevity)

performance gain differences between plugs

MPG gain between plugs

also blowing spark plugs out doesn't appeal to me...

 

I have been running the OEM JCW NGK 4 prong plug since pullied/tuned with no issues.

You will not get any kind of acceptable life out of the Iridium plugs.

 

i find that hard to believe considering the last pair of iridium plugs lasted 108K

 

So you have over 108K on the MINI with the bad 4 prong plugs?

Do a search on Iridium plugs and you will find by far the majority of folks that have used them found out they did not last long at all. The iridium is not a metal that lasts long in an engine especially with the tiny electrode that they have.

 

they weren't necessarily bad, but they were the original BMW branded plugs. i did search and found that most of those were Cooper S's not coopers.

 

I have a 03 R53 with 58000 miles, I just purchased new spark plugs and was sold the NGK G POWER PLATINUM ALLOY # BKR6EGP and was told these would work. im not feeling good about "These Will Work " comment. What's your thought on these? I'm fine with NGK but unsure if this is the correct plug.
Thanks for your help.