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MK7 Confessions

scrllock

Autocross Champion
Location
MI
No, there were zero indications his stock coils were bad. That's why I'm asking the questions. You seem very sure that the only explanation is that the coils he took out were old/going bad, so I'm trying to understand more... To be clear: I don't expect APR coils to make 10hp. But I don't know enough to have a strong opinion either way, so I'm trying to reconcile the dyno results.


They're not maintenance items. The conventional wisdom in the community and from VAG techs is you only need to replace them if there's a problem.
if you're ok with conventional wisdom, it's that aftermarket coils are snake oil at best. the only thing they can do is let you run a larger plug gap for better mileage. they don't add power unless they're being compared to some old trashed units.
 

mrmatto

Autocross Champion
Location
Jacksonville, FL
Car(s)
2024 GTI DSG
if you're ok with conventional wisdom, it's that aftermarket coils are snake oil at best. the only thing they can do is let you run a larger plug gap for better mileage. they don't add power unless they're being compared to some old trashed units.
The problem is we don't have evidence the old units were old/trashed, and we have dyno results showing more power after the aftermarket coils were put in. Absent other information, at best, it's inconclusive IMHO. I don't think this should upset the conventional wisdom, but it's worth noting.
 

avenali312

Autocross Champion
Location
Mableton, GA
Car(s)
2015 GTI
Working through a misfire issue, though new colder plugs probably resolved it. I think ive just read in the past OEM packs don't last forever therefore I might buy new for preventative maintinance at the very least.
They definitely don't last forever, no. The only experience I have with a misfire was on my MKV GTI. Ended up being the coil pack on cylinder 3. The car was 9 years old and had about 135k miles on the factory coil packs. So, mileage does vary pretty greatly.

As for OEM versus APR/MSD/any of the other aftermarket, I'll probably just buy whatever is cheapest when one of my originals fails. Stock tune, so I am not too concerned. They're all the same for my use case and in my opinion.
 

Acadia18

Autocross Champion
Location
The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area
Car(s)
2019 Golf R
I did the big brain thing and went with the coil pack delete.
 
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