Why do stock GM (black) plug wires ohm out LOWER than GM red high performance ones?

[YO-EL]

And what does it mean...?

Stock GM black ones ohm out @ roughly 345 ohms
GM red high performance ones ohm out @ roughly 375 ohms

I thought lower resistance was better....?

Anyone>>??

[hcvone]

The black standard ones are really pretty good and offer great flow. Someone else posted this a while ago on another Forum. :)

[JT-C6]

I don't know about spark plugs wires specifically, but I do know about electricity and it follows the path of least resistance. (I doubt I need to tell an HVAC guy this though, but for the benefit of others reading I'll speculate). The lower the ohms, the better the current flow. Maybe the "performance" ones are less temperature sensitive if we wanted to go off on that tangent? Conductors perform better at lower temperature. Maybe the performance ones maintain their resistance better than the stock wires which may increase in resistance as the engine bay heats up?

Lower resistance means more current flow. I'm not sure if 30 ohms difference is enough to make a measurable difference in performance or not since I don't know what voltage those wires are carrying. I wonder what those wires read for resistance in hot (under engine bay) conditions?

[DanS711]

Just a thought, an increase in the resistance will tend to produce a hotter spark up to a certain point. I believe that was the theory behind the resistor plugs that used to be on the market.
It was like on the older cars with carbs, when they got flooded, you would pull the plug wires partially off the plug and the additional resistance would cause the coil to produce a hotter spark and fire the wet plugs.
With spark plug wires we are talking about very high voltage and very low amperage so resistance to flow, up to a point should not be as critical.
I think! I'ts been a while since I tested that theory but I do remember that when you take a jolt to you hand it makes you bang you head on the hood and say things that are no longer permissable on this forum :D :D

DS

[Jack]

I ran a test on the dyno, actual values, two runs per set of wires. An aftermarket set of wires gained me 6-7 HP and equivalent torque over the red wires, which are basically the same as the black wires. Color is nicer on the red wires. The dyno results did not lie.

Put in a set of Bosch plugs, brand new, and lost the HP just gained in the wire test-and the stock plugs had 40,000 miles on them. These are dyno results, not I just think they are good.Took the brand new Bosch plugs out and discarded them for a new set of GM iridum plugs.