What ignition wire do you run and what ohm are they?

[SSMAN]

I see a lot of different wires and advertising the low ohm for less resistance and more power to the plugs.

So my question is this:

What wires are you running and what is the ohm reading from boot to boot, and what is the length of the wire you are measuring?

I have the Accel 300 + wires. The coil wire is 16" and reads right at 189 ohms. Which is not good.

[mustangguy289]

MSD Super conductors... and I would have to pull them off to measure.

[SSMAN]

MSD Super conductors... and I would have to pull them off to measure.

Just pop one end off the distributor and the other off the plug. Measure in place.

[mustangguy289]

Just pop one end off the distributor and the other off the plug. Measure in place.

I know how to measure resistance haha... I am at work. If I get a chance I will tonight.

I told myself the next time I pull them off I would be replacing them. They have the long straight boots and are a pain in the ass to get to "snap" onto the plug. I want to get some 90 deg plug boots.

[Blackpony]

I have the ford racing wires. Not sure on resistance will check when I get back to the shop.

[Fastfox86]

189 would be considered really good since most OEM wires are in the 9,000+ range per meter. Most manufacutures recommend replacing wires when they get over 20k. So, I'd say you are doing well with 189 in just over a foot. I'm currently running MSD superconductors and they are about 20 per foot I think.

[turbos66coupe]

Msd are 52 per foot. Resistance is a marketing game as far as I'm conserned. Magnecor makes great wires and they have a lot of good tech reading on their site. Honestly on 99% percent of street cars you won't gain any power from a race wire. Only positive is they can handle higher temps due to cnstruction.

[SSMAN]

Honestly on 99% percent of street cars you won't gain any power from a race wire. Only positive is they can handle higher temps due to cnstruction.

This is a very true statement.

[SSMAN]

189 would be considered really good since most OEM wires are in the 9,000+ range per meter. Most manufactures recommend replacing wires when they get over 20k. So, I'd say you are doing well with 189 in just over a foot. I'm currently running MSD superconductors and they are about 20 per foot I think.

I never measured any OEM wire that registered that much. In fact some OEM wires can have less ohms than performance wires. Never go by what they advertise on the performance wires. They usually advertise what the wire itself is rated at, not with the connections (boots).

That is why I am curious as to what the actual meter says thru the boot connections.

My stock OEM wires (chevy truck 2004 model) were less ohms than the Mallory high performance wires. But like mentioned above, they had better thermal ratings.

[Fastfox86]

I used to work at a parts store and I was so bored one day when it was slow I started comparing resistance of all the brands of wires. The store brand ones were ridiculously high about 7k+, Bosch came in around 3-4k, regular accels were somewhere between Bosch and store brand, Accel 300+ were pretty low in the 100's range, and MSD's were the best. Well below a hundred. So glad I don't work there anymore.

[SSMAN]

I used to work at a parts store and I was so bored one day when it was slow I started comparing resistance of all the brands of wires. The store brand ones were ridiculously high about 7k+, Bosch came in around 3-4k, regular accels were somewhere between Bosch and store brand, Accel 300+ were pretty low in the 100's range, and MSD's were the best. Well below a hundred. So glad I don't work there anymore.

Granatelli wires claim to be under 1 ohm of resistance. I know the short ones for the truck were well under 1 ohm. I ordered a set for the camaro, when they come in I will post the ohm reading on a 51" long wire. Should be interesting.

[Fastfox86]

Ha! I didn't even know Granatelli made wires. Of course they do all the F-Body stuff and I haven't been in that game for a while.

[SMEGMA STENCH]

This makes me ask a couple of questions:

Would a hotter spark somehow translate to more engine heat?

Would you want all your plugwires the same length? Otherwise you'd have different levels of resistance...

[turbos66coupe]

This makes me ask a couple of questions:

Would a hotter spark somehow translate to more engine heat?

Would you want all your plugwires the same length? Otherwise you'd have different levels of resistance...

Ummm...in short no.

Less resistance isn't always a good thing. Spark travels to the path of least resistance. Oem manufacturers make high resistance wires to reduce missfires from cross arching. The idea behind low resistance wires is it can allow more of the spark energy to get to the plug but a lot of these company's will put a copper braid arund the outside of the conductor in the center when measured with an ohm meter it shows low resistance but when spark travels through it a whole different thing happens. It can't pass all that energy through the thin copper and ends up going through the center carbon conductor much like an oem wire. A lot. Of it is a gimick(sp) just like splitfire plugs or e3, pulstar or anyone of them. Only wires that are true low resistance are solid core wires. Solid copper core. But don't run efi, radio, etc because they have high amounts of emf.

[SSMAN]

I had put some Granatelli wires on my 04 Chevy. I will say I felt a pedal response difference over the OEM wies. Not anything huge, but on a 5000+ lb truck, to feel anything is somewhat impressive.