Ignition Upgrade. Worth it or not?
 

I have a R3 and I am about to replace the plugs. It doesn't flood or anything crazy I just figure it wont hurt to do it early (18,000 mi). Is it worth it to consider the BHR kit on the S2 cars? I mean is there really any reason to fork out that amount of money when I have zero ignition issues?

I heard that S2 coils are much better than the S1 but if you have the money I don't think it would hurt, and BHR coils will last well over 30k mi.

And if they fail (unlikely, but if they do.) BHR can fix them up for you.

do a search on BHRignition and just look around a bit then make your choice.

I believe that you can find oem coils from local part stores that offer a lifetime warranty (autozone, napa, etc).
Unless you are planning to add a lot of power to the engine, there is no need to upgrade.

Thanks. The lifetime warranty is good idea.

Yeah I got some coils from advanced auto, they're about $25 each coil much cheaper than oem. So far they have been good, and they do have a life time warranty. Buy 4 coils once and if one fails eventually go return them and get another 4 new ones without spending money. Sounds like a win to me.

We have had customers with as few as 6,000 miles on their S2 RX8 report improvements in various areas with our ignition upgrade.

I've heard similar, Flashwing. The Bs (while they have some improvements) are apparently duds too. Perhaps the C's will be better once we have access to them states side.

In the meantime, you can't go wrong with BHR coils. Mine have been running strong for a couple years now.

IMO a lifetime warranty isn't worth a whole lot when you constantly need to monitor your car for signs of gradual, decreasing performance.

i like to drive my car, not babysit it.

i am also lazy.

i bought a bhr kit.

It's not like these coils fail every hundred miles either... You can like the reliability and better quality offered by the BHR kit. But if you don't have the money to afford it, this is a good alternative. These coils last a decent while, and you can replace them before they even fail or decrease in performance if you wanted to. You could even make it a normal maintenance to use the warranty to get new coils every 10k miles, and all you ever spent was a little more than $100, and it only takes about 10 mins to swap the coils...

that's kind of my point... totally agree, changing coils is cake. i could have changed stock coils a dozen times in the time it took to mash the bhr coils into that tiny spot :p:

but oem coils last how long..? 25-30k like Charles said? sometimes. sometimes 15k. sometimes 5k. there's 4 of them, so maybe 3 out of 4 are working great and you don't really notice. how do you know? i had the ol glowing ring around my rear O2 sensor, never had a single CEL. compression on my motor at the time sucked anyway, so MPG wasn't a good indicator, not that it generally is anyway.

yea, price is certainly a factor, but my budget for some peace of mind is pretty high. plenty of other things to worry about on this car. that's my two c's

As a first time customer of BHR, let me say, I have the ignition kit. I also fully admit, when it comes to cars, I'm a complete noob. About as close to mechanic work I had done previously to getting my 2009 GT, was doing oil changes back in highschool on a '91 Chevy blazer.

Had a dyno done at a local rotary shop at about 64K after having the car for 6 months. They told me my coils were arching. Had heard lots of good things about the BHR kit, so I shelled out the money. Once recieved it was really good quality. Yes, the fit for me was a pain in the ass, but like I said, I'm a noob and I was able to do it by myself. Getting the car, redynoed I had regained 5hp. It's still having fuel map problems, but it starts quicker, runs strong, and I'm happy.

Well like you said there was something wrong with your coils. You didn't actually gain anything you only got back what was lost due to bad or defective coils.

If you notice I never said it didn't do any of those things. The main point of my post was that he did not gain any hp he simply retrieved what was lost due to bad coils. Since you brought it up, I would hope that with new coils it would do all of those things because if not then it would be wasted money.

If you can afford BHR and/or plan on keeping the car for a good while, buy them. If you can't, then don't. Access, even with the older mounting systems, is much better if you remove the engine lift bracket. Take off the coolant cap (cold of course) to depressurize the system, and you'll only lose a little coolant when removing the 3 bolts.

Im at 78000km on my stock coils, replaced the plugs once, no sign of coils getting tired, good starts, performance are not deteriorating a all.

I can understand that BHR make an excellent product, but to awnser the actual question, no its not a necessity to install aftermarket coils as it was for the S1.

I don't doubt that the product works as advertised, I don't doubt it's quality, I'm just not inclined to spend that sum if not necessary. I wouldn't want to spend money on a part I don't need and as of 19k show no hints of needing (though the plugs are getting weak).

There was no argument, it was simple facts being stated.

Will do. It suffices to say when/if they fail, I'll do the upgrade. For now just plugs and wires I guess.

I have 2004 gt w/30,000 miles. Took it to the dealer complaining of hot starting delay and to check compression before warranty ends. Everything checked above spec. Installed BHR ignition w/plugs and wires. No more hot start issues, idles like glass, better than new. Quality top notch.

Man Charles and xexok going at it just never gets old lol I love it :-P I just bought a bhr ign off another member here and as far as parts go I am the most stringent person out there as far as actual gains in performance/driveability. So I'll be sure and post up after I get some miles on with the new coils as to wether it's all placebo effect or legit ;-)

I see absolutely no reason at this point to upgrade to the bhr kit for any kind of power increase on the s2. I would only confirm it's validity if the claims of a 100,000 mile lifespan are indeed true. Then the cost of replacement over the span of 100k would be justified due to the cost of 3 oem replacements over that time period compared to a one time invesment especially if you buy the newest version of coils which is basically the same price minus wires :-P This is just my opinion though based on my personal experience with the product.