2 Motorcraft plugs listed for my car... what's the Difference?

[earlyre]

The 100k mi Service interval is rapidly approaching for my C-max.
basics like air filters and Spark plugs, i have no trouble doing myself.
looking up plugs for this engine, I see 2 motorcraft options :
SP-530 (~$8/ea), and SP-530X (~$14/ea)
is there enough of an appreciable difference to justify almost double the cost?
what says the crowd?

 

[bdcardinal]

Same plug. The X on the end is a result of Ford's Rapid Inventory Management program forced on dealers. Prior to the program we had to order spark plugs from Ford in either quantities of 48 or 96 depending on the part number. With the X designation we can order in quantities of 4 like a normal person. That being said when the X plugs came out the had multiple part numbers on the box including the non X number. Also what's fun is the RIM system couldn't tell that the short SP number was a valid part number and we had to use the old long numbers.

So in short, its the same part. The non X one will be older stock on hand.

 

[DemoFly]

This is an example of what I find annoying about spark plug naming (except NGK)

It's the same plug. Both iridium.

 

[The_Eric]

So the end customer is paying an inflated price for the convenience that the dealer enjoys? (Being able to order small quantities)

 

[Snagglefoot]

Bougie on!

 

[bdcardinal]

So the end customer is paying an inflated price for the convenience that the dealer enjoys? (Being able to order small quantities)

Its not even convenient for us. We could order any quantities we wanted from dedicated Motorcraft distributors who actually delivered to us sooner than from Ford a lot of times and at the same cost, or less if we did it on a stock order.

 

[earlyre]

This is an example of what I find annoying about spark plug naming (except NGK)

It's the same plug. Both iridium.

So I ordered the sp-530's ( non X) from Amazon.
That is the exact box they came in....

Interestingly ( to me anyway) it says they are made in Japan....who is the real manufacturer I wonder

Quick Google says it's NGK..... okay... fine with me

 

[DemoFly]

So I ordered the sp-530's ( non X) from Amazon.
That is the exact box they came in....

Interestingly ( to me anyway) it says they are made in Japan....who is the real manufacturer I wonder

Quick Google says it's NGK..... okay... fine with me

Depends on the plug and application but motorcrafts are like ACDelco. The spark plugs are sourced from NGK, Denso, Autolite, etc.

 

[earlyre]

Depends on the plug and application but motorcrafts are like ACDelco. The spark plugs are sourced from NGK, Denso, Autolite, etc.

don't doubt it, but what i was reading claimed that ford had dumped Autolite (whom they owned at one point) and went to NGK.