Same here.

I've had that happen to me on Iridium plugs. Put the gauge in, it checks out, then you hear something fall on your workbench. Invariably it's the electrode. The last time I used my feeler gauges was when I had to shim E46 M3 lifters.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt: incomplete answer. The correct answer is that an uncalibrated torque wrench MAY lead to a torque value that is over or UNDER the specified range. It may also lead to a perfectly correct torque value.

I see where you were going, but between this and all the other drivel you have spewed forth, I just couldn't leave this one alone. :nanana:

Also, the "family" sticker that M5james has as an avatar is also a novelty t-shirt. You don't get out of your mom's basement much I guess.

Wow.... just wow. Just read this whole thread. There is some really good, substantiated information on here from the usual suspects. Then there is some really bad, misguided information by people too big-headed to soak in the accurate info backed up by documented testing and experiences. Threads that go this direction usually make me pull up a chair then grab a coke and some popcorn.:popcorn:

Yeah, go figure, I was thinking back to the days of replacing plugs, cap, points and rotor on my 1969 GTO. You learn something new everyday. I think I'll take a shot at replacing my plugs in my X5 since gap isn't an issue and I haven't had much fun working on my cars lately. God I miss that GTO!

Not sure if you've got Autozone in your neck of the woods, but you can get them there for about $7 a piece vs the dealership at about 4x that.

BMW radiators and transmissions are already made of Polonium, hence why they blow up so easily. Cool to see it being used in spark plugs as well :thumbup:

Cool plugs. Hadn't seen them before, so I had to go and read about them. The radioactive Polonium had a half-life of 138 days, so while in theory it did help ionize the air around the electrode, it didn't do so for long.

So Firestone was making exploding plugs before tires...good to know ;) I wonder how well protected the workers were in that factory when they had to deal with that stuff everyday!

Oh I'm sure they had paper filter masks and rubber gloves, that's all they needed back then. Bet the factory was insulated with asbestos too. ;)