Has anyone used, or have an opinion on, "halo" brand plugs?

[wild man]

I don't mean to bring up another plug debate, but the "consensus" about using NGK's does fly in my face. I have hated them ever since my early teens when I started riding motorcycles. I always had issues with them fouling out, and replaced them with alternate brands as soon as I could (NGK was OEM for most jap bikes at the time). And forget about Bosch. It's bad enough that the ceramic around the center electrode can break and cause engine damage. But the issue I had with them is that the center electrode erodes down into the ceramic, and you can only check the gap between the ceramic and the ground electrode. So you end up with a larger gap than what you thought you were setting.

Anyways, the Halo's ($10 each) are "claimed" to improve fuel economy by at least 10%, and possibly as much as 20%. They work fine (523 highway miles on a tank of gas), but I just noticed the "fine print" disclaimer that they should not be used in turbocharged or supercharged vehicles that are run continuously above 5krpm because they can not fully dissipate the heat generated at those speeds. That does concern me, but the longest period I plan to stay down on the pedal would be about 12 seconds or so at the drag strip. And only a portion of that time would be spent at 5krpm or over. If I planned on doing any hard running lasting any longer than that, I would remove them. When I bought them, I went with ones that were 1 heat range cooler. Does anyone have any thoughts, comments, or experience with them?

[nize]

hmm, this products sounds suspiciously like another in a long line of spark plug scams to me, especially being released when gas prices are on the rise and people are trying to penny pinch. remember the splitfire plug?
http://www.splitfire.com/

and some warm reviews;
http://www.miata.net/products/perform/splitfire.html

what about the bosch platinum fusion?



did the halo plugs actually increase your fuel economy, or did you subconsciously alter your driving habits to try to get more mileage?

i'd be interested to see a back-to-back performance test between these and the tried and proven NGK BPR6es plugs on the dyno.

[TexasBlake]

Your car just needs some plain jane copper plugs. I don't get why people think they need plugs with multiple electrodes and titanium/gold/platinum/plutonium whatever the hell material they're using these days. They're just scams to sell an overpriced product to stupid people. That's why they're exclusively sold at moron DIY places like AutoZone.

You know, Big Bubba Frank walks in and needs to do a tune up on his 94 F150, so he buys the Bosch +4 based off of a pretty sign he sees on the counter. Then he runs and tells all his Bubba friends in a big gruffy voice that he has +4s and he "can feel the difference" and "he gets more mpg." Bubba probably also uses FRAM oil filters because he sees the commercials Sunday morning during the NASCAR race. He might also have a K&N air filter and a Flowmaster muffler. All of these products stickers are on the back of his truck. He is the manliest man in the world, and no one knows as much about cars as Bubba the AutoZone customer. Whenever I was working at CarQuest and we had the occasional Bubba the AutoZone customer come in (we were 95% commercial sales), and he asked for some FRAM filters and some Bosh +4, I used to tell them straight to their face "No, we don't carry **** products."

I swear it's a pit peeve of mine when people run those stupid Bosch +2 +4. I pulled the plugs on my 951 to find =4s when I bought it and threw the first one out of my garage, down my driveway, and into the street while screaming.

[nize]

hey texasblake, it sounds like kaleco auto might be your favorite shop. it sure is my favorite! next to pelican, of course.

how about kaleco plugs?



from;
http://kalecoauto.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_ id=5

[wild man]

I don't know what the mileage was that I was getting before I installed the halos. But the time I went 523 miles, I filled up in Vermont and traveled 400 miles back home, averaging 75-80mph. And on interstate 91 south heading towards Hartford, the speed of traffic was close to 100mph, so it was not like I was "trying" to get higher mpg. But it does seem that highway mileage is ALWAYS better than city or "combined", no matter how fast you go. Also, when I saw the 523 miles on the "clock", I was sitting on the side of the road, out of gas.

As for the splitfire's, I had used them a few years back in my 88 Tbird turbocoupe, and they were triple-platinums, no less. I quit using them not because I wasn't sold on the "theory of operation", but rather because the quality was, dare I say, sh**!

And as for the kalekos, or whatever they are, I can make no sense of the "theory of operation", whatsoever (WOW)! And that's coming from someone who has a degree in engineering. My intuition says there is DEFINITELY something fishy going on with those folks. In fact, I would stay as far away from those as I could possibly get - like the other side of the planet!

Halo ring spark plug technology was originally developed by Nazi Germany, designed to be able to burn the lowest grades of fuels reliably, without fouling out. It has come a long way since then. When they get the heat dissipation issue resolved, you can consider the technology to be perfected.

Let me add that the halos do not use any "special" metals in the electrodes. And as for the bosch "fusion" plugs, they still use a ceramic "surround" on the center electrode, leading to the problem I mentioned in the original post.

[TexasBlake]

Originally Posted by wild man

And as for the kalekos, or whatever they are, I can make no sense of the "theory of operation", whatsoever (WOW)! And that's coming from someone who has a degree in engineering. My intuition says there is DEFINITELY something fishy going on with those folks. In fact, I would stay as far away from those as I could possibly get - like the other side of the planet!

fail

[ulfm]

Originally Posted by wild man

Does anyone have any thoughts, comments, or experience with them?

I have them.... Halo H4A. Have been in my car since 2002 for 30.000 km (do your math).
(According to Swedish distributor the plug will last way more)

The plugs looks just fine when inspected, and yes my car works like a charm both on road and on track. (When on track I´m using Shell V-Power 99 octane btw)

[AaronM]

Well, the Halo website is bull*****, I can tell you that much.

However, since the path of least resistance is between the tip of the insulated hot electrode and the halo ring ground electrode, multiple ignition sparks arc to the entire ring (because the entire ring is the path of least resistance), resulting in the multiple simultaneous ignitions of the air-fuel mixture.

To anyone with even an elementary-school understanding of electricity, this is a clear falsehood. There still will only be one single spark per ignition impulse; the halo electrode does not magically create a multiple spark environment.

When the entire air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber ignites 31% quicker, the vehicle’s on-board computer, getting readings several hundred times a second from the knock/detonation and oxygen sensors, automatically advances the timing of the ignition spark from between 14-10 degrees before TDC to between 6-2 degrees before TDC.

No, that would be retarding the timing, not advancing it. Advancing the timing means starting the ignition farther before (i.e. in advance of) TDC. They don't even know the difference between advancing timing and retarding it; I'm not sure that I would trust anything else they have to claim about their plugs.

Basically, any experienced mechanic can see that the website for halo plugs is full of *****.

I'm sure that the plugs are functional, but they aren't anything special and the very shady advertising tactics used by the manufacturer make me dislike them on that basis alone.

[choinga]

I've used a variety of different plugs in my 951. I have a Vitesse MAF, 3" exhaust, 38mm Tial and boost to 15PSI and the best plugs I've used so far are the NGK BPR7ES. No gimmicky bull**** stuff - just a good plug that does what it's supposed to do.